Page 138 of Loving the Tormentor

"Not helping," he says to him.

"I don't want to fight you," I tell him. "I know how you're feeling. And when I'm done taking down the Circle, I'll explain. Fuck, I'm getting us all out. I can't stop when I'm so close to my goal."

Wren doesn't dare push Alex out of the way as he jerks himself out of Chris's hold.

"When you talk about taking the Silent Circle down, you know it includes us." Ella's voice is weak from the betrayal. "You spent years building that account, only talking about members of the Circle in your posts just to keep attention on us. Just to get to the point of outing us slowly. What do you have that's going to end us?"

"I know it's a lot to ask, considering what you just learned, but I need you to trust me."

"You don't want our trust," Peach spits out. "You don't trust us, or you would’ve told us your plan and your motives from the beginning. Instead, you kept us out. You want to fight this on your own, Achilles? Okay. You don't need us then. After everything you put me through last year, the blackmail hiding behind Hermes…Fuck you. Don't ever talk to me again."

Peach is the first to leave, followed closely by her fiancé, who barges into my shoulder as he stalks past me. Ella and Chris are out the door next without a word. She's too shaken, and he thinks before he acts. He won't do anything until he truly grasps what's going on.

Only Alex is left behind. She looks up at me with her hazel eyes full of mercy.

"I know who you are deep down. You don't think lives are disposable like that. Whatever reasons you might have, I believethat they're important enough to ruin our friendship. So I want to tell you something... We're not the only ones who thought Nyx was Hermes. People from the newspaper were threatening to out her. Evelyn started spreading rumors while you were in New York. And you know her and Calvin Park are initiating this year. I wouldn't be surprised if she told people in the Circle. Nyx isn't safe, and it's because of you."

I follow her with my gaze as she walks away but stops before reaching the door. She looks over her shoulder and pinches her lips, clearly stopping herself from crying.

"This hurts. And I'll miss the man I thought I could trust with anything."

She leaves me speechless, as she's the last one to walk away. Maybe Nyx's good-girl effect had more impact on me than I thought. Maybe I was never the asshole everyone calls me. Or maybe I have such a broken family that those guys are all I have. All I know is that betraying my best friends feels like I just lost a piece of myself.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out to read a text from Nyx.

Mon trésor: Can you meet me there? I've been thinking.

There's a live location attached, and I click on it. It's somewhere in the woods of the North Shore. Good. I've had enough of the South Bank.

I'm driving over the bridge that leads to the North Shore when I receive another text from Nyx.

Mon trésor: Dontco dont'. comnee. Don't come. Ilovyou

My heart plunges to my stomach. The live location has ended, and the text is as ominous as one could get. She was clearly struggling to type. Either shaking or moving. Something's wrong.

I'm just glad I already put the location in my GPS. I'm going right where she is. Could it be that someone who thinks she's Hermes is hurting her? My friends aren't the only ones who believe the only intruder in our college is Nyx, and that she must be the one who’s taking her anger out on us.

Stupid fucking rich kids.

I'm zooming through back roads, entering the forest, and not slowing down until I'm seeing the tree line. The pavement turned into a dirt road a few minutes ago, and it's just stopping in the middle of the forest. Leaving my lights on, I jump out of my car and hurry to where Nyx's is. But she's not there.

"Nyx," I call out.

I run toward the trees, panic gripping my chest. What if she's hurt?

I'll kill them. I'll puncture tiny holes in their bodies and hang them upside down. I'll watch them slowly bleed to death for days and make them repeat over and over what happens when they touch my girl.

"Nyx!" I roar through the trees.

Leaves rustle to my right, and she appears out of nowhere, as if she was purposely hiding in the darkness.

"Baby." I let out a relieved breath as I jog to her.

"What are you doing here?" she says, voice trembling. "I told you not to come."

I take her head between my palms, holding her still.

"Fuck," I breathe out. "You scared me. I thought something happened."