Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
Ivy
Nothing is more priceless than the smug faces of rich boys who think they’re untouchable … just before I’ve robbed them.
I walk around through the dark, wood-paneled halls of the Skull and Serpent Society, amazed at the wealth on display. Century-old paintings and extravagant statues are covered in drinks and food while masked people dance away to the loud music blasting across the giant mansion, believing they’ll stay anonymous. Safe.
But what draws my attention the most are three boys on the expensive leather couch in the back of the common room, drinking liquor straight from the bottle, all wearing LED purge masks that strike terror into the hearts of anyone who even dares to glance at them.
I’ve been at Spine Ridge University long enough to know exactly who to avoid.
These boys are at the top of my list.
The one on the left—a tall, muscular guy with a piercing in his lip and brow and tattoos all over—casually leans back into the couch as he takes a whiff of his cigarette right through the mask, his painted brown, medium-length hair loosely tucked into a bun, along with those black ear tunnels giving away who he is—Heath Preston, a notorious heartbreaker of Spine Ridge University, and the eldest of the three.
The one on the right, with his lanky but muscular frame and dark-brown hair swooping above his mask has a girl on his lap who’s suckling on his knife earring, but his head is tilted over the couch and his eyes are fixated on Heath as he bites his lip. Max Fletcher is the youngest of the boys, an eternal dreamer, and definitely the odd one in the crowd.
But the one that really makes all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up is the one in the middle. The shortest of the three, but the one who’s the most fucked up—Silas Rivera.
He flashes the expensive bottle of liquor, running his fingers through his black-tipped ear-length hair and white roots, the little heart-shaped tattoo on his face a stark paradox to the piercing green eyes that flicker through the mask with deadly precision as he aims the bottle at a guest’s head and chucks it at him.
The guest jumps aside, and the bottle smashes into a million pieces against the wall.
“No one said Phantoms were welcome tonight!” Silas yells.
The guy runs off through the crowd, and I step aside just in time for him to bolt through the door, leaving a cold gust of wind in his wake.
Silas Rivera laughs maniacally as the guy runs off, and the other partygoers laugh their asses off like it’s one big joke. He runs his fingers through his hair and sits back down as a girl approaches him from the side with a box of bonbons in her hand.
“Aw … Cutiepie’s getting a box of chocolates.” Heath chuckles, shoving his elbow into Silas’s ribs.
Silas looks at Heath like he’s about to chop his head off.
“For your birthday,” the girl says, blushing hard as she barely manages to glance at Silas.
Silas breaks out into a full grin, which reminds me of the Joker, the right edge of his full lips touching the heart-shaped tattoo on his cheek.
Suddenly, he grips her by the throat. “Chocolates. That’s what you bring me?”
He snatches them from her hand and chucks them at Max, whose girl stumbles off him like she’s scrambling to save her own life.
The noise in the room slowly dies down as they all focus on Silas and his tough grip on the girl’s throat.
“I … I …” she mutters.
“What?” He leans in with a wicked smile on his face. “Say it.”
“I like you.”
“You like me?” The laughter emanating from his throat is nothing short of ominous. “Get on your knees for me, then.”
The girl is slowly pushed down by the sheer force of his fingers squeezing the life out of her neck. I clutch the doorjamb with all the power I have to stop myself from intervening as a knife is flicked around.
He points it right at her face. “Do you like me enough to bleed for me?”
Her pupils dilate. “What?”
Heath leans forward too now, intrigued by the scene Silas is causing. “It’s his birthday. Don’t want to disappoint the birthday boy, do you?”
Silas holds the knife under her chin, and tears well up in her eyes as he slowly brings it to her lips. The whole room has gone deadly quiet. Even the music has died down.
“Do you want to make me happy?”
She nods.
The vicious smirk disappears. “Open your mouth.”
She slowly parts her lips as tears roll down her cheeks. He inserts the knife, lays it on her tongue …
And then the grin on his face reappears as a fucked-up laugh follows.
He retracts the knife and releases her throat by shoving her away, causing confusion all around.
“Get out. You’re not worth my time.”
After a quick knife flip, he tucks it back into his pocket as the girl crawls away.
“Fuck you,” she mutters as she scrambles to her feet. “Asshole.”
“She doesn’t seem to like you anymore,” Max says, ogling her as she scurries off. Then he chucks one of the chocolates into his mouth.
Silas snarls, “Good.”
I grip her wrist as she passes me. “Are you okay?”
She wipes the tear stains off her face and jerks her arm free. “I don’t need your pity. Thanks.”
She bolts off to the exit, and I understand why. Not only did she get humiliated in front of an entire crowd but he also scared the living shit out of her.
