22. River

River

I don’t know where Maddy or Finn are, so I get to look for them. I’ll admit, a part of me is worried they’re hooking up. I don’t think Maddy is like that, but Finn is. Although, since he believes I like Maddy, I doubt he’d do anything with her.

When I leave the living room area, I wander down the hallway and spot Finn ducking into his room. I follow him.

“What’re you doing?” I ask.

“Shut the door,” he hisses as he pulls out his phone.

I do as he instructs and shut the door before walking over to him and glancing at his screen.

He has the royal family archives app. open, and he’s typing in his login information.

“Dude, what’re you doing?” I ask perplexedly.

“Just give me a second,” he replies as he searches through records until finally landing a list of diamonds that belong to each family.

He scrolls through that and stops on a photo of a black one. It’s linked to a family name I don’t recognize—the Everfords.

“Look at this.” He points to the screen.

As I read the first few lines, I realize why I haven’t heard of them.

Because their family name and bloodline ceased to exist and haven’t since the 1970s.

“Okay… why am I reading this?” I glance at him, so damn confused.

He looks at me. “Maddy just told me, after she saw Lily’s necklace, that she has one that looks just like this.” He taps the screen.

“What?” Shock whips through. “How?”

“I have no clue.” He closes the app. on his phone and sinks onto the bed. “I thought it could be counterfeit, but those are rare and usually they pulled from the market pretty quickly. My next guess was a pawn shop, but again, if a necklace ended up at a place like that, it’d be pricey.”

“Where did Maddy get the necklace?” I wonder as I take a seat beside him.

“She said her aunt gave it to her.” He pauses. “I might be overreacting, but with the society targeting her…” He blows out a breath. “It’s weird, right?”

I nod in agreement, then dig out my phone to find more information about this necklace, and family name the diamond belongs to. But there’s not much more than what I just read, and it leaves me confused.

Why would Maddy have a necklace belonging to a family that ceases to exist? Jewelry belonging to a dead royal name would likely be auctioned off for an extremely high price.

And again, I can’t stop thinking about how the society has shown so much interest in Maddy. With so much uncertainty surrounding her, she’s hugely at risk.

I need a foolproof plan to keep Maddy out of the society's eye.

“Is there any way I can protect her from the society?” I wonder as I rake my fingers through my hair. “There’s rules, right?” I ask, and Finn nods. “Well, isn’t there a loophole in one of them that could protect her?

I can tell by his expression that there is, and he finds it mildly amusing.

I sigh heavily. “Just tell me what it is.”

The corners of his lips tug upward. “You could join the society and then date her.”

I blink at him. “What?”

“There’s a rule that states the society can’t target or haze members girlfriends or boyfriends.” He shrugs. “So I guess it all depends on how much you like this girl, because I know you hate the society, and you’ve spent your entire life refusing to date anyone.”

My stomach plummets. I have no desire to join, but can I just let Maddy fend for herself? She already seems like she has so many problems.

The real question is: why am I obsessed with this girl? From the moment I laid eyes on her in jail, I’ve wanted to protect her, no matter what the cost.

And I have a feeling that I’m about to do it again.