Chapter 3

Kim’s grip turns deadly even though she’s holding onto her courageous

mode.

I’m used to this rubbish and name-calling in the hallways. Kim isn’t. I

want to protect her from all these bastards.

Protect yourself first, Elsa.

Kim and I try to ignore them by talking about my running competition

this weekend or the start of the Premier League season.

We release a collected breath when we finally arrive at our class.

At least, the wankers keep their distance when the teachers are around.

But the thing about bullies? They work under the surface in front of adults.

RES is a prestigious, posh school, so the students need to keep up a

certain image.

The rich are scarier than any normal criminal.

They have all the money and influence to allow them to twist anything

around. They’re never labelled criminals. No. They’re labelled as elites.

Kim stops abruptly two steps into the classroom, and I run into her rigid

back.

Her breathing becomes audible.

My own breathing picks up pace, and the hairs on the back of my neck

stand on high alert.

Since that entrance day, there’s been this baffling level of awareness that

won’t leave me the hell alone.Every fibre of my being is honed for the inevitable confrontation.

For that crash and burn.

I suck in several deep breaths and begin the usual chant.

I’m loved. Aunt, Uncle, and Kim love me. I won’t break. Not today.

I need to remind myself of those facts to remain strong and not let him

get to me.

That’s what the devil’s reduced me to.

My gaze finally strays ahead, following Kim’s field of vision.

Xander Knight. Cole Nash. Ronan Astor. Aiden King.

The four horsemen of RES. They earned the title for their impressive

team play on the football team.

I call them the four arseholes.

And they’re all here in our class.

No wonder Kim froze. We’ve barely escaped their wrath without being

in the same class.

As in breathing the same air all year long. And not just any year, senior

year.

Maybe I need to speak to Aunt and Uncle about my plans for

Cambridge.

Cambridge, who?

The four are laughing and jesting. Xander is throwing the ball at Ronan,

and the latter catches it with an Oomph.

Cole, the new captain of the football team after Levi King graduated last

year, holds a book in his hand and laughs quietly at the other two.

My gaze strays to the main devil.

The hell ruler.

The black king.

You’d think the summer would somehow erase him from my

consciousness and nightmares.

It didn’t.Aiden is the only one sitting. His legs stretch in front of him, crossed at

the ankles. His fingers are interlaced across his stomach making him appear

every bit the King his last name suggests

A ruler on his throne.

A devil in his hell.

Over the summer, I thankfully hadn’t seen him, he’s bulked up — due to

the football camp, no doubt. His uniform’s jacket stretches over well￾defined shoulders. The dark blue trousers tighten around his muscular

thighs and even his legs have become taller. I’m sure the coach would be so

proud of his star player wanker.

His dark hair is between being tousled and slicked. Under the dim

classroom light, his dark grey eyes appear black. Everything about him is.

Black mind.

Black heart.

Black soul.

I should’ve listened to Kim that day when she said those little bastards

owned the school. Their parents are the biggest shareholders. Everyone in

RES, including some teachers, fall to their knees for them.

All of them are sons of ministers or lords.

All except for Aiden.

His father owns those ministers and the rest of the UK’s politicians.

Jonathan King leads the most successful conglomerate, not only in this

country, but also worldwide. If he sponsors a politician, they’re sure to win.

If he brings someone down, they’re sure to vanish and never return.

That’s the only reason I haven’t reported the bullying or mentioned it to

Aunt and Uncle.

Quinn Engineering is a small fish and their contract with a subsidiary of

King Enterprises is the reason they’re flourishing. Losing their company

would devastate them.If I stir up any trouble with Aiden, I have no idea what the devil will do.

After all, he’s the heir to his father’s kingdom.

Aunt and Uncle saved me ten years ago, and I’d rather die than hurt

them in any way.

Ronan notices us first. He’s the typical teenage boy with messy brown

hair and eyes. All he cares about is partying and shagging his way through

school. Kim and I are probably the only moving things with a skirt he

hasn’t fucked.

That’s probably why he licks his lips suggestively while he looks us up

and down. Then he stops abruptly and nudges Xander.

The latter pauses tossing the ball to Cole and freezes. Literally. His

easy-going smile falls, the dimples disappear, and his demeanour changes.

Kim’s new appearance shocked him.

In his bloody face.

Aiden’s eyes are on me. The murderous energy is in the air without me

having to look at him.

Xander stares at Kim with contempt. “What have you done, Berly?”

Kim’s hand starts shaking. He made her life a living hell like Aiden

made mine. The only difference is that her bullying has been going on since

the previous school. She doesn’t talk about it, but considering that she knew

these arseholes her entire life, I’m sure it’s been going on for even longer

than that.

“Ignore him,” I lean in so only she can hear me. “They get off on a

reaction. Don’t show it.”

“You think you’re all pretty now?” He strides forward with a barely

tucked-in menace.

Kim shrinks into me, biting her lower lip. Even with her courage resolution, I can’t really blame him.

Xander is an intimidating arsehole both because of his stupid football

build and his influence as a minister’s son.

Besides, he’s humiliating her in front of a class full of kids who always hated her.

“Once a nobody, always a nobody, Kimberly.” He snarls her name.

Her bottom lip trembles, which means she’s about to cry. The arsehole always makes her cry.

“Xander, p-please,” she whispers.

