16. Ryan
Ihaven’t slept. Not really. I might’ve managed an hour somewhere between staring at my ceiling and checking my phone for the nine hundredth fucking time, but I’m not counting it.
Ally: SOS. Plans changed.
Ally: I’ll tell you tomorrow at school.
That was it. I called. Nothing. Called again. Nothing.
Are you safe?
Three minutes. Three fucking minutes before the bubbles appeared.
Ally: Yes. I promise. Can’t talk here.
So I didn’t climb out my bedroom window, cross the yard, and break into the O’Toole house. Barely.
By first period I know Cat has a plan, because she walks past me without looking in my direction and my phone buzzes.
Cat: Girls locker room. Four minutes.
Cat: Don’t be seen.
I show Kaid. He reads it over my shoulder. “She’s adorable.”
“She terrifies me.”
“She should.”
Three minutes later, five eighteen-year-old guys are standing outside the girls’ locker room like we’re about to commit the world’s stupidest felony. The door cracks. Cat’s hand shoots out, grabs Kaid by the tie, and yanks him inside. We follow. She locks the door behind us.
“This is a girls’ locker room.” Danny looks around. “I’ve always wondered.”
Cat grabs the back of his blazer and shoves him farther inside. “Wonder faster.”
Normally I’d laugh. Today I barely hear him.
Ally is sitting on one of the benches between Becca and Penny. Long sleeves. Makeup over most of the bruise on her face. The cut on her lip is healing. I know what’s under the sleeves — I’ve seen the pictures. Roman’s fucking hands.
I go straight to her. “What changed?”
She stands. “Switzerland.”
My stomach drops. “What about it?”
“I’m not leaving April sixth anymore.”
“When?”
Her eyes meet mine. “Saturday.”
For a second I genuinely don’t understand the word. Saturday. Today is Monday. Five days.
“What the fuck do you mean, Saturday?”
“Dad told me last night. Sainte-Catherine can take an earlier arrival. Everything’s already been changed.”
“Why?”
She looks down at the giant fucking diamond on her finger. “Victor. After Thursday, he doesn’t believe Edgewood is an appropriate environment for me anymore.”
Iz lets out a humorless laugh. “Because we hurt his feelings?”
“Because you publicly disrespected him. The videos are everywhere. People are talking. Apparently the school has become a distraction from my responsibilities.”
Kaid’s mouth twists. “So Thursday scared him.”
“Humiliated him,” X says.
That’s it. Victor didn’t look scared crossing that atrium. He looked humiliated — because I didn’t come when he called, because we laughed at him, because half of Edgewood recorded five teenagers refusing to treat him like the important man he believes himself to be.
“What did Roman say?” I ask.
“That Victor’s right. I need distance from—“ Her eyes move around the locker room. “This.”
Danny puts a hand to his chest. “All of us?”
Despite everything, Ally’s mouth twitches. “Mostly Ryan.”
“Fair.”
“Thrilled to be recognized.” The smile disappears as fast as it came. I already know the answer to my next question. I ask anyway. “Tobias?”
Her face changes. “He stays.”
Fuck. Nobody needs that explained. Roman doesn’t have to drag Ally onto a plane. He just has to keep a six-year-old boy behind.
“He said Tobias needs stability after everything that’s happened.”
“Everything he fucking did,” Danny snaps.
“I know.” My hands curl into fists. Five days.
“We call Arthur now,” Kaid says.
“Already planning on it.”
“You can’t let him fucking take her.”
Every head in the room turns. That wasn’t one of us.
Iz stares toward the showers. “What the fuck?”
A second later, Bella steps around the tiled divider in her tennis uniform, quarter-zip half open, bag over one shoulder.
Penny closes her eyes. “Of fucking course it’s you.”
Bella looks at her. “You say that like I scheduled this.”
“What the fuck are you doing hiding in a shower, Lucifer’s fucking social secretary?” Iz demands.
“Listening to you speak is punishment enough, Isaac. I promise I wasn’t hiding for the privilege.”
“Could’ve fooled me. You’ve been orbiting everybody’s business like a vulture in Cartier.”
“And you’ve been mistaking volume for intelligence since kindergarten.”
“At least I don’t collect other people’s disasters like accessories.”
Bella smiles. Mean. “No. You just become one.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Danny mutters.
Normally I’d enjoy this. Today I want to put both their heads through the tile.
Bella looks away from Iz — not because she’s finished, but because she’s looking at Ally. “You can’t go.”
Ally folds her arms over herself. “I don’t exactly get a vote.”
“Then somebody needs to make sure Tremblay doesn’t get one either.”
Iz scoffs. “Thanks for the insight, you poisonous fucking debutante.”
Bella’s eyes cut back to him. “Does being useless come naturally, or do you practice?”
“Does inserting yourself into other people’s shit?”
“Only when they’re too incompetent to handle it themselves.”
Iz takes a step toward her. “Say that again.”
“Which word confused you?”
“Enough,” Kaid warns.
