Hate Me Like You Mean It

THE LION’S DEN

The walk to the office felt like a walk to the gallows.

Meredith pushed open the heavy oak doors. The Principal, a man usually brimming with self-importance, was standing in the corner, looking small.

In the center of the room sat two people.

Alistair McFord looked like a shark in a three-piece suit. Beside him sat a woman with hair like spun silk and eyes like ice—Eleanor McFord. They didn't look angry. They looked... surgical.

And there, standing by the window with a bandage across his jaw and a dark, unreadable expression, was Henry.

"Sit down, Meredith," the Principal whispered.

Meredith didn't sit. She stood straight, her chin tilted up. "I won't apologize for stopping a bully."

Alistair McFord stood up slowly. He walked toward her, the heels of his handmade shoes clicking on the marble. He stopped inches from her face.

"My son tells me you have a very impressive scholarship," Alistair said, his voice a smooth, terrifying purr. "And a mother back home who relies on the stipends you send back. It would be a shame if... all of that vanished."

Meredith felt the blood drain from her face, but she didn't blink. "Is that a threat?"

"It’s a transaction," Alistair smiled, but his eyes remained dead. "You humiliated the McFord name. Normally, I would crush you. But Henry... Henry has a different idea."

Meredith looked at Henry. For the first time, he wasn't smirking. He was watching her with an intensity that felt like fire on her skin.

"What idea?" Meredith asked, her voice steady.

Henry stepped forward, his voice low and raspy. "You hate men, Meredith. I can see it in your eyes. You think we're all the same." He leaned in, smelling of expensive cologne and danger. "So here’s the deal. You don’t get expelled. Your mother keeps her house. But for the next semester... you belong to me.