Ambition (Private 7)

what she had done. How awful. How incredibly awful.

"So that, Reed, is why I hate Billings. Why I hate Ariana. Why I hated Cheyenne. Why I still hate Noelle," she said, stepping closer

to me, getting right in my face. "Ariana, she made her own bed, but Noelle... Noelle is still there. Still walking around like she's God's

gift, lording her power over everyone. But I know what she really is. What she's capable of. That's why I'll do anything to see the ivory

tower fall. Anything." A blast of cold shot through me, even though the air was now still. Any sympathy I'd felt for her a second ago

was blown away. Ivy had killed Cheyenne. Cheyenne's parents were right. Their daughter hadn't committed suicide. She had been

murdered. By her former best friend. Suddenly, it all made sense. I already knew Ivy had figured out a way to get into Billings, since

she'd been torturing me for weeks. She must have sneaked in that night and somehow orchestrated Cheyenne's suicide in order to get

back at her for choosing Billings over her, for leaving her there all alone with her ailing grandmother. Then Ivy had decided to release

her venom on me--the house's other leader, the new symbol of Billings. She hated us. Hated all of us. And if that look in her eye was

any indication, she was capable of murder.

And now she had singled out Noelle. What did that mean? Was Noelle her next victim? Was that how she was going to make the

so-called ivory tower fall? The door behind Ivy opened and Josh stepped through, buttoning up the last button on his coat. He glanced

at me quickly, but then looked away, as if

it pained him to look me in the eye. "There you are," he said, slipping his hand into Ivy's.

"You ready to get out of here?" I stared at their entwined fingers. He was holding the hand of a murderer. My Josh. My love. Holding

hands with evil. Ivy looked at me triumphantly, smiled, and said, "Definitely." Josh shot me one last look as they turned to go, but in

my state of miserable panic, I couldn't read it. Was he disappointed? Angry? Sad? Indifferent? I had no idea. All I knew was that I had

to get him away from her. I had to save him. But how? I opened my mouth to speak, to shout some kind of warning, but they were al-

ready ten paces away, and before I could get a word out, Ivy turned her head and looked back at me. She looked back at me with a

flicker in her eye that stopped me dead. A look that scared me so badly it took the breath right out of me. And then they turned at the

corner and were gone. Traffic whizzed by me on the avenue and a cold rain started to fall. Josh was gone. Dash was gone. There was

no one left. No one to tell what I now knew about Ivy. No one to help me figure out what to do. I was in this alone.