Page 168 of Vexatious Queen

“I hate you for this…” She backed up. “How could you?”

Ivy turned and sprinted in our direction as she fled for the elevators. This time, when Ren tugged on my hand, I let her go.

Dean Henry was still on the phone when I walked up to him, Liam by my side. He held up a finger.

“Yes…yes, I understand.”

Dean Henry sighed as he hung up.

“There is nothing I can do. Christov did indeed sign off on this with the judge. He is Michael’s legal guardian. It’s out of my control.”

He sounded dejected.

“I think Zigzag said it best. Son of a bitch,” I said, and then looked over at Sabastian.

He at least had the decency to appear embarrassed as everyone stared at him.

“Snitch,” a girl I didn’t know yelled.

“Snitch. Snitch. Snitch.” The chanting grew louder as more spectators joined.

“That is enough,” Dean Henry yelled, and everyone quickly shut up. “Mr. Nikitovich, you are with me. Everyone else, find somewhere to be. Now.”

“Asshole move,” I whispered as Sabastian walked by.

“Guess you’d know best,” he snarled back.

Once they were gone, I looked at my guys who had slowly joined me after the chaos. They all wore the same somber expression.

“He needs to be put down, and Ren can’t know about this,” I ordered.

They all nodded.

Now, I just needed to figure out how. No matter what…Sabastian would not graduate with the rest of us. My hand clenched into a fist. I’d see to it that everything in his life was reduced to nothing more than smoking rubble. By the time I was done, he was going to wish he’d never transferred to this school or heard my name.

FEBRUARY 25 – WEDNESDAY 3:50 PM

Ren

Ivy didn’t bother with the elevator and ran for the stairs.

“Ivy,” I called after her. “Ivy, please stop.”

She didn’t answer, but I heard her crying. Ivy was a lot faster than I expected and was already through the door to the senior floor before I could catch her.

I held my side, trying to get rid of the stitch as I sucked in large mouthfuls of air. I really needed to get my cardio up. I jogged the rest of the way to our room and tried the handle, but it was locked.

“Ivy, open the door.”

I knocked, but nothing. Shit, I was going to have to dig my key out. I dropped my backpack on the floor and started opening pockets.

“Is she in there?”

I startled at the sound of Chantry’s voice. I hadn’t even seen her coming.

“Yeah. Ah, there it is,” I said, and opened the door.

Ivy was in the bathroom, and I didn’t care. I wasn’t leaving until she was okay.