Trading Revenge For An Heir

Chapter 2

“Jayce isn’t here. He got a call an hour ago and hasn’t returned since. Is everything alright?”

The boys’ hostel wasn’t too far from the staff’s residence, just a ten-minute walk at most. However, by the time Riley made it to the room Jayce shared with his friend Victor—an athlete and another student as popular as Jayce—she was shaking less from the cold and more from the adrenaline. Her face had turned red, and her eyes were panicky.

She ran a hand through her hair. “Not really. When will he be back? Did he say something?”

“No,” he shook his head, leaning against the doorway while he watched her with curious eyes. “I try to stay clear of him most of the time. Not my business.”

Riley could understand that. Victor and Jayce might have shared rooms, but they didn’t exactly hang around like best friends. She could see why Victor wouldn’t want to get into his roommate’s mess. Jayce was pure trouble. Perhaps that’s what attracted her to him in the first place. She liked the danger in his eyes, the way he couldn’t give two shits about anything at all.

Riley took out her phone and tried to call him again. It went straight to voicemail.

“Is there any other way to contact him? I can’t seem to reach him,” she asked, frustrated.

Victor sighed, rolling his eyes. He moved away from the doorway and held the door open for her. “Why don’t you come inside? I’ll see what I can do.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. The warden would come knocking if I didn’t leave in ten minutes.”

“Don’t worry about the warden, but you surely look like you could use a cup of coffee. It’s unusually cold tonight.”

As if to prove his point, another intense shiver rippled through her bones. Her teeth clattered.

Victor didn’t wait around for her to accept his offer. He simply turned and moved out of her sight. The fragrance of brewed coffee followed not so long after.

One thing Riley knew was that she couldn’t go back home without having a word with Jayce. Her dad might not have appreciated her being out of the home so late at night, but she knew he would understand why she couldn’t wait for the next day. Riley had always been a good student, but she was an impatient one. She never could digest the unfairness, especially against her or someone she held close. She believed in fighting back. She believed in fighting for what she deserved.

Riley took a deep breath and stepped into the room. The warmth enveloped her as she entered, contrasting sharply with the chilly night air outside. Victor, standing near a small table with two steaming cups of coffee, gestured for her to take a seat. He offered her one after she sat down on the couch in the corner.

“I dropped him a text. Let’s see if he responds.”

“I texted him multiple times already,” Riley said, growing more and more frustrated by the minute. “Not a single one went through.”

“Perhaps he doesn’t have a network,” he shrugged, as if it was no big deal. He grabbed a chair from what looked like a study table and dragged it so that he could sit across from her, with only a small table between them.

Riley wrapped her lithe fingers around the hot mug and tried to calm down.

She couldn’t believe her fate. One mistake. That’s all it took for her entire life to be on the verge of falling apart. She should have never agreed to date Jayce Bradford. A girl as smart as her should have known better than to fall for his charms.

“Or maybe he’s trying to avoid me,” she grumbled to herself. As much as she wanted to believe that Jayce could have meant what he said to her last night, she knew now better than to give herself false hopes.

It all made sense now. For a guy like him to show interest in a nerd like her. It felt so convenient, considering what his intentions truly were all this time. He used her to get access to her father’s office. He didn’t mean a word that came out of his mouth that night.

Victor checked his wristwatch and took a sip of his coffee. “Yeah. It sounds like Jayce, alright.”

Riley met Victor’s gaze and felt a little odd at the way he seemed to be looking at her. She tried to ignore the feeling brewing in the pit of her stomach, but the more she tried, the more uncomfortable she felt.

She shifted in her seat, taking another large sip of the coffee and letting her mouth, throat, and chest burn with the heat it provided.

She checked her phone again. No response.

She called again. No one answered.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be here in no time,” Victor assured her, finishing his coffee and putting the mug down. “By the way, you never mentioned why you’re so worked up in the first place. Did he do something that he shouldn’t have? Are you in some sort of trouble?”

Riley wasn’t about to pretend that she knew Victor well. But she couldn’t deny his curiosity seemed valid. If she were in his place, she would be wondering the same thing.

But could she tell him the truth? Not only was her dignity on the line here, but the reputation of her father also seemed to be at stake. She had to be careful before she opened her mouth in front of anyone. And even though Victor didn’t seem like the gossiping type, it didn’t mean he couldn’t make things worse for her.

She was never trusting these rich brats ever again. Never.

Putting her mug down, she shot up to her feet. “I should better leave. It’s late. I’ll just find him tomorrow.”

Victor opened his mouth to say something, getting to his feet at the same time.

But Riley saw no reason to wait around.

She ignored his attempt to draw her into another conversation and turned towards the door. She was pretty sure that the way his eyes had flashed before she headed for the door wasn’t panic. Or so she thought.

However, she barely stepped out of the room when her head spun and her legs turned to jelly. Her vision turned blurry and for a second, she couldn’t even breathe.

Everything happened too fast.

One moment, she was ready to head home and wait for the morning, and the next, she was stumbling to keep herself balanced, until she couldn’t, and crumpled to the cold, hard floor.

The last thing she remembered was a blurred silhouette of someone hovering over her.

“Sorry, Riley, you seem like a good girl. Too bad, you were about to screw us over big time. There was no choice but to stop you. I hope you understand.”