We bang on everyone’s doors, telling them to wake up before we head downstairs and run outside along with everyone else already awake. The fire is gigantic, swallowing the building like a gate of hell opened up underneath the ground, and the sight of it is …
Magnificent.
Never in my life have I seen a fire this big, and for me that’s a rarity.
“Wow,” I mutter as we all stare at the blazing fire.
“What do we do?” Alistair mutters behind me.
“The fire department must’ve already been alerted,” Felix says, pointing at the students near the building who gather small buckets and fill them with water from the fountain.
But each bucket they throw disappears like a droplet on a hot pan.
“C’mon,” Alistair says, and he grabs my hand and tags me along. “We gotta go check if there are survivors who need help.”
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Felix says, but he still follows us as we head toward the fire.
The heat singes my skin, even from a distance.
Jesus Christ. How did this happen?
“Quick, fill it with water!” A fellow student shoves a bucket into my hand, staring at me. “Well, don’t just stand there. Help!”
I shove the bucket into Alistair’s hand and push him along. “You do it.”
He reluctantly puts it into the fountain and hands it to the next in line, but he continues to stare me down like he wants me to know he’s suffering in silence.
“The fire department is on the way!” someone yells out.
“Has someone called the dean yet?” another person asks.
My eyes widen. “Please don’t. He’s gonna lose it.”
The girl next to me lowers her phone. “Too late.”
I groan and roll my eyes. “Oh God.”
“Hello, some help, please?” Alistair barks at me, throwing me glares.
Sighing, I make my way over to him. “Fine, fine, coming.”
“Felix!” Alistair yells, and he throws him a spare bucket.
“Fuck that.” Felix chucks it aside. “Let it burn.”
My face contorts, and I don’t know whether to yell at him or laugh as he waltzes off, settles down on a ledge surrounding the fountain, and lights a smoke.
Damn that fucker. I should’ve known.
“Pass it on,” Alistair says as he shoves a bucket full of water into my hands.
It’s heavy as fuck as I push it to the next guy in line. “There you go.”
“Next one!” Alistair says, shoving another one into my hands.
“Jesus, not so fast,” I reply.
“What do you think we’re doing? Having a pool party?” Alistair scoffs.
I splash some water at him for that comment.
“Save the fun for later!” a big burly guy growls at us while throwing more buckets onto the fire. “Bring more!”
I can hear the sirens in the distance, making me stop in my tracks.
“Listen,” I say, breathing rapidly as we exchange buckets.
“The fire department,” Alistair says between breaths. “Shouldn’t take long now. Just keep going a little bit longer.”
A car comes chasing through the gates, but I pay no attention to it as I’m far too busy shoving buckets back and forth.
“Hey, Dylan,” Felix says, making me turn my head.
The bucket in my hand drops to the ground.
“Your dad’s here,” Felix adds, taking a drag of his smoke.
My father stares at the blazing fire with his jaw dropped. “Mother of …” Before I know it, he has his hands all over my collar as he snarls, “Where is she?”
“What? Who?”
“The girl!” he chides. “Penelope.”
I’ve never seen him this incensed before. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen her.”
“She must’ve contacted you by now,” he says.
“No. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I frown, clutching his hands so he’ll let go. “How would you even know she’d contact me?”
“Oh please, you’ve been hanging out with her daily,” he scoffs, pushing me away. “You should’ve gotten rid of her when you had the chance.”
My nostrils flare. “What the fuck does Penelope have to do with any of this?”
“She’s the one who lit this fucking fire!” he rages.
My eyes widen, and I don’t know what to say for a moment.
That can’t be true. She wouldn’t fucking set the school ablaze. Would she?
Alistair puts down his bucket and comes to stand next to me.
“I don’t understand …” I mutter.
“What don’t you fucking understand?” he growls. “She’s responsible for destroying the school. I need to know where she is now.”
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.
