Chapter 75

Ollie’s POV

After Sylvia’s words, the brothers don’t stick around. Instead, the three of them push and shove Jake down the hallway before disappearing into the elevator.

Sylvia stays though, and as the distance increases between the brothers and us, her smile grows and grows, adding smugness at first, and then maliciousness soon after.

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” she says, mocking. “Always getting into trouble.”

“I have never encouraged Jake,” I say. “And I bet you know that.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t pretend,” I say. “I saw you leave right after him that one day at the ice cream shop. And then when I received that message to meet you, it was Jake there instead. Your fingerprints are all over this mess.”

She hums. “How about you prove it?”

That’s the problem. I can’t. And it wouldn’t matter anyway. Even if I had hard evidence, the brothers would still never believe that Sylvia could be responsible.

To them, she is infallible. Perfect in every way. Any evidence would have had to been doctored, or maybe she was just misunderstood.

She’d never be to blame for any of this.

Like a shark detecting blood in the water, she must sense my defeat. She places her hand on her hip, her posture growing as cocky as her tone of voice.

I wish I could knock her down a peg, right off of her high horse. But I’m entirely powerless against her.

“Jake is such a simple man,” she says. “He has such simple desires. He wants to be loved, you know? So badly that he deludes himself into thinking whatever he needs to achieve that fantasy of being loved.”

“It’s not right to manipulate people,” I say.

She shrugs. “All I did was make a few suggestions. He’s the one who believed them. And if it’s true, if you never encouraged him, am I really the one to blame? Shouldn’t the fault fall on him for not believing you when you tell him you aren’t interested?”

Yes, Jake does carry a lot of the blame here. After all, if he would have just listened to me the many times I told him I wasn’t interested, then we wouldn’t be in this mess.

But, Sylvia isn’t blameless here. Likely she acted in the role of a caring friend to me, telling Jake that I wasn’t in a position to tell him how I truly feel.

That would explain so much of what he said to me, about not having to hide. About his protecting me from the brothers.

Sylvia must have played off Jake’s loneliness, making him believe that the love between him and me is one for the ages. No wonder he’s being so persistent about it. He truly believes he’s saving me.

“You have to tell him the truth,” I say to Sylvia. “Tell him he’s wasting his time with me before the brothers do something serious to him, or he gets himself into serious trouble.”

She shrugs. “It’s not my responsibility what he chooses to believe, or what he does because of it.”

The way she’s willing to wash her hands of this has me so frustrated. And then I think of something else.

“How did he even get in here?” I ask. “Someone must have let him in…” I don’t outwardly accuse Sylvia, but the implication is there.

She just grins at me. “Truly, it’s a mystery.”

I’m frustrated with her to a point where I wish I could shout or even slap her across the face. But I hold myself back. Doing so would only make things worse for me, like they aren’t already bad enough.

“Well,” Sylvia continues, “Hopefully you can keep it together and not continue to disappoint my brothers, the Alphas. I’m assuming you’ve heard about the university meet and greet that is coming up? That might be your last chance to convince them you aren’t a total embarrassment.”

She says the words with a smile, like she is planning on making certain that I am an embarrassment. I hate feeling on the back foot with her. I have no idea what she is planning. I can only hope she’s done manipulating Jake.

I wasn’t sure how things could be so bad for me before, but now they seem doubly bad. If I’m unable to leave the estate without an escort, how will I go to my secret rendezvous with the brothers in the cabin?

Suddenly, everything is more complicated. I suppose at least, having just seen Declan, I might not need to see my mates like that again for a time. But I hate having the option stripped away from me.

Whether I see them or not should be up to me and no one else. I really hate feeling so powerless.

For now, I guess, I just need to focus on this meet and greet. Undoubtedly, this will be the trial run of me having to act like Sylvia’s servant. While I’m not looking forward to this at all, it at least gives me something else to focus on for a while.

I know Sylvia is plotting against me, but I need to thwart her somehow. If I can do well at this event, maybe I can get in the brothers good graces once more, at least enough for them to lay off of me somewhat.

I had such limited freedom before, but now I have even less. It’s just not fair.

“I’m looking forward to having you as a servant,” Sylvia says, with no less mockery in her voice. “I hope you are ready to serve me. You should get used to it, because I’m betting things will stay this way, even after graduation.”

That’s what she wants, isn’t it? If she can’t get rid of me entirely, she wants to make me her permanent servant, someone who is always beneath her. I wish I knew what I did to make her hate me so much.

I guess it’s just my past closeness with the brothers she despises. I can’t do anything about that.

Sylvia just smiles, her threat looming like toxin in the air. Then she turns and walks out of the room without another word. Truly, she doesn’t need to say anything else.

What she’s already said is bad enough.

When I’m finally alone, defeat starts to settle over me. I don’t want to give up, I want to fight. But the odds feel stacked against me. I have no idea what I can do to come out on top.

Yet, before I can spiral too far down into my own misery, my burner phone buzzes in my pocket. Taking it out, I see there is a new message from Wes.

Are you okay?

I have been avoiding him and Hugh, blaming them for Declan discovering the truth. Whether it is their fault or mine doesn’t really matter now, does it? My time with Declan was precious and not something I regret anymore.

And I miss Wes and Hugh.

I guess I’ll keep missing them since I can’t see them right now. But… it wouldn’t hurt me to reach out and reply to them.

I send a message back.

I’m okay.

He reads it instantly, then replies.

Good. I was worried. I hope we can see each other again soon.

I can’t tell him the truth, that his and Conrad’s rules make it impossible for that to be so.

Instead, I just reply…

Soon.

I hope it can be true.