Defiant Princess (Boys of Oak Park Prep 2)

My brain felt a little mushy, and wondered if I could talk Leah or the Princes into going to the beach with me. I wanted to stick my feet in the sand, listen to the waves, and not have to think for a while.

It was just before three when I stepped out of Craydon, trotted down the stairs—

And stopped.

A crowd of students peppered the quad, other kids who’d gotten released from their finals early. I’d been expecting that, since the semester was winding down.

But what had caught me by surprise was that none of them were moving.

Instead, they were clustered around lampposts and trees, reading the sheets of paper that’d been stuck to every available surface, or gathered in small clusters staring down at loose pages. As I stood at the base of the steps, a sheaf of papers was tossed from a top-floor window of Hammond Hall, the white rectangles falling in jagged slow motion as the air caught them.

I blinked, moving to pick up a piece of paper that already lay on the sidewalk several feet ahead of me. A buzz seemed to fill the air, like the thrum of a high-voltage wire, and I realized it was the voices of the students around me—whispering, murmuring, and talking excitedly.

Dread was already creeping up my spine as I stooped to grab the sheet, and as soon as I saw the handwriting on the photocopied page, my blood turned icy.

It was my handwriting.

Blown up to larger than life size, taken from a small black notebook and transferred to a piece of printer paper.

Cole Mercer

father is abusive

founder of the Oak Park royals’ fight club

The list went on, detailing other little things I’d found out about him and his family. Things that hadn’t seemed terribly important, but that I’d written down in case they could be used.

It was all here, the text horrifically enlarged, screaming out from the page.

I wadded the piece of paper in my fist as I took a few more steps forward and grabbed another one. That one detailed the miscellaneous information I’d found about the Princes’ families.

Element Investments - failed company

investment firm

went under in just over a year

Founders - Mercer, Hildebrand, Prescott, Pierce, Van Buren, and Whittaker

who is Adam Pierce?

Dates and other tidbits I’d dug up were listed in my messy scrawl. Half of it was shorthand to myself, almost meaningless without explanation. But it didn’t matter.

The worst parts didn’t need explanation.

My gaze caught on a web address listed on the bottom of the page, and a new wave of nausea turned my stomach. I dropped into a crouch where I stood, dropping my backpack and rooting around inside until I found my phone. I typed the address in the search bar, and when a YouTube channel popped up, I covered my mouth with my hand.

The videos I’d taken were all posted. The photos had been turned into a slideshow.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

The word beat against my skull in the same rhythm my heart beat against my ribs, and I dropped my phone on the walkway, scrabbling at the side pocket of my backpack.

Every picture, every photocopy—they had all come from one source.

God, no.

I yanked open the pocket, already sure that what I was looking for wouldn’t be there.