One of Vic’s legs is between my own, his palm splayed open on my back, our bodies swaying with the music. I can’t look away from his gaze, from the tightness of his jaw, from the tension in his neck.

Competition? She has no competition because she isn’t in the running.

Victor takes me by the hand all of a sudden and starts moving back. The crowd parts for him as he pulls me out of the room and slams me into the wall. Someone turns the music up, but I can still hear mean laughter underneath it all.

“You’re fucking this up for both of us,” he growls at me, his cock so hard and desperate for me that when I put my hand over it, it burns. “I cannot do this with you tonight.”

“You said you’d never cut us off from each other to punish me,” I tell him, but he’s already shaking his head. My fingers dig into his purple-dark hair, and he shudders like he’s been slapped. Vic’s eyes are closed now, so I can’t see what he’s thinking. I can’t read a damn thing.

“That’s not what I’m doing,” he assures me, and then he opens his eyes, and I can see even less than nothing. He’s trying so hard to control himself that he’s gone completely dark. “This plan makes sense, and you know it. If they think we might comply, they might not try to assassinate you. This buys us time.”

“I almost killed James Barrasso,” I tell Vic, and he goes very still. “I took out a knife, but Cal stopped me. Just so you know, the guy’s pissed. He’s out for blood now.” I wait a split-second before I decide to add, “Unlike you, I have trouble pretending to be attracted to someone else.”

“Mm,” Vic murmurs, nodding like he’s got me all figured out. He even has the audacity to chuckle. “You still haven’t quite learned to control your temper. That’s why you’re struggling.”

I give him a look, because the all-knowing leader persona is the last part of Victor I feel like talking to right now.

“Tell me the angle, Vic, or I’ll walk right in there and beat the shit out of Trinity Jade.”

“Hah,” he says, stepping away from me and holding his hands up, palms out. “You don’t have the balls.” Victor turns and takes off down the hallway, heading back into the lounge area as I fume behind him. I’m not so stupid that I can’t see when I’m being played.

You want me to beat Trinity up? I think, smirking. Fucking fine. Wish granted, you dick.

I follow after Victor and find that Trinity’s already dragged him into the middle of the room for another dance. There’s some old Daddy Yankee song on now, something from forever ago that still sounds current—in a bad way, that is. God, this song sucks.

People move out of my way as I walk calmly through the crowd, fingering the planchet. I pause right behind Trinity and pretend like I can’t hear Kali Rose-Kennedy speaking to me from beyond the grave.

“Vic might’ve been taunting you on purpose, but what if he were a little serious, too?” her poisonous voice whispers, making me question myself even when, by all rights, I’ve won. We won, right? The Charter Crew is essentially wiped off the face of the earth. My list is nearly done. Yet, I feel like a baby trying to walk for the first time. “Beat her ass the way you wish you’d beaten mine,” Kali hisses.

“Trinity,” I say, and as soon as she turns around, I’m grabbing her by the hair and yanking her forward. She gasps as Vic stops dancing, the rest of the partygoers in the room shocked senseless. This is Prescott High shit, right? Oak Valley Prep, Burberry Prep, Adamson Academy, or any of those other rich ass schools, they don’t know shit about fighting back.

Trinity stumbles along behind me, scratching at my hands, but I just throw her as hard as I can into the edge of the wet bar countertop. There’s a satisfying crack as she stumbles back and lands on her ass, blood pouring from the side of her head. It’s not a bad cut, really, but head wounds bleed like a bitch.

“Trinity!” Nose Job gasps, rushing over to her friend’s side. Several other girls do the same and a row of prep school boys make a line between me and Trinity. It’s enough to make me laugh as I light a cigarette right there in front of them, while they ‘guard’ Trinity from my evil.

“It doesn’t even hurt, it’s fine,” Trinity snarls as her friends fawn over her. She flicks her strange brown gaze over to me. “I want you out of my house,” she continues, letting her friends help her to her feet. Trinity storms over to stand behind the boys, pointing at me from a relatively safe location. “Get out. Now. And you can forget about that annulment.”

“You’re damn straight,” I tell her to her face, pointing with the cigarette. “If I see you touch my man again, I will kill you.”

Nose Job starts to scream at me, but it’s all the usual stuff, things I’ve heard a million times. Diseased slag. Whore. Cunt. Bitch. Slut. White trash. Cum dumpster.

Trinity remains completely silent, which is a million times worse somehow.

“Yeah, yeah,” I say, gesturing back at her and then tossing my character card on the ground. “I’m the maid, not the murderer. Try the gardener though. Pretty sure he’s guilty.”

