Cruel Shame (Knights of Templar Academy #3) - Sofia Daniel Page 0,73
now, I didn’t want to be part of that mess.
When the interviewer asks why her family wanted to frame the unnamed student for the possession of class-A drugs, Myra raised her shoulders. “I thought it was jealousy at first.”
“Now?”
“It has to be something big, otherwise Lady Liddell wouldn’t have handed me that gun.”
Outraged shouts erupted around the room. I guess they hadn’t heard that part of the conspiracy. Elizabeth turned to me with her mouth gaping open. If I took that reaction to be true, she hadn’t either.
I ignored her gaze and tried to listen to the rest of Myra’s interview, which was mostly about how Elizabeth would find a girl to bully or befriend and then run them out of the academy using a group of male sycophants.
The knights slid further down their seats, and Orlando turned to me with an apologetic wince.
I squeezed his hand. What mattered most was that they had changed.
My phone buzzed once, twice, then three times, and messages popped up on the screen. Some of the girls I had emailed on Saturday replied, asking how they could take down Elizabeth and her family.
I slid my gaze over to the girl shouting at the screen like an emaciated King Kong. Maybe everyone else’s efforts would take down the Liddells, they’d nearly killed me once, and I couldn’t leave my safety to chance. If any of those girls could uncover something useful, I might have the leverage to save my life.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
On Friday afternoon, Gideon and I took a walk down the driveway, discussing the fallout from Myra’s interview. Elizabeth had been absent since the broadcast, and everyone couldn’t stop talking about the revelations. They also wanted to know if I would sue the Liddells for attempting to murder me. I needed a break.
The Glasgow Herald reported that viewers sent over three-hundred complaints to the Office of Communications. It turned out that Myra’s solicitor got paid by the producers of Glasgow Tonight to sneak in a camera. Now, the man is facing a disciplinary with the Law Society of Scotland and could lose his license to practice law.
I hoped it was admissible in court.
Winter was starting to drag, and I longed for a raise in temperature. The trees lining the academy’s driveway stood like blackened skeletons against a white sky, and the frost crunched beneath our feet. A slight breeze blew down tiny flakes of frost from the branches, and I glanced up to find the first signs of buds emerging from the trees.
Beside me, Gideon exhaled a long sigh.
I turned to my friend and frowned. “You’ve been down lately. Has Kendrick been getting to you?”
Gideon’s brows drew together. “Actually, it’s nice to have so many friends, even if we don’t agree on everything, we’re all united around you.”
“Then what’s wrong?” I asked.
“Lachlan.”
My chest tightened. I’d been too preoccupied with the shooting and Elizabeth’s disgusting lies about Mr. Burgh to ask him how his weekend went. Lachlan was such a good guy and seemed really keen on Gideon that I thought things were going well.
I looped my arm through his. “What’s happened?”
Gideon’s lips tightened. “You know my parents are coming on Sunday?”
“Yes?”
“Lach wants to meet them.”
“Right?” Up on one of the branches, a little bird twittered. I raised my gaze to find a robin redbreast bouncing after a similar-looking bird with a duller plumage.
Gideon turned to me, his eyes wide. “Lachlan wants me to introduce him to my parents as my homosexual lover.”
It took a beat for the implication to hit me upside the head. “You haven’t come out to your mum and dad.”
He shook his head. “I’ve been lying to them for months.”
“If you’re not ready, then you’ve got to explain things to Lachlan.” Resting my head on his shoulder, I wrapped both arms around his middle. Gideon was only a few inches taller than me, so it was a comfortable fit.
He stopped walking and hung his head. “There’s one more thing.”
I paused, wondering if this was going to be about the spit roast he had with Lachlan and Francesco over Christmas. “Tell me.”
“My cousin told them I was in a relationship.” Gideon raised his head and met my eyes with a grim frown.
A red van approached from further down the drive. We stepped aside to let it pass, taking in the Royal Mail logo and the Queen Elizabeth II crest.
I’d seen Gideon’s cousin around the academy. Mary was a fifth-year prefect with long, black braids woven with red tartan. She was a strict prefect