“Miss Riley,” he said, his eyes twinkling as he took a step closer.

I reached out and hugged him, because we were kindred spirits. Both trapped and working for Catherine Debitch. Stew cleared his throat as he stepped back before he held a bag out to me. “I brought clothes as requested, and the rest of your wardrobe is being packed up as we speak. You’ll be ready to move the moment you find an apartment.”

Not a moment too soon. I slipped back into Jasper’s car, and ruffled through my bag, finding jeans to slip on under Jasper’s hoodie. There were shoes as well, which I pulled on, and then I was good to apartment hunt.

The one I was after was on the third floor, which was also the top floor, and we had to go past a doorman, who asked for identification before we could access the elevator. The agent was waiting for us inside, and after a quick greeting, I moved straight to the huge bay windows that were a centerpiece of the main living area.

“It’s a million dollar view,” the agent gushed, moving in next to me. “Not to mention the hardwood floors, fireplace, and top notch security.”

I didn’t bother to join her in the over enthusiastic speech, I just nodded. “We’ll take it,” I said with a tight smile. The apartment was gorgeous, but even more importantly, it wasn’t near Catherine. “Stew, can you do the paperwork stuff?” I looked to where the silver haired, well suited gentleman was standing politely near the door.

He gave me a small nod then turned a charming smile on the agent. “Shall we?” He indicated for her to join him at the dining table to sign the necessary papers. “I believe Miss Riley would like to move in immediately, so we had best get going on these papers.”

The agent spluttered something about bank transfers and keys, but I tuned them out as I turned my attention back to the view. Stewart had assured me that if I liked something, he’d use the force of Delta to ensure I’d move in on the same day. Money talked.

“So this is the one, huh?” Jasper commented, joining me as I wandered out to the balcony and leaned on the railing. I nodded, and he gave me a lopsided smile. “Nice.”

I shrugged. “It’s only temporary. Despite the lengths you’ve all gone to lock me down, I’m not just rolling over and accepting my fate.”

His grin spread wider. “I never thought you would.”

My phone vibrated in my pocket—again—and I sighed. It was probably Eddy, and seeing as Jasper already told her where to meet us it was pointless to ignore her. I slipped the phone out and clicked the side button to light up the screen then grimaced.

Not Eddy.

“Fuck off,” I muttered to my phone, swiping my thumb over the screen to delete the message from Beck.

Jasper made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, and I glared death at him. “Don’t start with me,” I warned, and he held his hands up in surrender.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he replied with a grin. “I’m back in your good graces and that’s all that matters to me. Beck can clean his own shit up.”

I laughed. At least he was honest about that. “Some messes can’t be cleaned, no matter how much scrubbing you do.”

My cynical comment wiped the smile from Jasper’s face, and he shifted uncomfortably, diverting his gaze back inside the apartment that Catherine had just bought for me. “Hey, it looks like Stew might be a while on this paperwork. Want to meet Eddy down the road at that burger joint?”

“Sure,” I agreed. My phone buzzed again in my pocket, and I ignored it, pretty confident that it was Beck again. “Just make sure she’s alone. I won’t be held responsible for my actions if anyone else tags along.”

Jasper gave me a small frown, like he wasn’t totally sure if I was serious or not, then quickly tapped out a message on his phone. “All good, let’s go.”

We chose a table near the back, where it was darker and we had more privacy. Eddy burst in about ten minutes after us, still dressed in her Ducis uniform.

“Riley!” she exclaimed, sinking into the booth next to me, her arms wrapping me up in a hug. “Are you okay?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, nothing like a bit of public nudity to give you an awesome reputation.”

Eddy grimaced, her lips pressed tightly together. “Don’t worry about it. I mentioned it to Dad, and he has Delta tech people wiping it from social media. It’ll creep up again, but they’ll stay on top of it until the interest dies down.”

Crossing my arms, I dropped my head onto them. “This day sucks,” I said softly. I still wasn’t embarrassed, I just didn’t get this thing with teenagers posting every fucking thing they did and saw onto social media. I mean, why? Who cared if I was wearing underwear in school. I hadn’t actually been naked.

“Are you ready to order?” The waiter made his appearance, looking nervous as he stared at Jasper. The pen was shaking slightly in his hand.

“Yep,” Jasper said, confident as always. He rattled off his order, and Eddy followed, and I just picked the first burger and fries that looked appealing.

The guys hurried off then, and I snorted. “You four do not deserve your reputation.”

Jasper looked affronted. “You take that back! We worked fucking hard for our reputation.”

Eddy laughed out loud, and I joined her, because Jasper was only partly kidding. The Delta successors loved their power and privilege. If only all the bad shit didn’t go with it.

Jasper leaned back in his chair, arms spread out on either side of him. “Everything will be okay now. Riles will come back into the fold, the bullshit at school will stop, and we’ll make sure Katelyn Huntley gets the fuck out of our territory.”

“Nope,” I said stubbornly, crossing my arms. “Riley will not be coming back into any fold. None. End of story.”

Jasper and Eddy exchanged a glance before they leaned in closer to me. “Riles, do you understand what you’re saying?” Eddy started softly. “Today was only the beginning. It will get worse. They’re animals at that school, and now they have a new zoo keeper to stir them up.”

Jasper nodded, for once serious. “Katelyn is bad news. She’s definitely causing trouble behind the scenes, and I can’t protect you at school. What happened today … that’s a one off, unless you crawl back to us. I have to keep a united front there…” His eyes went really wide. “Even though you know I’m on your side here.”