Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 178117 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 891(@200wpm)___ 712(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 178117 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 891(@200wpm)___ 712(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
“I don’t trust you with myself,” she replies, glancing at us. “I trust you to kill.”
Felix’s eyes narrow. “Is that all you see in us? Murderers?”
“I see what we agreed to,” she replies. “My body for your help.”
The car comes to a stop in front of the school grounds, and the gates slowly open for us. They recognize my car’s plate number via an automated system, which makes it easier to get on and off the property. Unfortunately, it also allows my father to block us from exiting when he hates us.
We drive onto the property, silence filling the car until it becomes awkward as hell.
Suddenly, Penelope practically jumps over my lap to stare out the window, hands glued to the glass.
She gasps.
We all do.
Because the house she belongs to, the Alpha Psi sorority house, is on fire.
PENELOPE
I practically fall out of the vehicle as it stops in front of the sorority. I push my way past Dylan and jump out, watching the flames lick up the ceiling of the building with horror in my eyes.
What the fuck happened?
Firefighters are on the scene, dousing the flames with water as best they can, focusing on one particular room to the left. The rest of the rooms seem unscathed from the outside, but who knows how long the fire has been raging, destroying everything in its path.
“Penelope!” Kayla yells as she runs up to me. “Tilda called me, and I came home with Crystal as fast as I could.”
“What happened here?” I ask, gazing at the roaring fire.
“I don’t know, someone said there was a small explosion, but no one saw anything.”
My pupils dilate. An explosion? That means it’s …
“Someone wanted that room to burn,” Dylan mutters as he creeps up behind me.
“Jesus, Pen, where were you?” Kayla asks, gripping my dress. “You’re soaked.” She eyes Dylan. “You both are.”
“I was at my sister’s grave,” I say.
She releases my dress. “Oh. I was just wondering why you’d leave us like that.”
“Sorry,” I mutter, entranced by the flames.
“Oh my God, this is like my worst nightmare,” Crystal says as she approaches us, and she pulls us both in for a hug. “I hope no one got hurt. I’m scared.”
“It’s okay,” Kayla says. “The firefighters are doing their best.”
“Whose room is it?” I ask.
“Not ours,” Kayla replies. “But you should have seen the flames before. They’ve already doused most of them.”
Felix and Alistair step out too, and Kayla looks up with suspicion in her eyes. “You boys only bring trouble. You need to stay away from her.”
Felix raises his brow in a menacing way.
“Why are they even here?” Kayla mutters as we stop hugging.
“They helped me get through a tough spot,” I say and smile at her. “I don’t want this to sour our friendship.” I look across my shoulder at the three boys. “Can you please accept them for me?”
“They’re not gonna go anywhere, are they?” Crystal muses.
“I’m as stuck with them as they are stuck with me,” I reply.
Dylan winks at me while Alistair takes a step back and puts on his hoodie, but Felix seems the most annoyed of all that both Crystal and Kayla are looking at him, and not in an amicable way.
After a while, they’ve extinguished the fire, and all that’s left is smoke and ashes fluttering down the building. The firefighters talk among themselves, arguing about an item one of them is holding, and it makes me anxious.
“What do you think they found?” Crystal asks.
“It can’t be good,” Kayla replies.
“The fuse,” Dylan mutters.
“What?” I frown.
“That fire wasn’t an accident,” he adds.
I swallow. “How do you know for sure?”
He points at the building. “The fire was contained to that room only.”
“So?”
Felix clears his throat. “That was your sister’s room.”
All the blood leaves my face, and I feel like I’m about to puke.
I immediately walk toward the firefighters.
“Penelope!” Kayla yells.
“Penelope, come back here,” Felix hisses at me, but I ignore him.
I try to listen to what the firefighters are saying about the item they found, but it’s hard with all these loud sirens.
“Are you sure?” I can hear Tilda, the sorority leader, say.
“Positive. We’ll have to file a report.”
Tilda sighs. “Okay. And where do we stay now?”
“The building needs to be inspected for safety first. That’ll take at least a week.”
“A week?” I hear audible gasps from the other ladies who live in the building.
Dean Caruso approaches out of nowhere.
Was he here all this time? Watching the fire, just like us?
“Don’t worry, ladies. I will immediately ask my contacts so they can set up different accommodations for you.” He sighs out loud. “In the meantime, book a hotel room and send the receipts to my office. But only for one night. I’ll get something up and running tomorrow.”
He’s talking to the crowd like there’s nothing to be worried about. But I am fucking worried.