Broken Empire A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance - Callie Rose Page 0,78

to him. Adena was a psychopathic bitch, but there were likely other girls he’d gotten sexual favors from in exchange for a boost during the admissions process, ones who’d just done it because of the tremendous pressure their families put on them to succeed. If he lost his job in disgrace, well, that was the fucking bed he’d made.

Same with Mr. Cartwright. If he gets fired, good riddance.

The fact that Adena had admitted to tampering with my car was something I was still processing. The one question I wished I’d gotten to ask her was, why? Why did she hate me enough to do something like that? Or had she really not considered how fucking dangerous it was?

I wasn’t sure what do to about it yet—whether I should try to press charges or what.

But it was satisfying to know that Adena’s life had just been turned upside down and inside out.

“You did good, Legs.” Finn beamed down at me, his dimples on full display. He’d taken off his bow tie and jacket, and the muscles of his arms and shoulders strained against his crisp white shirt. “You were a fucking rock star.”

“More like a scared shitless rock star,” I joked with a small smile. “Walking up on that stage, I was sure there was a booby trap on it somewhere. Like Adena must’ve figured out you rigged the vote and set something up to get back at me. And I think she’s actually more terrifying when she’s on drugs.”

“I fucking hate that we used you as bait.” The satisfaction faded from Mason’s face as he pressed his lips together, his nostrils flaring.

I glanced across Cole’s body at him, leaning closer to the muscled boy beside me.

“I told you, it was the only way. Nothing else would piss her off enough to make her blow up like that, even with her inhibitions down from the drugs and booze.”

He made a noncommittal gesture with his head, letting me know that even if what I’d said was true, he still didn’t like it.

Elijah had found out about Adena’s little tryst with Mr. Cartwright, a history teacher and student advisor at Oak Park, a week and a half before prom. The guys’ first thought had been to just broadcast that information everywhere like Adena had done with the contents of my notebook, but it’d been Finn’s idea to let the witch hang herself—to give her the perfect opportunity to out herself publicly.

I thought he might’ve suggested it partly as a way of doing penance for the video the guys had compiled of me the previous year. It did seem fitting somehow to have it all end with another video, this one designed to help me eliminate a threat.

And unlike the one they’d used against me, this one hadn’t been doctored in any way. It was just a documentation of words straight from the horse’s mouth.

“That’s the best fucking part about this,” the blond boy said gleefully, as if he’d been reading my thoughts. “She did this shit to herself. All we did was give her the opportunity. But she did it! We didn’t do shit to her.”

“Except drug her a teeny tiny bit,” I threw in wryly, and he shrugged.

“Eh. So we helped grease the wheels a bit. If she wasn’t such a raging bitch, she could’ve accepted her loss with some dignity and grace, even under the influence. Instead, she went full psycho on your ass. That’s on her.”

“Done.” Cole flipped his laptop closed and set it on the coffee table before leaning back on the couch.

“It’s out? All over?” Elijah asked.

“Yup.”

It was late. Although the live-stream video had gone out immediately, the Princes hadn’t been satisfied with leaving it there. We’d spent the past several hours holed up in Cole’s dorm while he uploaded the video to every platform he could think of, even putting up a dance remix version that I was pretty sure was going to haunt Adena for the rest of her life.

I smoothed down the skirt of my dress, feeling the knot of tension that’d lived in my chest for most of the semester unwind a little.

It was finished.

It was over.

Just like they’d done with me and I’d done with them, the Princes and I had played the long game against Adena. We’d put up with her petty barbs and bullshit, waiting for an opening—and in the end, it’d been worth the wait.

As often as I’d daydreamed about punching her in the face again, this felt so much