Crowd of Lies (Kingsley Academy Book 2) Read online

  “Ivy didn’t even know about Nova until her mum died, Grant.”

  “Dad’s still not answering,” Ethan interrupts, stepping into our little circle. “And you might not want to hear it, but I don’t think Ivy has anything on our families. Whatever is going on, it’s not because she has some grudge.”

  “He’s right,” Lucca adds before we can speak up.

  “One way to find out,” Grant bites out, daring me to stop him when he moves towards her door.

  I’m too fucking torn to stop him. I want answers, and the only one who can give them to us right now is Ivy.

  Nova’s going to have to get in line, because I’m not leaving until I find out what is going on.

  If I’m about to break a life-long friendship for a girl, it had better be because he’s in the wrong.

  I won’t be made a fool of.

  CHAPTER THREE

  IVY

  I wake up to raised voices, confused and disorientated. I recognise Kaiden and Grant immediately, but their voices are muffled.

  I open my mouth to call out to Kaiden, but memories come flooding back. I scrunch my eyes closed, clamping my mouth shut.

  I’d prayed being chased by a mad man was all just a bad dream, but as I wake up in my hospital bed, that dream is crushed. It was all real, the whole damn lot.

  I’m past angry. I’m livid. He tried to kill me. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out it was Royce who ran us off the road.

  I tilt my head to the side, scowling when I see Sam and Nova sitting side by side on the sofa of the grand room I’m in.

  This place isn’t a hospital. It’s more like a hotel room.

  The walls are a light grey with landscape paintings of mountains covered in snow. It has a recliner in the corner, and a blanket has been thrown over the top, like someone has been using it to sleep on.

  I shut my eyes briefly, breathing through the pain throbbing through my head. Everything hurts, and as much as I want to cry, I know now isn’t the time. There will be time for that later.

  I ignore the arguing going on outside the room and turn my attention to my so-called dad and aunt, who miraculously decide now is the time to become best buds.

  “Get out!” I grit out, losing my voice towards the end. I clear my throat, wincing through the sharp ache in my chest as I try to sit up further. Pain shoots up my arm and my eyes widen at the white cast that spans from my hand to just below my elbow.

  Nova rushes to my side, relief pouring through her. “You’re awake.”

  “No thanks to you.”

  “Ivy,” she whispers, her tone pained. I look away, trying to be unaffected.

  I thought we were getting close and it was all a lie. She made me think I could have a family, a life, and she lied.

  Her betrayal stings, and I force myself to look at her. “I said, get out!”

  “Listen to her,” Sam warns me, and I narrow my eyes at him.

  “Why are you even here? Come to gloat?”

  His jaw clenches. “You know that’s not true.”

  “I don’t know what’s fucking true anymore. Someone keeps lying to me. I would have been safer back in the flat.” Remembering my bag filled with the truth, I look around the hospital room in a panic. “Where’s my bag?”

  “Bag?” Nova asks, taken off guard from the change of subject.

  “Yes, it had everything in it,” I tell her, glancing at Sam from the corner of my eye. I don’t know what she’s told him, or if she’s lied to him too. I wouldn’t put it past them to be in on it together.

  “Oh, um, it’s gone. Whoever ran you off the road, they took it,” she explains.

  I close my eyes as anger consumes me. The monitor beside me starts beeping a little faster, and I try to calm my breathing.

  I don’t need any more proof to know it was Royce.

  And she can’t be that stupid to believe it was an accident.

  “You know who’s got it, don’t you?” I ask her, a bite to my tone. “He’s going to get away with it.”

  She nods, her bottom lip jutting out as she crosses her arms in front of her chest. “It’s why I lied to you. He’s dangerous, Ivy.”

  “So why live next door to him? Why bring me into the lion’s den?” I bark.

  “Because you’re my niece, my family. I didn’t know he had your mum killed. I didn’t know any of it. I thought that as long as you were kept in the dark, he wouldn’t go after you. Then he showed up the first day.”

