Page 71 of Vengeful

The twins complained how boring it was, and took to practical joking every chance they got.

Everyone but Slade and me. They knew better than to target either of us.

I scanned the crowds in front of me and locked eyes on my three guys. They actually stood beside Dane DiMarco. The four of them were almost friends these days. They might actually have been friends, but Dane was often the recipient of Hunter and Parker's pranks. He'd threatened to get them expelled, but no one could prove it was them. In the end, no real harm was done to anything but Dane's ego.

He couldn't complain too much anyway, he got what he wanted: Chloe and power.

My gaze shifted over to where Dad stood with his new wife Siena. An artist, she always seemed to have paint on her somewhere, no matter what she was doing. It was hard not to like her. She was sunshine to his cynical doom and gloom. He smiled more when she was around. And didn't dare suggest locking Chloe and I away anywhere.

We'd already agreed if he tried, we'd make sure he ended up there instead of us.

According to my therapist, that wasn't the right approach, but it worked for us.

The Chancellor tapped the microphone to silence the audience. "I'd like to welcome you all to this year's graduation ceremony. I'm proud to stand in front of some of the brightest minds in Australia and congratulate them for surviving three long years at Brutham Academy."

I only half listened as he prattled on, tuning back in as he started to call us up by name to receive our degrees.

This was one time I couldn't argue that Chloe should go first. Even if she wasn't the eldest sister, her name was alphabetically before mine. For once, I didn't mind. I got to watch her step forward and accept her degree from Frankie before shaking the Chancellor's hand.

I might have even gotten a little teary with pride. I wiped my eyes quickly, before anyone saw.

The Chancellor called out my name.

I lowered my hand quickly and stepped forward.

"You're both going to do big things," Frankie said softly. "If you need anything, you know where to find me."

I smiled at her. "I might just take you up on that. The first thing I want to do is open the Brotherhood of Kings up to women."

Her eyebrows rose slightly. "That's ambitious, but I can totally get behind it. Count me in."

I smiled back, took my degree from her hand and shook the Chancellor's hand.

We stood back to wait for everyone else to get their degrees before we hurried off the stage and into the waiting arms of our guys.

University was over, but the biggest challenges were yet to come. Personally, I couldn't wait.

Hello, Slade here, your friendly neighbourhood assassin and business law professor. If you love this series as much as I loved being a part of it, you know what to do. Tell your friends, leave a review or rating, join the authors' Facebook group or sign up for their newsletters.