On another hand... his family was going down.

I didn’t know what to think. These kids around me turned on each other in the name of self-preservation.

“I don’t know,” I whispered, putting my forehead to the window. “I just don’t know anything.”

He got closer to the window. “I won’t lie and say I didn’t figure out exactly who you were, and that a lot of the rumors aren’t my fault. I feel like a lot of this is my fault. But the charges, the feds, the other families gunning for some of us aren’t. Those are all the doings of the parents around us and all of us are canon fodder for each other to use in their wars. The only problem is some of the families aren’t scared of getting their kids dragged in, or worse.”

My eyes flicked up to him. “What do you mean ‘or worse’?”

“The kid who died? You think that’s an accident? Whatever the reports say, it’s a lie. He was killed in this war zone all our parents have created. None of us are safe—you especially. Your mom died a while ago and the predators have been circling and sharpening their nails in preparation for you. You’re about to be dragged into shit that you can’t come back from.”

He tried to get even closer to the window, a bush in his way. “Fallon, you cannot trust anyone from the top ten. Look what they did to me.”

My eyes shifted to look away from him. “I’m in the top ten, so...I shouldn’t trust myself?”

His hands gripped the edge of my open window. “You can’t trust any of them. If something happens to me, I can at least say I tried to warn you.”

I pinched my eyebrows together in confusion. “What the hell would happen to you?”

“For exposing the truth? A lot. I’m a dead man walking. Don’t play their games.”

And with that he stalked off into the night.

Exposing the truth? What was he about to do?

​Chapter 29

Brent

“Jesus! I’m done. I’m done!” Alexander yelled from underneath me, pathetically throwing punches that wouldn’t land. I rolled off him and stood, dusting the dirt and leaves off me.

I pointed a finger down at him. “Don’t fucking touch her, man.”

He stood up, shaking off dirt and leaves from his nice white shirt. “I thought Sloane was yours, dude! Don’t attack me for wanting a nice piece of ass.”

I gave him another shove. “Don’t fucking spook her. I have her meeting with my fucking grandfather this week, and I can’t have her backing out of a really important fucking deal because you fucking raped her. Don’t fucking touch her. I will kill you; consequences be damned.”