  “He mentioned money,” I tell her, remembering when I listened in on them the first time I met him.

  “Yes. He was worried you’d liquidate the company they co-share together. I swear, I didn’t know he had your mum killed, Ivy. I would never have brought you back to Monroe Manor. I would have sent you to live with your uncle.”

  I shake my head in disgust. “But you knew what he did to her and let him get away with it.”

  “He would have gotten away with it regardless, Ivy. As sad as it is, he would have. He had a family with a wide range of connections. He had money. And she acted out after, doing drugs, sleeping around. They wouldn’t have taken her seriously.”

  “She was pregnant with her rapists’ baby,” I tell her, angry all over again. “If that wasn’t cruel enough, she had to live with them, knowing they’d gotten away with it. She lost a part of herself, and in the end, had no one. She didn’t even have me, because she never let herself get close. And I can see why. I understand it all now. Everyone she loved betrayed her, so why get close to anyone else?”

  “Ivy, you have to understand—”

  I turn to Sam, arching my eyebrow at his condescending tone. “Understand what? You have no idea what life for me was like, but I’m willing to bet my life it was worse for her. I can’t even hate her anymore. I don’t even know how to feel, because if that hadn’t happened to her, growing up, I would have had a mum, a dad, a family. Instead, I spent my life around drugs, a drunk mum, and men who would get handsy. So, don’t sit there and tell me to understand.” My throat burns as my voice rises. It’s so dry my tongue feels rough against the top of my mouth.

  A flicker of guilt flashes across his face. “Royce knew how to play the part, Ivy. He’s always been sick in the head, but he hid it well with his looks and charm. He was different and everyone knew it, could sense it. He was as cunning and evil as the devil.”

  “And that makes it okay?”

  Nova shakes her head. “It doesn’t make any of it okay.”

  Sam runs a hand across his jaw. “Our fathers and their fathers’ fathers have been in business together for many generations. We grew up together, but Royce was groomed early, ready to take over when his dad went into politics. But his dad made a wrong business decision and they were on the verge of losing everything, and with his campaign around the corner, he couldn’t afford to, so he needed to get the other families onboard.”

  “That’s peachy, but I don’t see what that has to do with anything,” I tell him.

  He sighs, pulling a chair closer to the bed. “Hear me out. I’m telling you everything so you understand where we’re coming from.

  “The rest of us were groomed from high school, all of us learning the family business. Royce has always been about money, wanting more than he’d ever need in a lifetime. It was never enough for him.

  “Nina, Kaiden’s mum, was going to break up with him. He was controlling, manipulative, and when his dad started punishing him at home, he’d take his anger out on her. We’d see the bruises on her arms at school, in places he thought we couldn’t see. He’d always been a bully, always cruel to those he thought were less than him. She loved him and kept forgiving him until it got too much, I guess. His dad was on his back to marry her or a Monroe, to connect their families by blood, since they were pushing him out of the company.”

  “So, he raped my mum,” I finish, the words from the tape coming back to me. “He was meant to get her pregnant, to become a Monroe?”

  “Yes. Not
even your grandfather or great grandfather would have been able to refuse marriage then. They would have forced them to marry if a child was involved. It would have looked bad on the family if they didn’t.

  “The Monroe’s and the Kingsley’s are the richest families in the UK. They have businesses or investments in pretty much everything. To our community, they are gods, the people you want to have connections with. Royce’s dad, and Neil Tucker’s dad, made a wrong move and it cost the company millions. From what I remember, they were cast out, fired by the board. They lost money, too much money, and their dads were furious with what they had done with their legacy and demanded they fix it. They came up with a plan. They would get one of their sons to marry into one of the two richest families and connect their wealth to theirs. They knew Nova and I were very much in love, and Royce knew Nina was going to break up with him. He’d been secretly trying to get her pregnant for a while and it wasn’t working. Neil was with Flora, Grant’s mum, at the time, and he didn’t want to break up with her like his father told him to. But he knew he’d have to if he wanted to be successful in life. They needed the money. Flora’s family was wealthy, but nowhere near the same level as a Kingsley or a Monroe. They’d joke about it to me, how they were going to toss a coin, like it was some sort of game.

