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This isn’t a game for me. This isn’t about perks or parties or being somebody’s entertainment. I thought — hell, I don’t know what I thought. That maybe Eli was different. That maybe under all that grit and anger, there was something real. And that maybe Caleb had a heart. Girl, I’ve been misreading this all wrong.

I shove my phone in my pocket and grab my keys. Screw them. Screw their secrets and codes and that smug, disgusting name he inked into my skin.

Let’s see how they handle it when the girl they branded walks through the door and sets their whole world on fire.

I throw on a black hoodie over a ribbed tank top and a pair of ripped jeans. My boots are scuffed, but steady. There’s a voice recorder tucked into the pocket of my jacket, two pinhole cameras clipped beneath the lapel. I stare at myself in the mirror for one beat too long. My eyes are bloodshot.

I pull the hood up and head out.

The campus is alive in that eerie, twilight way. The Reaper’s mansion glows like it’s on fire, light pulsing through the windows, bass thumping like a war drum. My palms sweat as Icross the lawn, weaving through packs of drunk students, most of them oblivious. I tell myself to act like I belong. I repeat the lie until I believe it.

Inside, the place reeks of liquor and smoke. Bodies grind. Laughter rings out too loud. No one looks twice at me. Good. I move through the chaos, eyes scanning for Eli. For Caleb. For answers.

Then I hear it.

That voice.

A lazy, venom-laced drawl. Familiar. Cold. It slides across the room like oil over water.

“Well, well. Didn’t think you were this stupid.”

I freeze. Turn. And there he is.

The red mask.

Same as before. Only this time, I’m conscious. Alert. Pissed off.

“You,” I say.

His head tilts. “Looking for Eli?”

I square my shoulders. “Where is he?”

He gestures casually. “Follow me.”

I stay rooted. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

He doesn’t answer. Just steps forward. One hand wraps around my wrist, the other around my waist. Before I can react, I’m off the floor, slung over his shoulder. He’s stronger than he looks.

“Put me down,” I snap, fists pounding at his back. “You psycho.”

He chuckles quietly. The kind of laugh that makes your stomach clench.

He carries me down a hallway away from the music. A door opens. I’m tossed into a room that reeks of beer and something sour. I scramble up and look around.

A mattress sits in the corner. No sheets. Just bare foam. There’s a desk with a flickering lamp, an open laptop, wires, headphones, two cameras. One is aimed right at the bed.

“You’re disgusting.”

He shuts the door. Clicks the lock.

“I know you like proof,” he says. “So, I brought receipts.”

He walks to the desk, taps a key. A video begins to play. I recognize the black bunny mask I had on. This is from the first night of Eli and Caleb. When Caleb forced Eli to fuck my mouth.

I can feel heat claw up my chest.

“I’ll send this to your dad. He deserves to know what his precious daughter’s been up to.”