He slams his hand on the wall, and Kim flinches. “You don’t say my

fucking name.”

“That’s enough.” I level him with a hard glare.

“Stay out of it, Frozen.” He’s speaking to me, but his entire attention is

on Kim and her bowed head.

I’m about to pull her into a seat when Silver barges through the door,

carrying a coffee cup. Her minions follow after, flipping their hair and

making a show of their entrance.

Great.

Silver hits my shoulder and spills her cup of coffee on Kim’s front.

I gasp as Kim’s white shirt, jacket, and even the skirt soak in caramel

coffee.

Kim closes her eyes and a tear rolls down her cheek.

The rest of the class snickers.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Silver?” I’m about to lunge at

her, but Kim digs her nails into my arm, stopping me in my tracks.

“Oops.” Silver holds the empty cup. “Go change, Berly. While you’re at

it, lose the whorish skirt. It doesn’t suit your fat hips.”

Her minions chuckle and everyone in the class follows suit.

Everyone except for me and the four horsemen.

My gaze snaps to Aiden. He’s twirling the ball on a finger, but he’s not

watching the scene.

He’s watching me.Despite my resolution to not get stuck in his games, I meet his glare

with one of my own.

For a moment, it’s as if only the two of us are in the class.

He’s surrounded by his murderous demons while I seethe for what his

minions do.

Since that first time he announced he’d destroy me in front of the entire

school, I’ve become RES’s outcast.

He doesn’t even have to do anything. He just sits like a king on his

throne and watches what his loyal subjects do.

The bullying and the rumours that I slept with professors for my grades

never fazed me because I know who I am.

Who Aunt and Uncle raised me to be.

Every day is a battle in this war Aiden created.

Sometimes, I get weak and hide in the library or cry by myself in the

bathroom.

However, I never show weakness in front of him.

Not when I’m almost sure he gets off on it.

He’s usually sitting there, relaxed, watching intently as his minions turn

my life into hell.

Only there’s nothing relaxed about his expression. I swear if demons

can spill from someone’s eyes, they’d be crowding his space.

When he plays football or when he’s in class, Aiden is every bit the

golden boy.

Excellent grades.

Elites’ ace striker.

Contagious smile.

But with me?

Aiden King is one dark fucker.

He only gives me murderous glares as if my mere existence offends

him. As if I’m the reason for the world’s endless wars and famine.That arsehole ruined my fresh start in this school.

My dream.

My new page.

I hate him.

Kim releases me and runs out of the classroom. Xander starts after her

with wide strides.

I attempt to follow, but Silver blocks my way with a plastic smile. “She

doesn’t need a maid, Frozen.”

“Get out of my way,” I grind out. When she doesn’t move, I push her

and throw over my shoulder to no one in particular. “Oh, and if you have to

bring someone down to feel so good about yourselves, then I feel sorry for

you.”

I don’t wait for a reply as I run down the hallway.

It’s a trip to the back garden where Kim usually hides — or finds peace,

as she calls it.

After a minute of full-speed running, my heart’s palpitations skyrocket

into an irregular rhythm.

I stop at the corner of the third tower to catch my breath. My palm

clutches my heart as sweat breaks over my brows.

Breathe in. Blow out.

Inhale. Exhale.

In.

Out.

My nails dig into my chest over RES’s logo as I exit the building and

head to the back garden.

With every step I take into the cut grass, a weight crushes my chest. My

breathing becomes irregular, too.

A sliver of panic lodges deep within. My hands tingle and that familiar

urge to scrub them clean takes over my senses.I can’t think past the sensation that my hands are dirty. They need to be

scrubbed clean.

The pain in my chest is like tiny needles, tirelessly prickling my heart,

even when I walk as slow as possible.

My heart condition can’t relapse.

It simply can’t.

Being able to run again didn’t come easily after the surgery. There were

Nazi-style rehabilitations and a complete change in my lifestyle.

The nightmare can’t be back.

I need to run.

If I don’t purge my energy and stress into running, I’ll go crazy.

Kim and Xander’s silhouettes appear in the small cabin house on the

outskirts of the garden. She’s crying and yelling, but I’m not close enough

to hear what she’s saying.

That and my ears are buzzing so loud, I can barely hear my own

breathing.

This is bad.

I blink twice and breathe through my nose then my mouth.

Xander pushes into Kim, imprisoning her against the edge of the cabin.

Her back hits the wooden pole and her eyes widen.

It could be because I’m disoriented.

It could be that this is the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Or it simply could be that I’ve finally had enough.

I’m done with these arseholes ruining mine and Kim’s life.

I pull out my phone and record a video. Xander grips her by the hips

pulling her into him. Although I want to cut off his dick for putting his hand

on my best friend, I know that will bring nothing. The video, however, will.

I can see Xander Knight’s fall in sight. Either he leaves Kim alone or

I’ll blackmail him with sexual harassment. RES might be under his father’s

Command, but the press isn’t.

They’d be delighted to hear how sick and entitled a minister’s son

actually is.

I’m in the mood to ruin his future like he’s been actively ruining her

life.

Once I have enough footage of him manhandling her, I stop the video

and smile in triumph. Even my heart problem fades away.

I start towards the cabin to stop Xander.

A shadow blocks my way.

I cease to breathe when I stare up at my nightmare.

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