Page 52 of A University of Betrayal

“I’ll take care of him,” Bastien said briefly, nodded to me and the man with a cool look, and disappeared.

Shit.They were seriously leaving me here alone with this guy. Nowwhat?I was totally unprepared for this.

The man broke out of his stupor and went back in the direction he had come from.

Should I follow him now? Did I even want to?

I knew it wasn’t about what Iwantedand that I would struggle to find my way back to the first floor from this state-of-the-art facility, so I followed him, albeit wary and prepared for anything.

The man pretended I wasn’t there, grabbed a bag that looked suspiciously like the one I was holding, and put it on a table. Then he turned to me.

My body stiffened.

Why had I been so terribly jumpy since I’d been here? What had happened to Larissa from the street? To the girl from Sacramento?

“I’m glad I have the honor of being your mentor,” he began calmly, and I couldn’t help but think of Miles’ words.

“…now what he wants is her.”

I eyed the guy suspiciously before it just burst out of me.

“What did you do with my friend?”

“Your friend?” He looked at me questioningly, but I already knew this game.

“Don’t act like that. You know her,” I continued. “The girl was with me when we first met. You and your...”

“Friend?”he chuckled. “I don’t think so. He’s dead.”

I widened my eyes.

“He didn’t follow the rules, he was too conspicuous and he...” He furrowed his eyebrows. “Assaulted a DeLoughrey.”

He meant me, without exception.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “You killed the one who changed me into this monster... Didn’t you have the same thing in mind for us? Out there?”

He came a little closer, and I became uncomfortable with the conversation. He seemed to want to say something as his gaze rested on me, but he shook his head.

“You’re my student, which means it’s my responsibility to train you.”

I looked at him in astonishment.

How could he just ignore my question like that?

“Are there any talents you have?” He looked at me again as if he had meant the question seriously. “Except for photography.”

I stared at him, speechless.

Did everyone here know who I was? To be fair, I had been pretty active on social media, so it was no wonder that people like the DeLoughreys had an easy game with me.

“I don’t know. I tinker a lot.”

“Tinkering.” The guy raised an unimpressed eyebrow. He must have misunderstood me.

“On motorcycles.”

The corners of his mouth turned upward, which made me a little uneasy.