For a second there, I almost believed he was going to cut her, just like everyone here. He had us on the edge of our seats, wondering how far he would go and whether he’d finally veer off the dangerous tightrope he’d been walking all along. Always looking for the next hit to keep him smiling while surrounded by all that money can buy. But all the riches in the world couldn’t fill the void these boys have in their hearts.
“Music, hello?” Heath growls, and within seconds, the music booms through the room again, drowning out the silence.
I take a last swig of my drink before I waltz out of the dance room.
I’ve made my decision.
Fuck these boys. They deserve everything coming for them.
I head into the bathroom and lock myself inside before I take off my bag and pull out a hoodie and black surgical mask, covering everything until only my eyes are visible. I open the door and look around again to make sure no one watches me as I head up the stairs. The people attending the party are too busy dancing and chatting to notice me going into the hallway upstairs.
I rummage every room until I find one that’s unlocked and not occupied by people having sex, and I head inside. Books line the walls of this room, and the bed in the back seems unkempt. The scent of burnt incense meets my nostrils as I head toward the closet and open every drawer, searching through the clothes. Boxers, black pants, black shirts with skulls and spiders on them, studded belts and necklaces. This must be Heath’s room.
I get to the next closet and throw everything out until I find a very expensive-looking box from Cartier. “Well, hello there,” I murmur, tucking it into my bag.
I check the rest of the closet, but there’s not much else, and I’m definitely not getting the shoes, no matter how expensive they might be.
I open up some more drawers for some leftover dollar bills as well as an actual new, unused phone. Who keeps a phone carelessly in a box like it’s a fidget and not a whole goddamn phone that probably cost a thousand bucks?
I doubt he even bought this himself.
Men are rich … but boys? Boys don’t deserve the wealth they’ve been handed on a silver platter by their loaded parents. They don’t even pay for their admission to this university. Silas’s mom and dad own the RIVERA clubs across the globe, and his dad is the dean at this college. The parents of these boys bought their spots long ago, while the rest of us have to work our entire lives to earn a scholarship to such a prestigious university.
I stuff the phone box into my pocket before I head to the room right next door.
A ton of skulls are all over the place like someone started a collection, and I don’t know whether they’re real, but I don’t have enough time to care either.
I grab the wallet on the desk, fish out all the credit cards and bills until it’s empty, then snag some rings from the top drawer. Then I filter through his closets, opening up a box in the back that makes my eyes almost bulge out of my head.
“Money shot,” I murmur. There are stacks and stacks of dollar bills, hundreds of them, maybe thousands.
And now they’re all mine.
I take the whole box out and empty it into my bag, which is starting to feel heavy. Then I look around the room and underneath the bed, where I find a particularly strange little box. The lid is closed, but it’s easy to break into as it looks like one of those boxes kids use to hide stuff in. I crack it open with one of my smaller keys, hoping to find some interesting loot.
Instead, there’s a shiny, plastic red flower inside.
Why is he keeping this in a box?
CREAK!
The sudden noise makes me stop and look up.
What was that?
It sounded like … footsteps.
Panic bubbles to the surface.
Shit!
With the box still in my hands, I bolt out of the room, but the second I spot Silas’s black-and-white hair and those eerie tats running all up the back of his neck as he walks up the stairs, I immediately go back inside and shut the door, holding my breath.
Shit. What the hell do I do?
I check the room and find two windows in the back. One is bolted shut, but the other is opened a little bit.
Can I fit through that?
Silas’s footsteps make the wooden floor creak.
There’s no time.
Without thinking, I tuck the little box in my bag and run to the other end of the room. With all my strength, I push open the window and slip through, one leg after the other, squeezing my body through the narrow gap, ripping my bag half open at the zipper from the hook on the window.
“Goddammit,” I hiss, pulling it through as I land on the balcony.
“What the fuck?!”
Silas’s deadly voice makes all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Guess he found the mess I left.
I look over the balcony, but there’s no way to go down except a big-ass tree in front of the house.
Should I risk it?
“Whoever’s in my room, you’re dead if I catch you!” Silas’s loud growl is all I need to make the jump.
I grab the tree’s branches and catch myself just before falling, but fuck me, my heart’s shooting through the roof. This stuff had better be worth it.
I grasp the tree trunk and make my way down each branch, but one of them gives way underneath me, and I tumble to the ground, knocking me out for two seconds.
My head is spinning.
I can’t hear from one ear.
I swiftly search my way around the grass, but it’s hard to see in the dark.
Shit. Shit. Shit! I don’t have time for this.
A door is loudly thrown open mere feet away from me.
Fuck. I have to run.
Without looking, I scramble to my feet and run in the opposite direction with a half-broken bag and a few stray bills flying left and right like a trail left by Hansel and Gretel.