  “That night, I didn’t know what I walked in on. Your mum was out of it—moaning or whimpering, I don’t know. I was weak, and I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was scared about what they’d do to Nova.”

  “What?” Nova asks, seeming surprised by the news.

  I feel sick, and I have to look away for a moment, trying to catch my breath.

  Sam nods sadly. “Did you never wonder why I kept quiet, why I didn’t tell anyone? If I spoke up, you’d have been next. They cornered me the next day and kicked the living shit out of me, saying they’d tell people I was there, that I thought it was you. I knew then that I had to get stronger, not only to stick up for myself, but for you too. Cara never said anything, and I didn’t want to bring it up. I’m ashamed of what I did, and I’ll never forgive myself for my part.

  “The night before she left, she told everyone what they had done to her, but they didn’t believe her. Flora had just died, so I was having a drink, then two, then three, then four. I knew it was my fault. I should have spoken up. Cara came around that night, and I was so out of it, drinking away my sorrows. I don’t remember—”

  “I don’t need to relive this,” Nova mutters, looking away.

  “I do. Go on. I want to know everything,” I tell him, clenching the sheets.

  “As I was saying, I don’t remember any of it.”

  Nova snorts. “So you say.”

  “I don’t. Why you won’t believe me, I don’t know. One minute I was on the verge of being drunk, the next, Cara was on top of me, and I was too out of it to realise it wasn’t you. I should have known by the different coloured hair. She begged me to tell her the truth about what happened that night, but I couldn’t find the words.” He pauses, turning to me. “Nova walked in, and that’s when I realised what was going on. I told Nova everything after she left, needing her to know what Cara said was true and to stay away from Royce, since he was living next door at this point. I was worried he’d take advantage of me not being there and get revenge for the storm Cara had caused.”

  Nova nods. “I didn’t tell you because I wanted you to be safe, Ivy. You would have looked at Royce differently, and he would have known. I couldn’t risk that, not after what he did to your mother. I may not have known the Cara she became, but I knew who my sister was, deep down, and she wouldn’t have wanted you to be put at risk. Not like that.”

  Wait, something she said a while ago comes back to me. “You said he likes young girls. Was that to warn me away or the truth?”

  “Sadly, the truth. He’s made accusations go away before they’ve even gotten to the police station. But I’ve heard the rumours. He’s also not shy about showing the world who he cheats with.”

  “I don’t get it. Why try to kill me? He’d already gotten away with it.”

  “Because you have the power to destroy what he has left,” Sam announces.

  “What do you mean?”

  “He doesn’t have full access to the Kingsley empire. He has what he’s siphoned from profits, but he doesn’t have full control, only temporary control until Nina is well enough to take back her position. Nina has full authority, and when Kaiden turns twenty-one, so will he. A few months ago, Nina slowly started making changes through her director, freezing accounts when they started noticing money disappearing.

  “Since then, he’s been doing everything he can to get more from our start-up business. We have a clause in our agreement, which we put in place when I bought a percentage from him a few years ago. It states that if I don’t have an heir to the business, it gets left to him.”

  “But he had to know what was in my bag before he took it,” I mutter, not understanding. “This couldn’t have been about that clause.”

  “Something like this getting out… He’d lose everything, they both would. They have a lot to lose, and something tells me that Royce stealing from mine and Nina’s companies means he has the most to lose. He’d lose his partnership with us. He wouldn’t be able to claim they are false allegations, not with the proof Nova said you had. And you’ve seen how the media works; one story gets out and thousands more will appear. It would have been a mess he couldn’t fix with money.”

