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“Although what?”
“She’s Saylor Burkhardt. She’s not about to be a member of anything. She’s going to be in charge. I think that’s the real reason she turned it down.” She cocked her head, brows screwing up. “Either that, or she already is.”
It proved how well I understood that loathsome bitch that I had to agree with Gabriella. Saylor Burkhardt wouldn’t sign up to be a pawn in someone else’s game. If anyone’s going to pull the puppet strings, it’s her.
Saying nothing, I handed over my phone and let her delete the photos. Gabriella tossed it back on my lap.
“Perfect. Now that’s done, I can say you’re a sad, bitter whore that should’ve done the world a favor and stayed in that French brothel you crawled out of.” She slapped me across the face. It came so quick and sudden, I couldn’t stop it. “Stay away from me and my friends. Especially Katie.”
Jumping up, I lunged at her. Gabriella raised her arm to block me. I twisted her wrist, wrenching it away from her face, and punched her dead on the nose.
We went down in a tangle of limbs.
“Your sister got what she deserved!” Gabriella tangled in my hair and yanked. My scream ripped my throat. “She started all of this! Giovanni would still be alive if it wasn’t for the two of you!”
“Take that back!” Rage welled over hot and acrid. “My sister was beaten, humiliated, raped, falsely accused, and expelled! Don’t you dare say she deserved it. Take it back.” I flipped and pinned her. My hands wrapped around her throat. “Take it back!”
Eyes bulging, Gabriella gasped—clawing at my fingers.
My grip tightened.
She blurred around the edges, falling out of focus as black crept into my vision. It was all too much. After everything she told me, I didn’t feel any closer to the Phantom. Owen, Levi, and Wesley were still walking around free, clear, and rich. My calls to my mother were going to voicemail. I somehow had two fiancés and wasn’t sure about my future with either of them.
And Winter was still dead.
No matter what happened. No matter what I did. No matter who I destroyed. I would wake up every day for the rest of my life knowing I had to live another one without her.
“You picked the wrong day to mess with me,” I hissed. “Take it back, or you and Giovanni will finally get your wish. You’ll spend the next eternity together in hell!”
Blue-tinged lips began to foam. She rasped something—terror bleeding into her eyes, and weakness leaving her limbs.
“I— I—” Her blows against my hands began to slow. “P-p-please...”
“Luna!”
Arms seized me, dragging me off Gabriella. The Royal didn’t waste any time. Gasping deep lungfuls, she half ran, half crawled away—falling on her face a dozen times as her sobs echoed behind me.
“You’re next, Montana. You’re next!”
“Luna!” He whirled me around, shaking me. “What are you doing! Are you trying to end up in jail?”
My chest heaved, rolling against the one pressed tightly to mine. Adonis crushed me against him, using his whole body to stop me... doing what? Not even I knew. My whole body trembled with rage, and the only thing on my mind was that I wasn’t finished with Gabriella yet.
Gasping, choking, and running away wasn’t a sorry.
I twisted around, straining in his hold. “Which way did she go?”
“The opposite direction you’re going in.” Adonis hooked me around the waist, and before I could think, lifted me off my feet. He carried me quick through the trees—staying away from the path.
“What happened?”
“Put me down.”
“I’ve never seen you go off like that, and I’m fairly certain students have been giving you reason to since the day you set foot on campus. What did she do that made you lose control?”
I shoved against his chest. “I said put me down!”
Adonis skirted a stream, and the sound of voices floating over our heads. He looked like he just arrived to campus, fresh from a shower. The tips of his hair darkened with water. A minty sage smell filled my nose. The weather was turning cool which traded in his thin, long-sleeved dress shirts for an argyle sweater.
It clung tightly to him—providing no barrier to my fingers pushing back on his pecs. I felt each muscle against my palm—as immovable as the arm around my waist.
“If I put you down, I’ll have to go to the dean and report that I stopped you from strangling a girl that you threatened as she ran away crying, so ask me to again.”
I bared my teeth, but I didn’t ask again. He had to put me down anyway when we broke from the trees. Students milled around, not paying us, or the hand firmly against my back, any mind. It was a silent trek to the administration building. I didn’t speak until we were inside his office.
