She moans my name and comes undone at the command, her lips trembling when my name slips past those plump lips in a sweet tune that makes my mind go blank.
I slam her down, one last time, and empty myself deep inside of her, groaning at the feeling.
Slowly, I release her hips, pulling her close to my chest. Sophia slumps against me, her hands wrapping around my waist. Her breathing mirrors my own — labored, tense, and barely coming back to normal.
“Soren,” she breathes out.
“Not now,” I whisper, kissing the top of her head. “Let me hold you. We’ll talk later.”
FORTY-FOUR
Soren and Ibarely got the chance to go to my dorm and shower, before my phone started ringing. Right now, I’m grateful I didn’t throw out his sweats and a spare shirt he left in my dorm before all of this started.
Grace called me, all frantic, telling me to meet her immediately in her dorm, and of course, I could hear everyone else in the background. Soren and I did our best to hurry up, because whatever it is, it seemed serious enough. However, she told me to leave my phone in my dorm, which I found odd.
I knock on the door once, and Grace immediately opens it. She lifts a brow when she spots Soren behind me, but doesn’t comment on it. She shouldn’t because she sent me to the classroom, and I think she can already predict how that went.
“What was so urgent?” I ask, and Grace steps aside so we can enter.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many people inside a single dorm. Avalon and Lila are on the floor, with Kenzo, Aiden, and Eliasscattered on the beds around.
“Two things,” Lila says, patting the seat next to her. Before I can sit down, Soren grabs a decorative pillow from Grace’s bed, tosses it down where I’m about to sit, but acts all nonchalant about it. I look at him with a curious, yet amused expression.
“What?” He shrugs. “It’s winter. You just had a shower. You’ll get sick.”
“You’re makingmesick,” Aiden mutters, but he’s quickly shot down by a stare from Soren.
“Anyway,” Lila clears her throat. “So, since there’s nothing we can actually do to Cassia, how far are you willing to go, Soph?”
I tilt my head to the side. “That depends. What did you find out?”
“Well, the Greysons have a chain of banks, that’s where all the money comes from. The first bank was opened back in the forties,” Lila says.
“I’m aware. That matters, why, exactly?”
“Because,” she drawls out. “Although it’s one of the biggest banks in the United States, it was far below on the chart, up until a few years ago when their banks just… skyrocketed. I don’t think there’s a city that doesn’t have one of their banks.”
“Okay?”
“How did it happen overnight?” Lila asks, but I already know she has the answer. “How does someone go from the bottom of the chart to the top in a span of a year? Especially when the economy has been fucked up for a while now.”
“Uh, I don’t know?”
“Me, me, let me tell her!” Grace says, all excited. She slumps down, sitting across from me, with a wide grin on her face. “Do you remember a few years back, there was a rumor about Mrs. Greysongetting their business higher up because she hooked up with the mayor of New York?”
“Yeah?” I ask, blinking. “That tells me literally nothing.”
“Well, it was after that rumor that they managed to climb up to number one. So, Lila asked around, and thank God she has some odd connections that, quite frankly, are worrisome, but nevertheless, we have an answer.”
“Are you going to tell us what you have, or do we have to play the guessing game?” Soren asks, his tone dripping with sarcasm. Elias snorts, but he’s too engrossed with the conversation to actually say anything.
“I was getting to that,” Grace rolls her eyes.
“Mrs. Greyson hooked up a handful of times with The Mayor, then filmed them without his knowledge, and threatened to show the tape to his wife. So, wanting to preserve his reputation, and his wife, he kept quiet.”
“That explains so much, honestly,” I breathe out. “That’s why Cassia doesn’t really care if she does something that’ll threaten her family’s image, because she has a powerful figure backing the family up.”
“And guess who has the video?” Lila grins.
