Page 215 of Wicked Brutal

Then she turns her hand under the light and the smile comes back. “It’s gorgeous.”

Victor lifts her hand, inspecting it. “Better.”

“It’s enormous.”

“That was intentional.”

“I suspected as much.”

His eyes stay on her. “You like it?”

Her head comes up immediately. “I love it.”

The lie slides out so clean it fucking hurts anyway. Victor’s expression says that was exactly what he wanted.

Victor got Celeste. Victor chose the ring. Victor managed the impossible. Victor delighted her. Victor is winning. At least that’s what Ally is making sure he believes.

“Thank you,” she says softly. Then she hugs him.

My lungs stop working correctly. Victor’s arm circles her waist. His other hand settles at her back. Her cheek rests against his chest. And I stand in the middle of Edgewood Prep watching another man hold my girlfriend. Another man’s ring on her finger. Our baby beneath her blazer.

Every instinct I have tells me to cross the atrium. Take her. Get his fucking hands off her. Rip the ring off and throw it through one of Edgewood’s stained-glass windows. I don’t move. Because Tobias is still in Roman’s house. Because Victor still believes Ally is cooperating. Because Arthur needs time. Because one wrong move from me could tighten every lock around her. Loving her right now means standing here and letting her pretend she’s happy in his arms. Fuck.

Kaid’s shoulder hits mine. Once. I breathe.

Ally pulls away. Victor keeps one hand lightly at her waist while she looks down at the ring again. That’s when Edgewood starts noticing. Really noticing. A girl walking past sees the diamond — her steps slow, her eyes jump from Ally’s hand to Victor’s face, then forward again. Her friend catches the look and looks too. Neither says anything until they’re several feet away. Then their heads immediately bend together. A boy leaving the office does the same thing. Looks. Keeps walking. Pulls out his phone before he reaches the stairs.

Nobody crowds around. Nobody asks what the hell a man in his fifties is doing putting an engagement ring on an eighteen-year-old high school senior. Edgewood families don’t raise children to ask those questions publicly. They raise them to notice everything and talk about it somewhere nobody important can hear.

My phone vibrates. Danny pulls his out first. A second later, he makes a sound. “GlossX.”

Kaid glances over. “Already?”

Danny turns his screen. A picture of Ally’s hand, taken from behind her somewhere, Victor beside her, the diamond impossible to miss.

O’TOOLE FINALLY GETS THE RING.

Kaid checks the timestamp. “Forty-eight seconds.”

Iz looks offended. “Embarrassing.”

X glances at him. “For who?”

“The poster. Edgewood used to have standards.”

A second notification appears. Then mine. Then X’s. Comments already multiplying.

Who picked it? How big is that? That has to be at least five carats. Why is Tremblay at school???

I shove my phone into my pocket. “Edgewood needs hobbies.”

“This is the hobby,” Danny says.

Victor either doesn’t notice the quiet gossip beginning around him or doesn’t give a fuck. Probably the second. That ring says exactly what he wants it to say without him needing to explain anything. Alison O’Toole is engaged. Alison O’Toole is taken. Alison O’Toole belongs to—

No. I cut the thought off before it finishes.

Then I see Bella. She’s farther down the corridor, near the trophy cases, phone loosely in one hand. She isn’t looking at the diamond. She’s looking at Victor. His face. The hand resting against Ally’s waist. The way he leans closer when Ally shows him something on Celeste’s card. Then Bella looks at Ally. Really looks.