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Why would she light the school on fire? It doesn’t make any sense. She wasn’t mad at the school. She was mad at us for breaking up with her sister. She thought we caused her sister to jump. And I won’t deny that our decision may have played a part in that.
But there is something else …
Sirens of the fire department's arrival break through my train of thought.
“Did you talk to her?” I ask.
“She needed to go,” my father says, coming eye to eye with me. “It was for your own good.”
“You chased her off?” Felix snarls, marching at him. “You had no fucking right.”
My father glares at him, facing him head-on. “I have every right. This is my university, and she put this entire fucking school as well as you three in jeopardy.”
“Jeopardy?” I scoff. “Bullshit. You’re basing that on your prejudice because of Eve. You don’t even know if she’s behind this. It’s all guesswork at this point.”
Alistair jumps in. “She’s just a random girl. She couldn’t have started this fi—”
“Random? Don’t you fucking know what family she and her sister belong to?” my father interjects.
I shrug. “Yeah. Her family name is Richards.”
My father leans in and sputters, “No. She’s the heiress of the Ricci family.”
The … Ricci family?
My father once told me there was a Mafia family hell-bent on making the most soulless mobsters pay for their crimes by stealing their wealth and giving it to the poor.
A modern Robin Hood hunting only the rich Mafia.
My family, Felix’s family, and literally everyone on the board.
And Penelope is part of it?
“Do you get it now?” he seethes.
I nod.
“That can’t be it,” Felix says. “She said several times her name was Penelope Richards. Even at the dinner party.”
“Dean Caruso is right,” Alistair intervenes, and we all look at him as he pulls a photograph out of his wallet, where both Eve and Penelope are depicted with her parents. “I found this in Eve’s old room after it burned down. I just didn’t know what it meant.”
He flips it over, revealing the Ricci name on the back.
Fuck.
“She lied to you all,” my father says. “She came here with a purpose. And now she’s fucking fulfilled it.”
I can’t believe it.
Penelope managed to fool us all.
All of it is starting to make sense. Her fearlessness, the unhinged looks she sometimes had on her face, those knives, all the violence … none of it scared her.
Because she’d grown up living that same truth as us.
“I’ve never heard of the Ricci name before,” Alistair says. “What makes it so important?”
“They’re enemies of literally every criminal family on the planet,” I mutter. “Including ours.”
“Wait, what?” Alistair’s eyes widen as if he can’t believe what I’m saying.
“They hate bad guys,” I add.
“Wow …” Alistair mutters. “This just got a whole lot more complicated.”
“Little Pen … so fucking deliciously evil,” I say with a smirk.
My father approaches Felix who just glares at him with disdain in his eyes. “You’re the ringleader,” he barks. “Find her. Punish her.”
Penelope
Fifteen minutes ago
I stare at the barrels standing in the basement that I broke into. It didn’t take much effort, with only a single stained glass underneath some bushes to break that I could slip through, and then I was able to pull the plastic barrels inside.
The whole place is stacked to the brim with old books and notes from previous students. Information the dean probably wants to keep around.
Too fucking bad for him.
I kick over the barrels and let the contents spill out all over the notes and floor.
I fish my phone from my pocket and text my dad.
Penelope: It’s done. I know the truth now.
Dad: Name.
I take a deep breath.
Penelope: Dean Caruso. Dean of Spine Ridge.
Dad: Thank you, Penelope.
Penelope: What now?
Dad: You know what we do … Destroy.
After tucking my phone back into my pocket, I pull out the box of matches I bought at a store and immediately light one.
The fire dances in my eyes.
I can hear my mother’s voice, whispering to me from the darkness.
Remember how your father and I met?
He saw me when no one else did. He helped me off the street, gave me a home, gave me love and adoration … gave me vengeance.
Your grandma had destroyed my spirit by putting me out on the street at my most vulnerable.
So we destroyed her life …
And burned. It. Down.
And with a smirk on my face, I throw the match on top of the oil and then jump out through the window, bolting off as the fire turns into a blaze of vengeance.
FELIX
Penelope … Ricci.
Penelope “Richards” fucking lied to us.
My face darkens as I look at Dylan. “She needs to pay for what she’s done.” I’m fuming, overtaken by raging madness. “We’re gonna find her.”
After everything I did for her, all the fucking people I killed, all the bodies I piled up … this is how she repays me?
