Alice took her sandwiches and unwrapped the cellophane. The egg filling that had looked so delicious this morning had now begun to smell. She looked about guiltily, happy that only two others were currently taking their breaks. Most of the teachers were in isolation and teaching remotely on giant screens, including Hannah, who had always seemed so careful. Things were getting beyond ridiculous. Most of the management were also off sick, and those left to cover had little clue what they were doing. Every morning Alice prayed the school would close. That way, she would get paid and wouldn't have to see Riley or his gang. She hadn't bumped into any of them since that horrible night, but it was bound to happen at some point, despite her evasive tactics. Her eyes widened as the IT guy entered, caught her eye, and turned away so fast he dropped his pot noodle.  "Oh, crap," he uttered, scooping up the splatter of dry noodl

The brawl was already in session when they arrived, and it looked to Alice like Riley's side was losing badly. A guy she recognised was balled up on the floor, being kicked by three guys at once while a couple of others engaged in one-on-one fistfights.  Her heart rate doubled as she ducked under the broken metal grate. She expected Riley and the others to steamroll in and start kicking butt, but instead of rescuing their mates, they moved slowly. "You fucked up big this time," Riley said, announcing his presence. The other group turned and made faces, acting tough. "I heard you had a girl in your crew now," the leader said, taking a step toward Riley. He looked Alice up and down, licking his lips. He made the gesture Italians made when talking about food. "She's quite fit. I'll fuck her when I'm d—" Like lightning, Felix stepped out and whipped out his blade. 

Audrey Cross slipped out of her heels and rubbed her feet after dropping her shopping bags by the door. She'd bought a new bag and a pair of shoes she'd been eyeing for weeks—pink heels with diamond straps. No, they weren't suitable for the weather, but she was going to wear them anyway. She pulled on the new shoes to show Felix, not that he was interested in fashion, she simply wanted to show off her slender legs. "Nice," he muttered, eyes flitting away from his screen for only a second. As Audrey took a seat at his side, tucking her legs beneath her, he closed the laptop and turned to face her. "Am I a murderer?" "Well." Audrey thought about it for a moment, trying to summon a valid argument for his abhorrent behaviour. "It depends if you view the unborn foetus as alive or not. I think you did them a favour if I'm honest. None of them would have had a decent life, child included." Felix nodde

Audrey stared at the bags of white powder, mouth agape. It felt to her as though hours had passed, though it was probably more like seconds. She'd helped to carry the very same drugs from her Porsche to Riley’s car and later watched as Felix’s tall friend loaded them into the back of Mike's van. As ordered by Felix, she had taken photographs to share with the authorities and she'd been so discreet. There was zero chance either of those cretins had noticed her filming them. She had watched them drive away minutes later, van fully loaded with the incriminating evidence. So how was it now back inside her garage? It made no sense.  Someone had taken the drugs from the back of the van and placed them back inside her home without the cameras or alarms going off. They would have to be invisible—a ghost. 'That's silly,' she scolde

Adam picked up a piece of glass and winced as it got wedged in his flesh. "Come here." Zoe tutted, grabbed his hand looked up at him with a thin smile. "You're always so clumsy with your big sausage fingers." "I don't have sausage fingers," Adam griped. He sat back and let Zoe clear away the glass and blood. She pulled a plaster from her bag—Zoe had everything you could ever want or need in her giant shoulder bag—and wrapped it over the cut. He looked at her. Her layers of contoured foundation, thickly caked lip gloss and butterfly-like fake eyelashes. She'd always been considered the hottest girl in school, and yes, she did have an amazing body, but he'd never thought she might be intelligent also. "That was pretty quick thinking, logging onto your channel like that," Adam said. "Well, that was why I hid," she said, an air defensively. "I didn't want them to see me f