Lifting my gaze to Brock, I said, “I need to know who or what he cares about the most in the world.” I would find a way to break Sterling before he did something to Mads that would destroy me. Everything in my bones told me the bastard was toying with me before he unveiled the main event, and my biggest fear was that Mads would be the star of the show.
“According to the info from Marlow, he has a sister.”
Marlow was our private investigator. He did work for our parents, but the man loved a side hustle. He also loved money and knew we were good for it. He was the kind of guy who never asked questions, just delivered the goods. “You think she might be his weak link?”
His smile grew. “Only one way to find out.”
My smirk mirrored his. “I love that devious mind of yours.”
“I’ll get Marlow to do a little legwork, and we can hash out the details tonight.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and checked the caller ID.SpermSac,aka my father. I declined the call, dropping my phone on the counter. I didn’t have the energy to deal with him.
“Fynn wiped Sterling’s phone last night. The photos are gone,” Brock informed me, though we both knew that even though we had his leverage deleted, Sterling would find another way. He was the kind of asshat who had a backup plan for his backup plan.
I hated assholes like that. Methodical to a fault.
Reaching in the fridge for another beer, I pulled out two. “I’ll let Mads know. Thanks, man.”
Brock took the beer I offered, removing the cap. “It won’t end here.”
The need to shelter Mads was fierce inside me. I wanted to tuck her away from all the assholes like Sterling and Carter, because there were too many of them lurking in the world, blending in with the general population, watching, waiting, stalking, like a hunter in the woods, far too patient and quiet. Those qualities made them dangerous as hell, whereas I came in loud with punches swinging. That was the difference between Sterling and me.
I tapped my finger over the bottle’s cap. “I know.”
“There’s something else I think you need to see.” The grim tone of his voice told me I should down this beer before he told me. Whatever Brock had found, it wasn’t good.
“Fynn went through the others’ phones. He isn’t finished yet, but he sent me these.” He dropped his phone on the table. “You might want to take a look.”
I picked up his phone, staring at the image on the screen. It was a girl standing in one of the dorm rooms in nothing but her bra. She was bent over, picking something off the floor. The pose wasn’t sexual, at least it didn’t appear as if it was meant to be. In fact, due to the novice quality and pose, I suspected she didn’t know the photo had been taken. There were more. So many more. I flipped through them, one by one. All girls, taken in the dorms. Ice trickled down my spine as I swallowed the bile that coated my throat. “Fuck,” I hissed, forking my fingers through my hair.
Anger, like an old friend, came back into my life. “What the hell are they doing with all these photos?” Was the fraternity into some sort of amateur porn shit?
Quiet violence simmered in Brock’s eyes as I handed him back his phone. “A part of me isn’t sure I want to know. But then I thought about how I would feel if I came across a pic of Josie. I’d kill them all.”
The bottle hissed as I twisted off the cap. “A killing spree probably isn’t the answer, regardless that the planet would be a better place without them.”
“You’re not supposed to be the levelheaded one.”
My phone buzzed, and when I saw my father’s number again, I knew he wouldn’t be ignored. I swore under my breath. “I need to take this. It’s the old man.”
He nodded. “Enough said.”
Alexander Bradford didn’t tolerate trouble of any kind. In short, he didn’t tolerate me because I was literally made up of all kinds of trouble. He had a short fuse on his temper, which tended to make him trigger-happy. The one trait I inherited from the old man.
“Sir,” I answered flatly, walking out of the kitchen and toward the stairs to the privacy of my room.
“Heard you’ve been making a name for yourself at KU.” Nothing in his greeting hinted at pride. His voice was cold and sharp with heavy doses of disappointment. “You’ve only been on campus for two weeks and you already managed to provoke a fight. With the president of Chi Sigma, no less.” He got right to the point. No pleasantries. He didn’t have time for small talk or nonsense.
I wasn’t surprised that word had reached my father. He had friends on the school board, and regardless that Brock had convinced them to discreetly turn a blind eye to the incident, someone would have passed the information along. If the board couldn’t deal with my indiscretions, then my father would.
Somehow being away at college felt like I’d finally put some distance between the old man and me, but the second I heard the deep timbre of his voice and the criticism that went with it, all those miles were just gone. It was as if I’d been transported back to my bedroom in our house, the old man standing tall in the doorway as he scolded me on what I’d done wrong at his latest dinner party. They’d always been centered around his work and therefore, in his mind, were deemed important. Only perfection was allowed. Perfect home. Perfect wife. Perfect son to follow in his footsteps and take over the empire.
“It was nothing but a misunderstanding,” I said, squeezing the phone. It wasn’t like I could tell him what a creep Sterling was. He didn’t hate Mads. He didn’t have feelings toward her at all beyond that a girlfriend was a distraction I didn’t need. College wasn’t a time to be tied down in a teenage crush according to him.
He bulldozed his way through what was on his mind like I hadn’t spoken at all. “Does this have anything to do with the Clarkes’ girl?”
She had everything to do with why I’d hit the bastard and would gladly do so again. I was looking forward to getting my hands on him, but I knew I couldn’t explain what was happening. Regardless of the truth, my father wouldn’t care about what he would deem juvenile pranks. My focus was to be class, football, and getting into Chi Sigma, yet I’d managed to fuck up his plan in the first week. It had to be a record.