18. Rhys

Chapter 18

Rhys

I never thought I would see my brother standing in our dorm room with the little perfect angel Arabella by his side but that day sure came today. I also never thought I would be rushing out of my room to go check her dorm when my brother told me someone had broken into it. Yet, here I am with my brother beside me waiting for dorm personnel to meet us so we can figure out what the next steps are. While we are waiting, Phoenix informs me this is the second time it's happened but the first time wasn't this bad. My mind is still having trouble wrapping around everything that's happened and I'm still concerned about where she got the bruising on her face.

I shouldn't care. I really shouldn't but Arabella is mine to bully, mine to destroy, and I won't let anyone else think that they can get away with making her life hell. That is my job and mine alone. On top of making her life hell and forcing her to leave, I now need to deal with whoever is targeting her and my brother's new obsession with her. Whoever said being a bully was easy, is completely wrong.

"Who would do something like this? She's only been here a week and keeps to herself outside of the bullshit you put her through," Phoenix questions while pacing the hallway.

The second we got down here I took up post leaning against the wall outside the kicked open door. I planned to ignore my brother and try to sort through my thoughts but it seems he doesn't want to shut up while we wait. I have no answers for him, at least one that he will like. Clearly the Princess managed to piss someone else off besides just me.

"I'm going to get to the end of this," Phoenix continues. "The second I find out who did this, they will pay. They will wish they never crossed me."

"Careful, Phoenix. You're sounding like you actually give a shit about the Angel." I don't bother to lift my eyes to his, instead, I pretend to pick at my nails like I'm bored knowing he is going to keep going on despite my comments.

"She's a person too, Rhys," he snarls, hitting my hand away from me. My eyes flash with anger and I push myself up off the wall taking a step toward him in anger. "Oh, don't do that bullshit with me. You act like you hate her but you rushed out of the room when I told you what happened and you were concerned about the bruise on her cheek. You can pretend you hate Arabella all you want but I know the truth."

"Excuse me," I snarl, getting into his face. Rarely, and I mean rarely has Phoenix done something to piss me off to this extent. He's my brother and I would never harm him, but I'm starting to think he needs a lesson to remember who the fuck we are. We are fallen angels, we don't fight battles on an Angel's behalf.

"I am so sorry for making you both wait," a petite female calls out a little out of breath when she reaches the top of the stairs. "I just checked the security cameras before coming up here and it appears, well that they were down when this occurred."

"Down?" Phoenix questions from beside me. "How the hell could the cameras be down? What sort of security is that?"

"What about when this happened the first time? Were the cameras down then, too?" I ask, the hair standing on the back of my neck. Something doesn't seem right about this at all. I hadn't heard anything when this happened the first time, and usually, I hear everything that happens on campus, at least when it involves Angels and Fallen angels, but this was kept quiet. Now, the cameras were down when this occurred a second time? No.

"I'm sorry, first time? I thought this was the first time. At least that is what my superiors told me," she answers, shaking her head with a confused expression. "There was nothing reported about it happening before."

"What the fuck is going on here?" Isis calls out with her little friend Harper right behind her. "Why the hell are you all outside of our dorm? And what the fucked happened to our dorm?" Even from here, I can see how angry she is. That angel sure has some fire in her, I wouldn't be surprised if she becomes a fallen before her time is up on this earth. The Angels hate when someone thinks for themselves the way she does, especially a female.

"I'm sorry. Who are you?" our little security guard asks, turning to look at the new arrivals.

No, we can't have that. Phoenix and I were here first and I'm not leaving without answers. "Don't worry about who they are," I reach out to grip her arm and turn her attention back to what's going on. "How was there no report when this happened before?"

"I'm sorry, but there was nothing reported," she states again. As I stare her down, I realize she's telling the truth. She has no idea about a report from when this happened before. I'd almost want to say that Arabella lied when she told Phoenix, but I know that infuriating angel wouldn't lie about something like this—not with the state she was in.

"That's a lie," Isis shouts stepping closer to all of us. "I filed that report, along with Harper and Arabella just last week when someone broke in and trashed Arabella's room. The guard who was working came up and took the report themselves, I watched them write notes and they had the three of us sign off on it."

"I'm sorry, Miss," the woman states. "There is no report that I saw in our system."

"Well, it looks like we definitely have an issue then, don't we?" I question menacingly. "Reports going missing. Someone breaking in and destroying their dorm not once but twice. The cameras are being shut down. It seems someone is trying to target someone in that dorm room. So tell me, what are you going to do about it?"

"I agree that something suspicious is going on. I need to take a look at the room and see if any evidence was left behind," she explains with more confidence in her voice than I expected. "Has anyone entered the room since this was discovered?"

"Yes," Phoenix answers from behind me. "Arabella went in to gather some items, and I stepped in to keep an eye on her. Only what she grabbed was touched and nothing else."

"It would have been better if no one had entered the room, but I can work with that. I will need all of you to wait out here while I take a look inside." We all watch as she slowly enters the room and begins looking around. I have no idea what sort of powers the woman has but I hope she can find some answers. Answers that I can act upon and get revenge.

The four of us stand outside the room for over thirty minutes as she carefully inspects every inch of the dorm in silence before it's finally broken. I was content to continue the silence but clearly the little Angels who belong in this dorm had other ideas.

"Where's Arabella?" Harper questions softly.

"She's in my dorm room resting. It was clear she had a long day and I was worried about her. I wanted her to get some rest while I handled this," Phoenix explains. I can hear how much my brother cares for the little Angel as he talks about her and it makes my skin crawl. He needs to get over his crush immediately. It's just going to make him soft, softer than he already is and he will get hurt.

