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FORTY-ONE

CASSIE

The Final Act

It doesn’t take long to find Frankie. I could sniff him out from another room.

I slide up behind him and kiss his cheek and as he spins around, the sight of him in all his gladiator glory causes my breath to hitch.

“You took your time.” He raises my hand to his lips and rather than kiss it, he drags a leisurely tongue the length of it and then, taking each of my fingers in turn, he sucks them long and slow.

“Fuck, Frankie.” I am so turned on and his eyes gleam behind his mask as he whispers huskily, “I can’t wait to fuck a Greek goddess.”

“Oh, God.”

I am almost panting and his husky, “Not God, baby, you just kissed the devil and now your soul is his.” is enough to make me gasp, “When can we leave?”

His soft chuckle makes me smile and as he pulls me close, he whispers, “Later. There is business to take care of first.”

My heart jumps as I detect the serious tone of his voice and as I glance over his shoulder, I notice Luca and Summer by the door.

Siri and Jack are heading their way and I say fearfully, “You had better be kidding me.”

“I’m not.”

Desire is quickly replaced by fear and I growl, “If he hurts her, I’ll–”

“You’ll join the line, baby girl.” Frankie’s tone is pure venom and as we race to the exit, he snaps, “How long?”

“Five minutes.” Luca’s tone is even, with no urgency at all. It’s as if he is calm when inside I am raging. My eyes find Jack’s and the helplessness in them causes me to snap, “Why are we still here?”

We head outside and as we run at speed toward the parking lot, I tug off my mask and my heart bashes against my ribcage as I face the fact we messed up big time.

As we pile into the SUV, I almost don’t have time to fasten my belt before Luca squeals out of the academy like a formula one driver hot off the grid.

“Did anyone see her leave?” I ask anxiously and Jack growls, “I saw her. She appeared to be out cold.”

“And you didn’t stop him?” I yell and Frankie says in a calm voice.

“That wasn’t the plan, Cass. Calm the fuck down, we talked about this.”

I am not thinking straight and swallow my fear, my mind working overtime as I attempt to remember the plan.

We have been working on this for the entire semester and when Jesse finally confessed, Frankie unleashed his creative mind.

Jesse informed us that he was to kidnap Imogen from the prom and take her to the final act.

The house they use once a month in their sick games, where he would rape her in front of the other members before killing her in cold blood.

Frankie almost had to beat it out of him, and Jesse spent a long time locked in the dungeon cell before he confessed.

Frankie and Luca were determined to break the society’s hold on Jesse and yet when he confessed the plan, Frankie thought Luca was going to end him on the spot.

Instead, they devised a counter plan, and Jesse slowly came back to us. The drugs they fed him left his system, and he agreed to help us bring the society down.

Imogen was never supposed to be in danger. We would follow her movements and keep eyes on her the entire time. The corsage was my idea because when we were in costume, she could easily slip out of sight.

It worked to an extent and Jack, as always, kept a steady eye on her, but now we are racing across town to the house we were informed he is taking her and I hope like hell that Jesse told us the truth about that.

I glance at the app on my phone that is tracking her in my ‘find a friend’ and I remember the last time I called it up, when she appeared to head off to Cripple Creek. The way she glowed when she returned confirmed my assumption that Imogen has a man and one she doesn’t want us to know about.

I have my suspicions though and that worries me too because fuck if history isn’t repeating itself — excuse the pun, none intended. First Jesse and Jenna Sloane and now Imogen and Drake Bellingham. I saw the way they stared at one another and it didn’t take a genius to work out the attraction.

“The guy who took her. Any idea who he is?”

Siri’s tone is grim and I confess, “I have a mind it’s Mr. Bellingham.”

“The history teacher.” Siri gasps and Summer nods in agreement.

“I saw the way she looked at him and something about the way his gaze lingered on her confirmed my suspicions.”

“What is it with the teachers in this fucking academy?” I yell, anger mixing with guilt that we have placed Imogen in this position at all.

Frankie turns and the expression in his eyes reassures me a little. “We’ve got this covered, Cass.”

His eyes glitter with danger, and that is something I sure need right now.

I must place my trust in him because he assured me several times over the past few weeks that he’s got this.

He has spent many hours with Luca as they covered every eventuality and this was always an option.

Imogen was the natural choice to save Jesse because out of everyone at Rockwell, she is the only person who interests him.

My thoughts turn to Drake Bellingham and my heart pounds.

How did I miss this? Of course it’s him.

When Jenna Sloane was removed, they sent another recruitment officer in her place.

This time they targeted Imogen and I’m guessing it’s because of Jesse, who is, to our knowledge, the only person they are currently grooming at Rockwell Academy.

Frankie and Luca have been in touch with River, who is on the way to recovery and desperate to help.

He told them everything they needed to know about the society and how it works and it’s down to him we knew what to do to get Jesse back.

Now we are in a car speeding toward God only knows where, hot on the tail of my best friend and the guilt is overwhelming as I face the fact we may be too late.