Twenty minutes later
I tried the credit cards, but of course, they all got canceled within seconds of my stealing them. If only I hadn’t been caught red-handed.
I throw my bike inside the shed in the building and shut the door behind me, nearly ripping off the door handle. The light fixture above me flickers, and I blow out a sigh of relief. Made it through another day safe and sound.
I head up the grimy stairs to the third floor and walk to the end of the hallways and knock on the door there, swiftly fishing some of the money I stole from my pocket.
My neighbor Mrs. Schwartz opens up in her pink fuzzy slippers and pajamas, and I hold out the cash. “For the trouble.”
“You’re welcome,” she says, snatching it out of my hand.
“Anything happen today I should know about?”
“No, nothing unusual. We played with Barbies, drew some pictures, and watched TV. The regular stuff a five-year-old is into.” She shrugs.
I nod tentatively. I don’t know if I can trust her, but I have nothing else to go by but her word.
“Tomorrow, same time?” she asks. “I can use the cash.”
“Yes, please,” I say, and she briefly nods. But as I open my mouth again, she closes the door on me, and I’m left nearly eating the wood.
“Thanks.”
I breathe out a sigh and turn around.
It’s not the best deal I’ve made, but at least it keeps me standing and allows me to try to make life a little easier.
I shove my key into the lock to open the door to my apartment. The home has a quiet atmosphere, and the curtains have already been closed. A gentle song from the radio in the bedroom makes me smile as I peek in the door and see Cora fast asleep. The whole room is plastered with newly drawn pictures of her and me together, fighting a monster.
I smile and place the red flower I found in the palm of her hand. A small gift from me to make her smile when she wakes up.
My black cat meows, drawing my attention, and I pet him on his little head. “Hey, Bagel. Been a good boy today?” I plant a kiss on his head, and he purrs as he nudges his head against my cheek. “Love you too.”
I chuck the nonfunctional credit cards in the trash and place my bag on the table. I grab a chair and sit down, then pull all the stuff I stole from the bag and lay it out in front of me so I can add up the value and count the leftover money. My cheeks blow up with air. This must be at least five grand. That’ll last us a while. Normally, I’d only be able to steal enough to pay for dinner and breakfast for her and have some scraps for me, but I truly hit a goldmine this time. Maybe I can finally take Cora to that burger place she’s always wanted to go to.
After I’ve dealt with some other business.
I pluck the remaining hearing aid from my ear and place it on the table in front of me. The void of sound usually calms my soul after a busy day, but now? Now, it creates violent, chaotic turmoil in my heart.
Silas
Twenty minutes ago
All the veins in my arms pop as I burst out of the front door and peer around me to find the person who just ransacked our house in mere minutes, but all that’s left is a broken branch and skid marks in the grass.
My eyes twitch, and the anger begins to boil over again.
“God-fucking-dammit!”
I rush to the side and look up at the open window through which they jumped, then follow the trail to Priory Forest behind the house.
They fucking ran away like a coward after stealing from me during a fucking birthday party? No fucking way am I going to let that slide.
“You can’t fucking hide from me!” I scream, listening to my own voice echoing across the dark streets.
The moment I take one step in the direction of the forest, a hand on my shoulder stops me from moving. I almost pummel him over my shoulder, but then I realize who it is.
“Relax, it’s me,” Heath says. “What happened?”
“Some fucker just robbed us!” I growl, spitting on the ground.
He frowns. “What?!”
I jerk free from his grip. “Stole my money right out of the box and ransacked my room. Yours too, I checked.”
“Fuck. Where’d they run off to?” He eyes the forest. “They could be anywhere by now.”
“I need to cancel all my fucking credit cards,” I growl, fishing my phone from my pocket so I can get to work.
Heath goes to his knees in front of the fallen branch, inspecting something on the ground. “This wasn’t here before the party.”
I cross my arms. “I don’t fucking care about some tree. No one steals from me on my fucking birthday and gets away with it.”
“No one said anything about them getting away with it,” Heath says, a dangerous smirk forming on his smug face, one of the few things that can make me feel something other than rage.
He holds up something between his index finger and thumb and shows it to me.
“What the fuck is that?” I mutter, staring at the small skin-colored metallic object with a tiny wire attached. “It looks like—”
“A hearing aid.”
A wicked grin spreads on my face. “We might be able to track them down.”
“Exactly.”
Now it’s getting interesting.
I grab the hearing aid from his hand and inspect it in the streetlight. The grin on my face only grows bigger and bigger.
I haven’t been this excited since I last got blood on my hands.
But fuck me, a chase like this … who could resist?
A low-rumbling laugh emanates from my chest.
Mark my fucking words, I will fucking track you down, little thief … and make you beg for mercy.