"Are you sure that's a good idea," Isis asks. "I mean don't you share a room with..." she trails off cutting a look to me before looking at Phoenix once more.

"With who? Me?" I growl, turning toward her. "If you're going to try to talk bad about someone, maybe make sure they aren't standing in the same space as you."

God. I am so over these prissy little Angels.

"If I was going to talk bad about you I'd say it to your face," she snarls.

"Bring it, Little Angel," I laugh. "You can't do anything to me."

"Guys," Phoenix steps between us blocking my view of the annoying angel. "I know my brother is a dick but he isn't going to harm Arabella. Right now the safest place for her happens to be in our dorm room. No one would suspect she is hiding there, and no one would have the guts to disturb my brother's place."

"How much did she tell you?" Harper asks finally joining the conversation once more. I can tell she is the shy one out of them and tries to hide behind her friend. I can also tell from here how scared she is but she's doing a pretty decent job at hiding it.

"Enough," my brother hedges. I can tell he wants to protect her, but I'm not sure that is the right way to go. If I was him I would tell them what she said and question them for further information, especially to find out what asshole left a bruise on her face but for now, I'll let him do it his way. It was his idea to take the Princess in after all.

"Well, you know about the last break-in. So do you have any idea who could be behind this?" Harper asks as she twists her hands in front of her.

"None, but I promise I'm not going to stop until I find out who is behind this. No one should feel unsafe while on this campus, especially not in their own dorm room," Phoenix answers. I can see how effective the words are as Harper visibly calms down. Isis is still weary of us but I wouldn't have expected her to be won over so easily with some pretty declaration.

"Did she," Isis nods her head toward the security guard working the room. "Tell you where we are supposed to stay now with this going on?"

"No, sorry, I didn't think to ask about that. Arabella is staying with us, I gave her my room and I'm taking the couch," my brother explains as he looks back toward the security guard. "When she is finished in there we can ask her. I'm sure there are empty rooms available for the two of you to stay in."

"You mean the three of us," Isis interjects with a bite in her tone. "Harper, Arabella, and myself. That makes three." She puts a finger down for each name she says just to push her point home.

"No, I don't think so," I chime in. I love causing a little bit of chaos and having the Princess living with me, well it gives me more access to make her life a living hell. This little arrangement, despite how much it pisses me off, happens to work out in my favor in the end. "Arabella will be staying with us. It's clear whatever is going on here," I point to their dorm, "is directed at her and you two just got in the crossfire. She is safer with us where no one would think to look for her."

"That's bullshit, Rhys," Isis snarls, getting into my face once again.

When is this angel going to learn? I internally sigh and roll my eyes. "Nope, not bullshit. That is exactly what is going to happen."

"I don't mean to interrupt, but I'm done," the security guard calls out breaking up our debate. "I took pictures and notes of everything. It doesn't appear as if any clues were left behind per se but the place is a disaster. Girls," she turns to look at the two angels. "You can go in and see what is salvageable and gather your items. While you do that I'm going to go downstairs and find out what other dorm room is available for you to move into for the time being. There are I believe three of you correct? Where is the third girl?" She looks around realizing no one else has joined us since.

"Only the two of them need a room. Their third roommate has somewhere safe to stay," I state leaving no room for argument.

"Very well," she answers with a nod. She makes her way through the four of us and takes off down the stairs to hopefully do exactly what she says and get the angels a new room. I really hope her report makes it into the system and isn't covered up or destroyed like it appears the first report was. I'll add that to my list to check into tomorrow morning, right after finding out who injured the Princess.

"Do you mind if I enter to gather more of Arabella's belongings?" my brother asks nicely from the doorway.

Both girls had already moved inside and began inspecting the damage. From where I stand, it is just as bad as when I was down here earlier. I hadn't found any sort of clues either, but I wasn't going to tell the security guard I had gone inside. That would have led to questions I really wasn't up to answering, especially, because I didn't have an answer, at least not one that made any sort of sense.

"Sure, hopefully, some things can be salvaged from this. It looks like our furniture definitely can't," I hear Harper call out from inside the room.

Before I can stop myself, my curiosity gets the best of me as I step inside the dorm once more. Everything for the most part is still in the same spots besides what the girls already started picking up. Following Phoenix into Arabella's room, I begin picking things up and sorting stuff into piles of what has to be trashed and what can be saved. After ten minutes the trash pile is a lot larger than the pile of things we are going to take back with us. Phoenix manages to find enough school uniform pieces for two days and I am able to find some school textbooks, her laptop, and some journal that looks extremely old hidden under the destroyed mattress. When my brother's back is turned I tuck the journal into the back of my pants, using my shirt to hide it. I'm hoping it has some of her secrets buried within that I can use against her. If not, maybe it can be some leverage to get her to do my bidding and leave this damned school. Either way, I win.

"You don't have to help me," he states as he comes back into the room holding an empty trash bag in his hands. "I can handle this myself. I know how much you despise Arabella. You've already done enough."

"It's no issue," I shrug not wanting to explain the real reason I'm here. He'd kick my ass if he knew I was only helping so I could find things to use against her. "The sooner we finish, the sooner you can get back to the angel taking over our dorm and get her out of there."

"You are such an asshole," my brother sighs, placing the clothes he found inside the trash bag so we can bring it upstairs with us. "Does it really kill you to do something nice for someone who is in need?"

"Yes," I huff. "Less talking more working. As you said I have better things to do than be here." Better things like figuring out my next step in operation force Arabella out of RISE Academy. Princess will have no idea what hit her by the time I'm through with her.