  “Has he been arrested?” I ask, arching my eyebrow when they share a look, their foreheads creased as they seem to be in some kind of conflict. “What?”

  “He’s gone, and so is Neil Tucker.”

  “What do you mean, gone?” I ask, swallowing past the lump in my throat.

  “Gone. I’ve been watching Neil for a while, had a PI looking into his businesses, and he’s been stealing, along with Royce, and forwarding shares into an offshore account in a different name. I was waiting on more evidence before taking it to the police. I’ve informed them he’s trying to leave the country and have a team looking for him and Royce.”

  He looks away and I go on alert. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  A weary sigh escapes him. “I don’t have any concrete evidence on him, Ivy. Even if the police were to bring him back, they have nothing to hold him with.”

  “You have the phone with the evidence on,” I tell Nova, getting frustrated.

  But then the door bursts open, and I jump, looking away from Nova.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  KAIDEN

  My eyes land on Ivy the second Grant bursts through her door, and my chest constricts at the sight of her. She doesn’t look better. In fact, she looks worse. On the left side of her face, she has a bruise, and road rash covers her arms, neck and chest. And that’s only what I can see. Her arm is in a cast, propped up on some pillows, and she has dark circles under her eyes.

  Something isn’t right though, and it’s not because of her injuries. Something inside of her has shut off.

  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but her aloof demeanour wasn’t it.

  She scans the room, looking right through me—which has my back straightening—before her attention goes to Grant, who’s foaming at the mouth, wanting to strangle her.

  I’m instantly on alert, wondering if Grant was right in what he said outside and she does have something on our dads.

  In my head, I don’t believe it. I’ve gotten to know her over the past five weeks and she doesn’t have a cunning or manipulative bone in her body.

  Still, something isn’t right, so I step back and let Grant do the talking.

  My brothers share a look with me, and without words, I know they’ve noticed her reaction to us.

  “No grapes or flowers?” she teases tightly, her lips pressed together.

  “I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire, let alone bring you fucking grapes,” Grant barks, stepping forward.

  Sam gets up from his chair, ready to intervene.
Not that he’d be able to do much. I bet the guy hasn’t been in a fight in his life. If Grant goes to touch Ivy, I’ll step in.

  “Watch your mouth, Grant, before I have you escorted outside and banned from the hospital,” he warns.

  He ignores Sam, scowling at Ivy. “I knew you were fucking trouble the minute you rolled into town. Whatever fucking game you’re playing, it ends now or I’ll end you. Whatever you’re using to blackmail my dad, I want it. It ends today.”

  I see a flash of confusion when her eyebrows pinch together, before she masks it, putting on a bored expression as she plays with the sheet on her bed. “I do love to make an impression.”

  “This isn’t a fucking joke,” he barks, taking another step.

  The twins step forward, also ready to intervene if need be. I stand back, watching Ivy closely. This isn’t her, that much I know.

  “Pray tell, what, exactly, am I meant to have?” she asks dryly, grimacing a little when she shifts to get comfortable.

  He grasps the end of her bed, leaning forward. “Your mum was a mean fucking drunk, spread her legs just as much as she spread her lies. And now you’re following in her footsteps. For a second, I was beginning to think you were different. You nearly had me fooled. I won’t let you do this to us.”

  “Grant,” Nova whispers, stepping forward to reach for him. He slaps her hand away and Sam steps forward, pushing him back.

  “Don’t fucking touch her.”

  “Looks like I’m not the only one who follows in their parents’ footsteps,” Ivy spits out, grimacing as she sits forwards.

  “What is that supposed to fucking mean, you dirty cunt?”

  “Maybe you boys should go and calm down,” Nova tries.

  Grant glares at her. “Why don’t you shut the fuck up. Your family did this, Nova. And now you bring her into our lives, after everything her mum did.”

  Ivy begins to laugh, and all our attention turns to her. “Listen to yourself. You’re just some scared little boy crying for his dad’s approval and love because he didn’t get it from his mum.”