Cruel Love (Privilege 6)

“But you’re—”

“Tell him!” she hissed.

“We’re fine!” Tahira shouted shrilly.

“All right then. Better get inside. It’s going to be below zero tonight,” he replied.

“We will. Thank you,” Maria called out. She put her arm around Ariana’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Ariana said. “I don’t … I don’t kn

ow what happened.”

“Looked like a panic attack to me,” Tahira said. “My brother used to have them … pretty much any time my father was in the room.”

Maria managed to laugh. “You should have let us call him over,” she said, glancing at Meloni’s retreating back. “He could’ve helped.”

“Like I said, I’m fine,” Ariana said, staring past her friend at her worst enemy.

He’s here. He’s here on campus. He’s found me. The one person who could send me right back to the Brenda T. He’s here. He’s here. He’s here.

“You know what? I think I’m going to skip dinner,” she said.

“Are you sure?” Maria asked.

“Yeah. I kind of just want to go for a walk,” Ariana said. She backed up the pathway toward Privilege House. All she could think about was getting away. “Maybe bring me something back at the dorm when you’re done?”

“Sure,” Tahira said. “We’ll try to eat fast.”

“Thanks, guys,” Ariana said, attempting to smile, to put them at ease. Then she turned on her heel and speed-walked off, headed for the safety of her private room. But even as her pulse began to normalize, she realized she wouldn’t be able to hide forever. And she couldn’t keep having panic attacks in front of her friends, especially not with Palmer out to ruin her. Sooner or later she was going to have to figure out a way to deal with this. Sooner or later either she or Meloni was going to have to go.

PSYCHIC

Why did he have to show up now? That was what was so unfair about this whole Meloni situation. Just when Ariana had gotten together her plan for Reed Brennan, just when she was on the verge of executing the bitch that had ruined her life, Victor Meloni had to waltz in and distract her. Why couldn’t he have just come next week when Reed would already be dead and buried? When she’d have all kinds of time to work the problem? Why couldn’t she just for once catch a break?

Ariana got up from her desk chair and began to pace.

Victor Meloni had to die. That was the only solution. Even if he was fired, even if he left campus, Ariana would always be looking over her shoulder, always be wondering when and where he was going to pop up next. She simply could not have an enemy like him out there walking the streets, moving in her circles. He had to go. He just had to go.

But how?

Ariana’s stomach grumbled with hunger, her face felt tight and dry from exhaustion and the cold, and her head pounded with pain after her panic attack, but she ignored it all. She needed to figure out the best way to deal with Meloni, and she needed to do it fast.

The idea of a gun was very satisfying. Everyone else had died so cleanly. Knocked over the head or drowned in a lake or lying in a hospital bed. But Meloni … Meloni was special. He was truly evil. He deserved a seriously messy death. Ariana paused in the center of her room, her heart skipping an excited beat. A gun, yes. But how was she to get one? And if she did get one, wouldn’t they be able to trace it back to her?

She gnawed on the side of her thumb, narrowing her eyes as she executed a slow twirl on her throw rug. Maybe … maybe she didn’t need one. Dr. Meloni had to have a gun of his own. He was just that type of guy. He had worked for years inside a facility for the criminally insane. Of course he’d bought a gun to protect himself lest any of his former patients or their family members ever come calling. He was just that narcissistic. Just that self-important. To think that someone would one day seek him out for revenge.

Ariana pressed her hands together. She had to get inside Meloni’s house and do some recon. And she had to do it soon. Before she bumped into him one day on campus, or worse—before her mandatory meeting was scheduled.

A sudden rap on the door stopped her heart. Ariana’s blood ran cold. What if Tahira or Maria had ignored her request and told Dr. Meloni that their friend was sick? What if he’d come up here to make sure she was all right? Could she hide in the closet? Pretend not to be here?

“I know you’re in there!” Jasper’s voice teased through the door.

Everything inside of Ariana relaxed. She lunged for the door and pulled him inside, closing it firmly behind him.

“Hey,” he said with a smile. He kissed her quickly, his lips freezing cold and dry. “You must be psychic.”

“What? Why?” Ariana asked.