Page 14 of Heartless Sinner

“Class starts in fifteen minutes.”

“What?” I scrambled off the bed so fast I landed on my ass. “Shit!”

“Arisono’s late slips are calling your name!” Blair teased.

I yanked my uniform from the closet while mentally adding Brooks to my murder list.

“Enjoy your last night of not being scared of the dark.”

He’d be the one in the dark after I smothered him with a pillow.

I buttoned my shirt, tugged on my gray pleated skirt, and shrugged into my Saint Vale blazer.

There was no time to curl my hair, so I pulled half of it into a ponytail and added a pink bow.

Blair counted down the minutes as I slapped on mascara, eyeliner, and lip gloss.

I shoved my feet into my platform loafers, grabbed my bag, and let Blair drag me into the hallway.

We merged into a group of other students headed downstairs. Our dorm hall—Poenas Dare—meant to pay the penalty in Latin.

Every dorm here was named after some form of death or punishment.

Saint Vale wasn’t an ordinary university. It’d been built for powerful families who valued privacy over everything. They were pickier than NATO about who they allowed in.

A journalist had once called it a breeding ground for corruption and secret alliances.

Two weeks later, he had been found dead.

We hurried down the grand staircase, surrounded by Gothic arches, ancient stone, and stained glass. After two flights, Blair and I split up in the main vestibule.

“See you at lunch!” Blair called out.

“See ya!” I shouted back.

I rounded the corner, then screamed when someone grabbed my arm. I swung blindly, connecting with a shoulder, as he dragged me into the janitor’s closet.

“Jesus, Daphne!” a familiar masculine voice said. “Calm down.”

He released me, and an overhead light flicked on.

Cory blocked the door, rubbing the shoulder I’d hit.

I backed up into a shelf of cleaning bottles.

Cory and I had grown up together, so I knew my life wasn’t exactly in danger with him. But I didn’t like this whole dragging me into a janitor’s closet thing.

“What the hell, Cory?” I hissed.

He better explain fast unless he wants my knees in his balls.

“What the hell, Daphne? You agreed to be my Fawn.”

“I what?”

Cory dragged a hand through his black curls, looking as stressed as I was last time I lost my tiara. “Last week. When we were drinking in Randy’s dorm.”

That night came back in pieces.