Ruins of Temptation (Corium University Trilogy 4)

I sway on my feet but manage to stay upright. The little bit of strength still inside me won’t let him watch me crumble.

“You’re coming with me.” Before I know it, he’s walking through the door, and my two keepers step aside to give him room. Is this really it? Am I leaving? Just like that? Part of me is afraid to follow him, afraid of where he’s taking me. Will it be worse than this?

Move your feet, stupid. If I didn’t know better, I would think I was already brainwashed or something. One of those people who ends up siding with their captors after being kidnapped. No way. I glare at Rick and Bruno as I pass. They only roll their eyes and snicker.

This new guy, whoever he is, isn’t slowing down or waiting for me. I follow him at the fastest pace I can manage, my bare feet slapping against the cold floor. I’m really leaving. I’ll never have to see that cell again. I’ve told myself so many times not to have hope, but now that the prospect of breathing fresh air is right in front of me, I can’t help it. And it gives me the strength to keep moving, staring at the back of the man’s head.

That hope lasts about as long as it takes him to open the door to the outside, and a fierce gust of wind slams into me, almost knocking me on my ass. He notices the way I wrap my arms around myself and hunch my shoulders against the cold, but he doesn’t so much as offer me his coat. He keeps moving, not even looking over his shoulder to make sure I’m following. He crunches through the snow, and for a second, I think this has to be a cruel joke. I’m supposed to walk barefoot in the snow now? He can’t mean it.

“Move your ass!” he barks, the sound of it almost lost to the wind. So he does expect me to do it. It’s either grit my teeth and get it over with or stay here. I know what I’m choosing.

Even so, the first touch of my bare skin against the snow is horrifying, sending pins and needles up my legs. A silent sob tears from my throat, but I keep moving, almost running, even though I’m barely strong enough to stay upright. The faster I move, the sooner this will be over. In the swirl of snowflakes, I can make out lights up ahead and soon the outline of a helicopter. I focus all my willpower on it, determined to get there even as my feet go numb. Maybe that’s a blessing.

By the time we reach the helicopter, and I somehow climb inside, they’re frozen, my toes caked in frost. My new captor, whoever he is, glances down at them before turning his face away to look out the window. I rub my feet together, grinding my teeth against painful sobs that threaten to tear their way out of me once the feeling starts to come back. Now they’re on fire, my nerves sizzling. But at least I still have feeling in them.

Once we’re in the air, he sees fit to speak again. “My name is Lucas Diavolo.” The name sparks recognition in the back of my mind, and I clutch it tight to me. It’s something to think about besides the agony of my feet. “I am taking you to Corium University.”

Corium. That’s where Nash and Matteo went. The thought of walking the same halls Nash walked when he was alive makes emotion swell in my chest, even if I’m not quite sure why. I guess it’s one final thread connecting us.

But it’s not all sunshine and roses. Corium isn’t a sanctuary. It’s a school for the children of criminals—mobsters, murderers, thieves. The rich and powerful make their money the way my father made his. Which was why Matteo was a student.

What do you think about that, asshole? Your forgotten sister attending the same school? I almost wish he was alive to see it, even if I know he would’ve made life miserable for me there.

Maybe it’s finally breathing fresh air or the way the snow startled me back to my senses, but whatever it is, it gives me the strength to speak. “But why? Why would you take me there?”

He doesn’t bother looking my way. Instead, he stares out into the darkness, where I’m sure he can’t see anything. “You’ll be taking classes there soon. And I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

I might be close to starving to death and exhausted, but I’m not stupid. He’s not doing this out of the kindness of his heart. Hell, he won’t even put his coat over my shoulders. He’d rather have me sit here with my teeth chattering, half freezing to death.