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Nigel’s eyes penetrate me as he watches my internal meltdown. “I suspected because I remember Micah was always terrible in that class, and Micah needs to maintain a certain GPA to stay in this school. Switching identities makes sense so Maison can do his pop quizzes for him, while keeping his grades up through papers.” He places his hand on my arm. “You’ll be fine. Please quit pouting. Now that you know, you’ll pay more attention. But these guys are good; their manipulation is diabolical.”

Attention. Do I want their attention?

I think of Maison’s flirting and my bare legs under his hockey sweater. The reaction I had to him in the few minutes we interacted and how I secretly craved more of it. Maison’s the nice twin… but is he? Perhaps Maison isn’t as innocent in all this as people make him out to be.

I quirk my head. “What information did you find? You said in English class you found something about their parents?”

He smiles, showing his teeth, and pushes a folder in front of me. “These are bank statements.”

My eyes widen as I peer down at them. “Nigel… how did you get these?”

He waves me off with one dismissive gesture. “Don’t worry about it. Just look at them.”

It takes a minute to comprehend what I am seeing, or the fact it’s not the last name Matei I’m staring at, but the last name Schwartz. Ezra Schwartz.

I shake my head. “I… I don’t understand what I am looking at.”

“Micah’s parents have done business with the Schwartz family for years. They did a deal a few years back, and recently, it went sour. What you are seeing is a large sum of money being transferred from the Schwartz bank account to the Matei family. It’s an obscene number, in the millions. It seems like our dear friend Ezra is broke.”

It takes all my strength to pick up my jaw off the floor.

“Is this why Naomi broke up with him?”

He curls his lip. “I don’t think Naomi has any idea. She ended things with Ezra because she’s been secretly pining over Micah her entire life. That girl is a whole other level of messed up. She was around when it all happened, and I feel like she’s hiding something, too. Her mom’s also a habitual mistress in New Ocean, and Naomi’s a slut, just like her momma.”

My eyes shoot up to meet his, and heat flushes right to my face.

Impulsive. I’m too reactionary. I need to play it cool with these people—Nigel, especially. If he has any indication that he knows about my shared past with Naomi and our parents, he says nothing, and I’m certainly not bringing it up. He must know, though…. If he’s as good as he says he is, how could he not? Like he didn’t look me up, I looked him up. He transferred here three years ago, so he didn’t grow up here.

I look down at the statements, hoping the moment passes and my eyes cross the date on the paper he hands me. December of last year.

“This makes no sense,” I tell him, changing the subject. “This school is expensive. How could he afford the tuition?”

He pulls out one more piece of paper from that dark folder of dangerous secrets and pushes it in front of me.

“That’s where it gets interesting,” he says, pressing his index finger down on a specific transaction. “It looks like the twins’ parents are covering it, and by these monthly payments back to the Schwartz family, they are giving Ezra’s family an allowance. Ezra’s only in this school because the Matei family is allowing him to be here, paying every cent of his tuition.”

I lean forward and press my hand on my chin and shake my head, glimpsing Nigel in the shadows of the room. He can’t even hide the gleam in his blue eyes.

“Welcome back to New Ocean, London.”

Chapter Six

Day one of the Alaska Trip

This entire town is laced with lies and deceit. My mom left because of it and begged me not to return. A game of power, politics, and sex, and everyone here is tainted with it. Before I fled Portland, she warned me. It’s a place where people hide their ugly truths behind a veil of sparkling diamond rings and shiny cars, each with their own hidden agenda.

I seem to fit right in…

I’m about to leave for Alaska. The trip is five days, and I suspect the only real way to be alone with the twins in any meaningful way is through the interview with Maison. It will be stiff and awkward, and in the hallway in the arena by the locker room—he likely won’t have time for anything else. It’s a high-profile event in the national youth hockey community.

I doubt Naomi will let me anywhere near them otherwise, and Jade already gave me the rundown, like how we are not usually included in their parties. Although, I do plan on somehow finding an excuse to give Maison his sweater back. It’s a natural reason for me to get him alone. I’m unsure how he’ll react when I show up at his room or what I will say to him. Unfortunately, Nigel can’t prep me for that.

My dad’s about to drive me to the airport. A part of me fears I won’t be the same if I board that plane, but these twins are a mystery too inciting to ignore. And the further I delve into their lives, the more I resonate with the girl they tormented and killed. I was only on the receiving end of their manipulation in English class; I couldn’t imagine what they do behind closed doors. Nigel is fixated on Micah, but at this point, both are equally guilty to me. Watching Maison’s hands slide around Naomi proves he is capable of more than he’s letting on. The cute, nice guy act is almost as bad as Micah’s brooding temper. At least with Micah, I know what to expect.

When I step forward and do this, there is no coming back., and I truly do not know how far I will go to get the truth.

Jade waves at me as I pull into the Seattle airport parking lot in my dad’s silver Audi. It’s an hour’s drive from New Ocean, and my dad insisted on driving me, even though I could have easily driven with Jade and Nigel since they offered.