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“I didn’t!” I blurted.
He cocked his head, nostrils still flaring. The other three had joined him now, and the wall of anger and raw p
ower bearing down on me made me feel claustrophobic. Their very presence pressed against me like a physical force.
“You didn’t do this?”
“No. It wasn’t me. I fucking swear! I—”
Before I could finish speaking, Cole moved forward, tugging the backpack from my shoulder. The strap slid off easily, and I took a half step forward before arresting the movement.
I knew what he would find. And he’d find it whether I tried to stop him or not.
He dug through the main compartment first, as the other three Princes looked from me to him, an eerie silence falling over the hall. When he didn’t find anything in there, he checked the front pocket, then the sides.
He pulled out the little black notebook, and his jaw tightened. I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood as he pulled the black elastic band off and flipped open the pages, letting the small flash drive slide into his palm. His piercing blue eyes darted back and forth as he read, and my body felt like it was eating itself from the inside out as I saw his expression shift.
Then he looked up at me, and I had a fleeting thought that this must be what the Princes had seen on my face the night of the award ceremony.
Not just betrayal.
But… surprise.
He hadn’t thought I would do this. None of them had.
But I didn’t. I didn’t.
Wordlessly, Cole handed the notebook to Mason, keeping the flash drive clutched so tightly in his fist I was sure the metal had to be cutting into his skin.
Mason barely glanced at it. He didn’t need to do more.
It was already flipped open to the section on him and his family.
His features tightened with anger and pain, and he met my gaze, speaking in a low voice.
“Well. You got your revenge, Tal. I hope you’re happy.”
I shook my head, the movement jerky. “No. It wasn’t me.”
He flipped the book closed, his knuckles whitening as he gripped it hard. “This isn’t your book? You didn’t write this?”
“I did.”
My words were quiet, but I might as well have shouted them. Every one of the Princes stiffened, and I saw something like resignation pass over Elijah’s face. They were all angry, but maybe he had suspected all along that something like this was coming.
His words from the night of the fight echoed in my mind.
We hurt you. We deserve to be hurt. It’s just the way the world works, I guess.
Later that night, he had told me a secret I could use to hurt him. Had handed it to me like a gift. Maybe he had even wanted something like this to happen, had hoped for absolution through pain.
But I hadn’t wanted this.
The five of us could play the game of vengeance forever, taking turns plotting our revenge until we were all wrecked, bloodied, and beaten.
But I had chosen to stop it. To end it.
I hadn’t wanted this.
