Broken Empire A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance - Callie Rose Page 0,63
my breath. Then she spoke slowly.
“No. I don’t.”
“Are you sure?”
Another split-second of hesitation, then, “Yes.”
Was she lying? I knew whoever hired her had wanted her to keep their name secret. Would that include not even admitting she knew them?
“Oh. I thought—” I limped to a stop, staring out the window at the lawn below. “I thought maybe he was the one who sent you to Sand Valley.”
“Talia.” Her voice was gentle but firm. “As I explained at the time, I’m not at liberty to tell you that. I’m sorry.”
“I know. It’s just…”
It’s just that crazy shit has been happening in my world, and I need to at least work out one piece of the puzzle.
“I understand. If I could tell you, I certainly would. But the person who helped you wanted to do so without their name becoming known by anyone. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Thanks.”
“Are you doing all right? Is there anything you need legal assistance with?”
“No, I don’t think so. Thanks.”
“All right. Give me a call when you graduate, and we’ll see what we can do about getting more of your trust released before your twenty-first birthday.”
“Okay, I will.”
“Goodbye, Talia.”
I pressed the button to end the call and held the phone away from my face, staring at it. Goddammit. I wasn’t surprised she hadn’t told me—she’d steadfastly refused for the entire time she’d worked on my case in Sand Valley, so there was no reason to think she’d cave because of a quick phone call months later.
But I had hoped maybe she would. Or that she’d forget she wasn’t supposed to tell me or something.
The way she had hesitated before answering though… Did she know Adam Pierce?
I slipped my phone back in my pocket. It was good that I had touched base with her anyway, considering that I would probably need her help if I wanted to free up any more money for college tuition. She’d given me copies of a bunch of documents with information about the trust, and I’d taken pictures of a few documents we’d submitted to the judge, just so I could reference everything later.
I’d have to go through it all soon and seriously think about whether I wanted to try to go to school next year or not. My plan of taking time off had made sense when I thought I’d be dancing, but now that I knew that wasn’t going to happen, I felt like the responsible thing to do was go to college.
Putting all of that away to think about later, I pressed the button on the side of my phone and checked the time. It was almost eleven a.m.
Cole had told me he’d pick me up when he and Penny were on their way to mini-golf, and even though I had a perfectly good car in the lot, I’d accepted.
I didn’t like it though.
His parents probably only had a vague idea who I was, a memory of me as a little girl in a sundress—but if his dad wanted Cole off-campus for the weekends, I didn’t think he’d take too kindly to hearing that his son had driven all the way out to Oak Park to pick me up.
Finn and I got in a bit of studying while I waited for Cole and Penny to arrive, and when he texted me to let me know he was in the lot, the blond quarterback insisted on walking me across campus. Cole met us halfway, making me feel even more like a human relay baton.
He had Penny in tow, and the sight of the two of them together made my footsteps stutter. She was a petite girl of eight—or nine by now, probably—all thin limbs and bony elbows. Her hand rested inside Cole’s much larger one, and with her at his side, the raven-haired boy looked even bigger and broader than usual.
I wondered what it must be like for her to have someone like Cole for an older brother—to know that the hulking slab of muscle would do anything to protect her.
Then I wondered what it was like for her to have to watch their father beat Cole, and my stomach turned over like a corpse in a grave.
I shook the terrible thought away as they approached, and Finn gave my hand a squeeze before he released it. Our fingers had twined around each other without me even realizing it, something that seemed to happen more and more these days. As if our bodies knew something