Wait, what the hell are they talking about?

“You’re a damn fool,” Collins spits. “Why are you even doing this? He’ll never fucking forgive—”

“This is not about forgiveness!” Perkins shouts, quickly looking down the hall and I jerk back. “I don’t need to explain myself to you. All I know is, if Donley finds that paper before all is said and done, I will end you myself,” he hisses. “You’re turning out to be as worthless as your father claimed.”

Who the fuck is Donley?

I peek again, right as Collins moves to grip him by the suit jacket, shoving him against the lockers. “Watch your fucking mouth, Uncle.”

My eyes shoot wide.

Uncle?! Holy shit!

“You’re lucky I fixed it for you before it blew up in your damn face, trying to hide this was stupid on your part!” Collins shouts.

“But it works out fucking lovely for you, doesn’t it? You end up with what you want! You should be thanking me!” Perkins jeers back.

An evil chuckle leaves Collins and he says, “You might have clued me in where I was left out, but you need to stop trying to squeeze your way back. You were nixed from the name and plans eighteen years ago when you went after the trash’s mom and ruined a bulletproof plan of business, that had already been solidly fucking agreed to!”

“It was supposed to be—”

Collins cuts Perkins off, “And it wasn’t! And now my life is fucked, we’re the underdogs when we were supposed to become equals. You fucked that up! I’d be standing strong beside them if it wasn’t for you!”

Become equals? With the boys? How?

Perkins laughs lightly, and Collins draws back. “Yeah, you could have had that. You could have had all that leading up to this point. But don’t stand here and cry about it, kid. We both know your eye is on a new prize now. It’s not about what you want anymore, but who, and I’m the one making sure this happens.”

“Yeah, to protect someone you shouldn’t care to.”

“Don’t start your shit with me again,” Perkins fires back.

“I don’t know how you expect this to work!” Collins shakes his head. “They’ll never allow it.”

“They won’t have a choice,” Perkins counters. “Rolland Brayshaw will make it right. Why do you think she’s here?”

“And if he doesn’t?” Collins questions him. “If for some reason his plan is different from what you’ve assumed?”

Perkins smirks, complete confidence seeping through. “She will make the choice herself, once she learns the alternative.”

What. The. Fuck.

My heart starts hammering in my chest as I try to make sense of what they’re saying. I have to be the “she” they’re talking about.

So, Rolland does have a plan for me?

Collins steps away, his frown deepening.

I shoot back around the corner, pushing against the wall.

What the hell is going on? Does Perkins seriously think I’d choose Collins over my boys?

And why would he think that?

Fuck Collins, fuck Perkins, and fuck Rolland Brayshaw!

“You need to go before they get wind you’re here, Rolland pulled your transfer the minute his son went to jail. Guarantee one of their watchers spotted you the second you stepped from your car,” Perkins warns him.

Collins says nothing back, but what can only be described as a fist hitting a locker echoes through the empty hall, followed by retreating footsteps and the slam of a door.

I wait a minute or two to be sure they’re long gone and continue for the girl’s bathroom.

As soon as I push inside, I’m gripped by the wrist, swung around, and slammed against the long mirror.

I try to push off, but Collins is ready for it, grips me harder and slams me back a second time, my head rebounding against the broken glass.

“Ah!” I yelp.

He does it again, and my muscles begin to give – I force my feet as steady as I can.

My eyes start to flutter, but I squeeze them shut a moment and attempt to refocus.

Warmth trickles down my neck and spine, soaking into my shirt, creating wetness across the back of my shirt with each bit of blood spilled.

“Not so fucking tough right now, are you?” Collins pushes his forehead against mine, forcing my head to grind against every shard. “Face it, Rae, no matter how hard you act, no matter how many fights you get into, you’re still just a damn girl. Forever weaker than a man.”

“I see no man,” I rasp.

I’m slammed again, and my eyes close, but he shakes me, and they peel back open.

“What did you hear?” His bloodshot eyes bore into mine.

“Everything,” I lie, knowing they could have been talking there long before I listened in.

His eyes strain. “If you so much as breathe a word about this, I’ll make sure the next batch of shit your mom buys is the last.”

A laugh bubbles out of me and his lip curls.

“Like I fucking care, she’s dead to me, might as well be dead to the world, not that I believe you have it in you.” I choke slightly and attempt to swallow past the blood dripping down the back of my throat. “You’re nothing but a pussy.”

He backhands me across the face, and I growl.

I lift my knee, going for his groin, but I’m sluggish and he shifts before I can even attempt, knocking it back down.

He tsks at me, and a smirk plays across his lips.

I lick the blood from the corner of my mouth and spit it in his face. “Fuck you.”

He grips my shirt, keeping me steady. “I could right now, and no fucking body would be able to stop me, Rae. Nobody.”

“You sure about that?” comes from behind us.

Collins jerks around, just in time to take a fire extinguisher to the face.

He’s knocked back and slams against the marble sink.

With a deep growl, he charges Victoria, but I push off the mirror, whimpering when a few pieces of hair are ripped from my scalp from the glass woven in it.

I trip him, and on his way down he grips Victoria’s shirt, trying to yank her to the floor with him, but I shove her back and she flies into the door, her shirt tearing across her chest.

I push off his back and move past him, but he grips my pant leg and I slam back to the ground.

I hiss from the pain, my hands flying to my head as I try to kick him in the face with my other foot, but he knocks it out of the way and climbs up my body.

Victoria runs out the door, and he starts laughing, blood spilling from his mouth, like I’m sure it is mine.

“Why the fuck did you fall for him?” he growls in my face, but there’s a helplessness in his eyes that has me frowning. “It wasn’t ...” A tortured laugh leaves him, and his features tighten. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way, Rae. Not for us.”

He has my hands pinned beneath me, and his darts up to grip my neck, but he doesn’t squeeze.

With his elbow pushing against my sternum, I couldn’t break this if I tried. “This is a real fucking stupid move, Collins,” I rasp. “Let me go while you still have the chance.”

Footsteps pound in the hall and his eyes darken, gone is the feebleness he just showed.

His hand clenches tight while his jaw trembles. “Too late, huh?”