Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“It is not the job of adults to stop you from making a mess. It’s our job to not put the bucket of mud in one hand, the gun in the other, and send you off. I will protect what’s mine at any cost—even my life.” Leon stared down his nose at me. “In the midst of your righteous indignation, you should ask yourself if your sister was trying to do the same.”
“What?” I rasped.
“You said yourself that she wouldn’t go through hell to protect some Royal’s secret. She would do it for you. To protect you.” He gestured to me. “Knowing that, how could this war of yours be what she wanted? How could putting yourself and my sons in danger be what she wanted?”
He backed away. “Perhaps this is another hard decision an adult needed to make for you. I will not help you, Luna. I will not invalidate that poor girl’s sacrifice, and make her death in vain.
“Goodbye.”
I could do nothing—say nothing as he walked out as silently as he came in. I reached for my seat and missed, collapsing hard on the tile floor.
How could this war of yours be what she wanted?
It wasn’t what Winter wanted. Her note made that clear in no uncertain terms. She told me about Levi, Ashton, and the rest to save me a lifetime of wondering why. She also asked me to promise on a thousand jellybeans that I wouldn’t do anything about it.
“This isn’t what you wanted, but I’m doing this for you,” I whispered. “Aren’t I?”
“HEY, WHAT’S UP WITH you?”
I shook myself, coming to. Leon Dumont played a broken record in my mind—filling me with doubt and shame. All I kept thinking is Winter doesn’t want this. I’m breaking my last promise to my sister.
“This is kind of important.” Katie gestured to her laptop. “Am I boring you?”
“No, I just didn’t realize how hard it would be to make anyone out. The camera gives a great angle of all the half-naked guys battling it out over the pool, and the huge crowd watching them, but they’re all blocking the entrance to the indoor pool. I can’t see over them to who might’ve gone inside.”
Katie groaned, slumping against her bed. We went over the footage three times from four different angles. On any other night, the coverage would be perfect and we’d have a life-sentence shot of someone walking from the house and into the indoor pool. But the night when dozens of people are running, dancing, and jumping all over the place...
“This is hopeless,” she said. “I mean, I figured it wouldn’t be easy since the cops haven’t arrested anyone yet, but not one camera picked up a thing? Are you sure you don’t remember anything about who attacked you?”
I shook my head. “They got me from behind. My vision was going out before I even hit the floor. At least we can eliminate people right off the start. That’s Dean, isn’t it?” I pointed to a handsome guy laughing over beers with his buddies. Time stamp said that was a minute before I went lights out. “Good news. You’re not hooking up with a cold-blooded murderer.”
She rolled her eyes. “Great,” Katie drew out, then sobered. “No, that is great. All these deaths, attacks, and truth lists. I’ve been feeling like I can’t trust anyone.”
I gave her a sad smile. Never heard Katie talk like this before, but then I was pretty sure her life had been on the right side of perfect for a long time. Then, her mom gets cancer, we lose Winter, she starts seeing the Royal Wenches for who they really are, Ashton is murdered, Giovanni is murdered, and the bullying and viciousness on campus hasn’t let up for a second. That would knock some sobering reality into anyone.
“Do you see anything that could help?” she asked.
“I don’t see crashers, but I don’t know everyone in your class. Do you see anyone that shouldn’t be there?”
Squinting, she leaned in close. “Hard to make out, but no. No one that was disinvited except for Saylor, Gabby, Piper, and Everleigh. But we’ve been friends forever. I don’t blame Nick for letting them in. He thought they didn’t need an invitation.”
“Would he have thought that for Giovanni? We still don’t know how he crashed.”
Katie was shaking her head before I finished the sentence. “The only time Gio was ever at my house was to party. Otherwise, we weren’t really friends. There is absolutely no reason Nick would just wave him in.”
He wouldn’t, would he? Especially when the guy was high and dressed for a soup kitchen, not a party.
“We could be making it too complicated,” I said. “Maybe he hopped in someone’s trunk and let them ride him through the gates. He was desperate to talk to me. Figures he did something desperate to get in.”