Bella looks back at Ally. “Getting you to Switzerland makes everything easier for him.”
“How?” Kaid asks.
“Because Switzerland isn’t the cage.” Silence. Her whole expression has changed. “It’s the first stop.”
My stomach drops. “What?”
“Once she’s out of the United States, Tremblay can move her.”
Ally goes still. “Move me where?”
“Anywhere.” She says it too easily. Like she’s thought about this before. “Private planes. Houses. Friends. Business connections. Places where nobody knows you. Nobody knows Ryan. Nobody knows what Roman did to your arms—“
“Hold the fuck up.” X’s voice cuts through the room. Bella stops. X looks at Ally’s sleeves, then at Bella. “How the fuck do you know about her arms?”
Danny’s head snaps toward her. Kaid looks between the girls. Iz goes completely still. Penny suddenly finds a locker fascinating. Cat doesn’t even bother pretending. I look at Ally.
“Ally?”
Her lips press together. “She saw them Saturday.”
“What?”
“Prom shopping,” Cat says. “She showed up.”
“And unfortunately stayed,” Penny adds.
Bella looks at her. “You’ve been sending me memes for forty-eight hours, Penelope.”
“Under protest.”
“You sent seven.”
“They were relevant.”
“Can we not?” I snap.
Both of them shut up. Bella looks at Ally’s arms again. “The point is, people here know what those bruises are. Get her far enough away and nobody knows what they’re looking at anymore.” Then her eyes drop. To Ally’s stomach. “And if Tremblay finds out about the baby after she’s already gone—“
Everything inside me stops. Nobody speaks. Iz looks at Bella. X looks at Bella. Danny looks at Bella. Kaid looks at Bella. Then all four assholes slowly look at me.
“What,” I say, “the fuck?”
Bella’s eyes widen slightly. Ally closes hers. Cat mutters something under her breath.
Bella gives me an apologetic smile. “Surprise?”
I stare at Bella. “You know?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“Saturday.”
“How?”
“The dress,” Ally says quietly. I look at her. “One was fitted.” Her hand settles over her stomach. “She noticed.”
Oh. Oh, fuck me.
Iz points at Bella. “So the demon debutante knows about the bruises and the baby?”
“Would you like me to unknow them, Isaac?”
“I’d like you to explain why every time we turn around, you’re standing in the middle of somebody else’s fucking nightmare.”
Her expression goes cold. “Maybe your nightmares aren’t as private as you think.”
“Maybe you’re a nosy fucking bitch who gets off on—“
“ENOUGH!” My voice cracks off the tile. Everybody shuts the fuck up. Including Iz. I turn on him first. “Shut. The fuck. Up.”
His jaw tightens. “Ryan—“
“No. I don’t give a fuck.” Then Bella. “And you.”
Her eyes narrow. “I’m trying to help.”
“Then fucking help!” Ally flinches.
Fuck. I drag both hands over my face, but I’m too far gone to pull it back.
“I haven’t slept. Ally still has Roman’s hands bruised into both arms. Tobias has bruises. Jane has bruises. My kid had to be checked with an ultrasound two days ago because Roman shook Ally hard enough that none of us knew if the baby was okay.”
Ally’s hand finds mine. It doesn’t calm me down. Nothing can.
“And now I have five days before Victor puts both of them on a plane.” I point between Iz and Bella. “So I do not give a single fuck about whatever psychotic little blood feud you two have going. Put it aside. Shut your mouths. This is about Ally and my fucking baby.”
Silence. Iz looks away. Bella doesn’t. But something in her face changes. “You’re right.”
Iz’s head snaps back toward her. “Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Your face did.”
“Isaac.”
“Both of you!”
Bella lifts her hands. Iz finally shuts up.
I look at her. “You said Switzerland makes it easier. Tell me why.”
She glances at Ally before answering.
“Because you’re all thinking about getting her back from Sainte-Catherine.” She glances at Ally. “He doesn’t have to leave her there.”
“How do you know?” Iz asks. Her eyes flick toward him. Not angry this time. Something worse. Guarded.
“I know what men like Tremblay do when they think something belongs to them.”
Ally watches her. Bella doesn’t look away.
“If he thinks he’s losing control of you here, getting you out isn’t the end goal. It’s how he makes sure nobody can interfere with whatever comes next.”
A chill crawls up my spine. “And if he finds out she’s pregnant?”
Bella looks at me. For the first time since she walked out of that shower, she looks scared. “I wouldn’t let him.”
That’s not an answer. It’s somehow worse. Iz sees it too — I know he does — but when he opens his mouth, I point at him. “Don’t.”
His jaw snaps shut.
I pull out my phone. The dads’ chat is already near the top.
Emergency. Plans changed.
Sainte-Catherine moved up. Saturday.
Five days.
Arthur answers first.
Arthur: Confirmed?
Ally found out last night. Travel is already being changed.
Then my dad.
Dad: She’s not getting on that plane.
Arthur: Understood. Everything moves today.