Page 133 of Loving the Tormentor

Iunlock the door to the campus house I share with Wren, ready to go straight to bed.

Time.

That's what Nyx wants. She got a call, and when she came back to the living room of the lake house, she said she needed time alone to process what I told her. I'm a dad. Not because I was desperate to be one, but because I drunkenly didn’t put a condom on withonewoman who wasn't on contraception,onetime. It was a mistake, but I love Sophie to my core. She's part of me, and as I told Nyx, when the mom showed up at my house in France with a newborn, saying there was no way she could take care of her, I knew I would. In fact, I know in my soul that I would die for my daughter.

I just never thought I'd have to tell a woman I'm in love with about her, and that it could potentially mean she doesn't want me anymore.

Nyx wanted to go to Lena's trailer on the North Shore to be away from me, but I told her she could have the lake house toherself, and that I'd sleep here tonight. Except it's only seven p.m. and I can't imagine not talking to her, fucking her, hugging her, sleeping next to her. I'm dying to text her already, even just to make sure she feeds herself tonight. It's fucking torture.

And yet I should’ve known that when you think you've hit rock bottom, fate always finds a way to dig a little further. If I thought a night without Nyx was going to be torturous, then what’s a night without heranda conversation with the people who are currently in my living room?

I try to head for the stairs, bypassing everyone, but Chris Murray calls my name like a dad who just caught his kid coming back past his curfew.

"Not tonight," I throw back as I keep going.

But then another voice resonates, and I freeze on the first step.

"Achilles, come sit with us."

My heart sinks, and I turn around, walking back to the living room to find my father sitting with Wren and Chris.

"Ooh," I coo sarcastically as I wiggle my eyebrows. "Tell me we're having aLord of the Ringsmarathon. Because this is my dream team for that."

I'm met with three unimpressed stares as I sit down in an armchair. Wren and Chris are on a sofa, my father on another, and we're officially looking like four idiots in a gangster film.

"Are you capable of behaving like an adult for once?" my father asks. "We have an emergency situation on our hands."

I run a hand through my hair, staying silent since I know they're going to explain the rest.

"Have you seen Hermes's latest post?" Wren asks.

"No. I was busy enjoying life for once." I pull out my phone and go to the SFU app.

It's a picture of Chester, a guy we used to be really good friends with until he treated Alex like shit while I lived in France,and when I came back to SFU, I told him to stay away from her and us. Or I might havethreatenedhim to stay away. All I know is, he never tried to approach Alex or anyone else in our group after that.

It's a picture of him being arrested on campus, right outside the castle, and the caption is simple but effective.

First one to fall. But not the last.

Turns out…not everyone at SFU is above the law.

No one's secrets are safe anymore.

#letmeintoyourCircle #who'snext?

I look up at all of them. Their intense stares are focused on me, as if I'm the almighty god with the answers to all their questions.

"What did Chester do?" I ask.

"Apart from being part of a secret society?" Chris answers sarcastically.

I roll my eyes. "I meanrecently."

"We just had him join Falcon's campaign team as an assistant so he could report to us."

Falcon is one of the running candidates for his party for the next presidential election. One that the Silent Circle is putting there. Because he's one of them, he'll get unlimited funding, access to multiple media outlets, and the support of all the people the Shadows can influence. He's sure to win unless he fucks up badly. Or if people on his campaign team start getting arrested, for example.

"My question was more, what did he do to get arrested, Father. Keep up, will you?"