Page 76 of Eat. Prey. Love.
Snorting, I give him a wry look. “Those powerful people have money, too. I’m sure they’ll finance her if she stays useful.”
He’s about to respond when a ding echoes in the mostly quiet room. “Speaking of Rockland…” Farley continues, tapping on his tablet with a smirk. “Thanks to your hacker tiger’s GPS program, we just picked up her cell signal in Paris.”
“Paris?” A flutter of surprise lifts the weight in my chest momentarily. “That’s... oddly reassuring. Having her an hour away makes me feel alotbetter.”
“In theory, it should,” he concedes, though his expression remains unreadable. “But she’s had her phone off all morning and now it’s on. I’ve got Skelly and Monstro heading for it to see what they find out. Just because she’s not here doesn’t mean she isn’t making trouble, Dolly.”
I nod, feeling the exhaustion flow through me again. “Yeah, I know. My mother excels at doing horrible shit from a long distance, so I’m not naive enough to think Rockland isn’t similar.”
“How is old Lucille? The scuttlebutt is she’s living it up in Ibiza since your odious father got blown to smithereens.”
Rubbing my temples, I shake my head. “Truthfully? I have no idea. I haven’t heard one fuckingwordfrom her since I got here. That alone is weird as hell, but not getting a call gloating about getting rid of Bruno is even more bizarre. I’ve been too afraid toreach out to her because we all know what happens when you invite the vampires into your house.”
“A lesson that may become important here, mm?”
How did he know?
Another ping from the DiePad gets his attention and he frowns at the screen. Holding it up, he swipes, bringing up a grainy image of a dimly lit bar. “She’s with Asani Khan at some dive calledLe Renard Rouillé.“
“Have your badgers seen anything useful yet?”
“Skelly and Monstro are on it,” he replies, a sly twinkle in his eye. “Rockland may be cunning, but she’s careless when she’s amongst people she wants to impress.”
I nod, comforted that they are close on her tail. “What about online? You know she’s been spewing lies again, trying to paint herself as a martyr. How are you handling that?”
“Ah, that.” Farley taps a few more times, pulling up charts and graphs that mean nothing to me. “Her traffic has spiked, alright. The increase in chatter seems like she’s rallying her troops against imaginary ‘haters’ again—ie, you.”
“But how do we stop her? If she keeps on distorting the truth...” I lick my lips, frowning. “It’s hard enough having built in enemies everywhere I go because of the Heathers or my mother or…”
“Patience, Dolly.” Farley points to another series of screenshots. “I told you earlier that we’ve been digging, too. My guys found a trail of abuse and bullying, stretching back years before she ever swooped into Capital Prep.”
“No shit,” I retort, rolling my eyes. “Color me shocked—shocked, I tell you!”
The badger chuckles, his eyes dancing as he looks at me seriously. “Ten assistants aren’t nothing, Dolly. Ten young souls chewed up and spat out by her within the three years prior to her arrival at CapitalPrep. Not to mention other authors she’s terrorized into silence online with that devoted cult following of hers.”
“Preying on the vulnerable is the specialty of cowards like that carrion eater,” I murmur, feeling a surge of anger mixed with fatigue.
That behavior is classic Rockland—manipulative, self-serving, destructive.
“Exactly.” Farley leans back, his chair creaking under his weight. “Once you peel back the layers of her so-called success, what’s left is nothing but a narcissistic opportunist. She’s been fired from every place that’s had the misfortune of hiring her.”
“Bad karma follows her like a wedding train on a runaway bride,” I muse aloud, a faint smile touching my lips at the imagery.
“That’s the country spirit, girl,” Farley says, beaming proudly. “When the world sees her true colors, her halo will tarnish.”
“Leaving her to deal with her own mess, hopefully.”
“Exactly why exposing her is part of my strategy,” Farley says with a conviction that stirs something defiant within me.
I nod slowly, my mind’s eye picturing Rockland’s halo disintegrating, piece by fraudulent piece. “So, instead of being on the offensive, she’ll be too busy scrambling to pick up her own pieces?”
Farley’s eyes glint with unrestrained glee. “She won’t have the time or energy to focus on you.”
A weary sigh escapes my lips as I think of the ceaseless barrage from Rockland. The desire to just breathe without the weight of her malice pressing down on me is overwhelming. “It’s like she’s this shadow, always looming. I’m just so tired, Farley—tired of looking over my shoulder for enemies, tired of defending myself against her lies.”
“Understandable,” he agrees, his voice softening. “You’re carrying a huge burden for someone so young. Luckily you have astrong support system or I fear you might head the way of others I’ve known in the past.”
The room seems to close in on me, the walls inching closer with every beat of my heart. It’s not just the fear of Rockland’s vendetta that gnaws at me; it’s the struggle to maintain a semblance of normalcy amidst the chaos. School should be my sanctuary, yet now it feels like another battlefield.