Cruel Shame (Knights of Templar Academy #3) - Sofia Daniel Page 0,10
fingerprints on that gun but Miss Highmore’s.”
My shoulders slumped with disappointment, and I stared into my lap.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I hoped they would have found Lady Liddell’s prints on the gun, too.”
“She wouldn’t be so careless,” said Mr. Burgh. “Miss Highmore said in her statement that Lady Liddell gave her the gun, but the police checked the CCTV footage, and there is no sign of the woman entering the academy.”
“Are all routes into the academy covered by security cameras?” I asked.
Mr. Burgh shook his head. “Only those most likely to be used by students or intruders.” He slipped his hand into mine. “Lilah, I want you to leave the academy.”
A tight band wrapped around my chest, squeezing off my air. “Why?”
His brows furrowed. “Didn’t the events of today demonstrate how desperately they want you gone?”
“Running away isn’t the answer.” I turned to the window, where an ambulance had parked in the loading bay. The paramedics wheeled out a body bag on a stretcher. “The Liddells can get at me anywhere.”
“They left you alone until you came to Templar,” he said.
Right now, I couldn’t look at Mr. Burgh. I couldn’t bear to see the pain in his eyes, knowing that his worry for me put it there. My throat thickened, and I swallowed hard. Now that I had a real parent, I couldn’t bear to let him go.
“That’s not true,” I whispered. “When I was born, Lady Liddell found a way to get a sample of my blood from the prison infirmary. Between her and Camden Liddell, they can reach me wherever I go.”
After I told him about my encounter with the Deputy Chief Constable, Mr. Burgh went silent for a long time. Maybe he heard the truth in my words, maybe he was trying to work out a place beyond the Liddells’ reach. It didn’t matter because I wasn’t leaving the academy.
I stared down at my fingers, which had intertwined with those of Mr. Burgh’s larger hand. In the few months I had been in Templar Academy, I had made a loyal friend in Gideon, found love with Maxwell, and was about to start a relationship with Orlando. Kendrick and I had something, but it would take a while for him to pull the broom out from his ass and admit he liked me.
“Alright,” he said in a low voice.
“Huh?” I raised my head and met his red-rimmed, sapphire eyes.
“You can stay, but I want you sleeping under my roof.”
“Or in Orlando’s room,” I added.
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t push your luck.”
Chapter Six
Just after a nurse arrived with my discharge papers and pack of antibiotics, Mrs. Campbell called to say that a younger girl had been sent to the Royal Infirmary in an ambulance. She hadn’t been at breakfast this morning, due to having taken too many of Elizabeth’s diet pills.
Mr. Burgh had to rush back to the accident and emergency department to check on the girl, and he let me stay the weekend in Glasgow with the knights.
We piled into the back of a limousine, which took us to the Glaswegian Hotel, a huge building behind George Square, the location of the fateful fashion show. Orlando wrapped an arm around my waist while the twins checked in with a receptionist who welcomed them like old friends.
“You’ll soon be able to put your feet up,” he murmured.
I gazed up into his hazel eyes and smiled. “Thanks.” My throat thickened. “For everything.”
He grinned. “I would take a bullet for you.”
One side of my head pulsed from having been struck with a pistol, making me grimace. My gaze dropped to the mosaic floor, and I placed a hand on my belly.
“Too soon?” he asked.
“Something like that,” I muttered.
The suite turned out to be a penthouse room at the top of the hotel with the largest king-sized bed in existence taking up a third of the wall. With its alabaster sheets and cream cushions, it was wide enough to fit a quartet of rugby players and their girlfriends. Cream-colored sofas took up the rest of the space with matching armchairs and daybeds.
Freezing at the threshold, I stared through the floor-to-ceiling windows running alongside an entire wall. It offered a panoramic view of Glasgow along with the hills that extended beyond the city.
“Lilah?” Maxwell squeezed my shoulder. “Are you alright?”
“Yes,” I whispered. This place was ridiculously luxurious, and it was such a pity I wasn’t in the mood to fully enjoy it.
Orlando, who had entered the room before me with Kendrick, turned around and fixed