Trinity straightens her dress out, once again surprising me by having much less of a reaction to an assault than you’d expect.

Fuck, that woman is scary.

Her eyes follow me out of the room. All four of the other boys are standing near the door now, watching.

“That was beautifully done,” Oscar murmurs as I pass by him. “She’ll be begging Ophelia for Victor by morning.”

“Excellent,” Vic says, sticking a cigarette between his own lips as I make my way to the front door, suddenly desperate to get the fuck out of that house and away from these people.

And here I’d thought Kali and Mitch were bad.

James aka Jimmy and Trinity are a million times worse.

“So this was your plan?” I ask Vic, turning to look at him and feeling relief pour over me in a wave. “Get me all fired up, so it’d look real?”

“If we accept their deal too easily, it seems like we’re not serious at all. They need to see some resistance before we give in or they’ll be overly suspicious,” Vic explains as Hael moves ahead to hold the front door open for us. I grab my phone on the way by and then pause, taking the entire tray.

“Oh, wicked,” Cal says, grinning as we take the phone of every person at that damn party with us when we leave.

“You have no idea,” I say, looking back at Vic. He’s staring right at me, but I can’t decide if the relief I’m feeling is premature or just right. This guy’s going to be the death of me, I think as I stop Hael just short of opening the car door for me, climbing in and throwing the phones on the floor in my own version of a hissy fit.

Hael seems to know exactly how to cheer me up though, starting the Firebird and then driving nice and slow past the shiny surface of the black Maybach.

Jimmy’s in the front seat, yelling at someone on his phone. Damn it. Means we didn’t get his in the haul. Hael hands me a key and I know without having to ask what he wants from me.

I roll my window down and lean out, keying the length of James’ car as Hael hits the gas and we speed past, leaving through the already open gate at the end of the driveway.

“Can I spend the night at your place?” I ask Hael just a few minutes after arriving back at Aaron's house. Everything is quiet and dark, buttoned-down and ready for bed. The girls are still at the babysitter's house, and I could really use a break from Victor. He’s already gone into the master bedroom and kicked off his boots, so I know he plans on staying here tonight.

Hael pauses to glance over his shoulder at me, keys clutched in his right hand. He was reaching for the door to leave. Pretty sure I just stopped him dead in his tracks.

I cock a brow.

“What?” I ask, putting a hand on my hip and wondering if there are any hidden spots of blood on my dress that I can't see. “You don't want me there?”

“I never said that,” he starts, trailing off and then hooking a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. “Does Vic know you're leaving?”

I shake my head.

“No, but I'll tell him,” I reply, my voice even and much more self-assured than I actually feel on the inside. Telling Victor I want to leave and spend the night with Hael isn't going to make him very happy. I bite my thumbnail, and I swear I taste blood. Frowning, I pull it away from my mouth and glance back at the door to the master bedroom.

It’s open now, and Vic’s standing there in shadows looking at me.

“What do you want?” I ask, and I hear him let out a frustrated sound that’s halfway between a laugh and a scoff. He moves down the hall, and I almost gasp when his face emerges from the shadows and I can see him in a bit of moonlight coming in from the sliding doors. Outside, rain pours in a steady, silver wave.

“You want to go to Hael’s house?” he asks me, laughing again and shaking his head before he moves past me. “Go then. I won’t stop you. I already explained my position to you.”

I feel my lip curving up in a scowl, my jaw clenching.

“Wasn’t it you who said you’d never agree to a fake marriage? That you’d rather die?” I quip back and Vic freezes, right between the peninsula and the fridge. He looks back at me.

“Is that what this is about?” he asks, his voice strange and light. “Jealousy.” Victor turns around to look at me, crossing his arms over his chest. I can’t take the way he’s looking at me, so I just turn away and shrug.

“Whatever. I’m going with Hael then. I wasn’t asking you, by the way, I was just telling you my plans.” I start toward the door when Vic’s hand lashes out, like a fucking king cobra. He yanks me around to face him as Hael makes a sound of annoyance behind me.

“You really can’t handle it, can you? Just the threat of me marrying that girl is enough to undo you.” I tear away from Vic but we both know it’s only because he let me go. Oscar comes into the kitchen at that same moment, bringing in the scent of Pine-Sol and weed when he does. There are so many jars of it, stacked in the spare bathroom shower and on the floor. Even though all the plants have been processed, the smell has stuck to the walls and ceiling, no matter how often Oscar scrubs the fucking room.