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I cut her off before she can finish.

“We can’t, Alice. Trust me.”

Alice watches me, unimpressed. She doesn’t need to say anything for me to hear the scepticism loud and clear.

“We’re not like your mum and dad, alright? Boarding school was hell; we fought all the time. He saw right through me, he knew we weren’t meant to be together, that we were simply too different. Falling in love didn’t change any of those things, they were still true even when we were together. Like you say, reality doesn’t care whether or not you believe in it.”

Alice tilts a perfect eyebrow, and I shake my head.

“Harvard isn’t enough to make up for those differences, no matter how much power and influence it gets me. I’m still going to have to build a career, fight for my place. I can’t afford distractions. Meanwhile, he—” I huff a quiet laugh, shaking my head. “His entire life’s already mapped out: all he has to do is step into it. And when he does, he’ll want someone like him, someone easy and fun, someone who understands him, who understands the world he’s from.”

“Hm.” Alice drains her glass and slumps back into her pillows. “If that man wanted someone easy and fun, he’d never have fallen for you in the first place.”

I glare at her. “Oh, thanks.”

“You’ve got two choices in front of you, Sutton, and only two.” Alice raises two fingers to highlight her point, pink nails catching the light. “Get back with him, or move the fuck on.”

My heart sinks. I glance down into my glass. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t move on until I’ve made Max pay.”

“Max?” She frowns. “Because of that stupid prank?”

“Because he took Evan from me.”

Alice tilts her head.

“Did he, though?”

My fingers tighten around my glass, knuckles whitening with the force of it.

“Maybe Evan and I were never going to work,” I say. “Maybe we’ve been running out of time from the second we met. But that was supposed to be my choice,ourchoice.” I exhale sharply, jaw clenching. “And Max took it from me.”

Alice watches, impassive.

“I know what Max is. He’s every smug, entitled self-named king who made my life hell at Spearcrest, every person who looked at me and decided I was worthless, disposable, unwanted. And I know—” My voice breaks, but not from sadness. “Iknowthat I’ll never be at peace until I’ve made him pay. Until he realises that he can’t touch me, can’t hurt me, can’t take from me without facing consequences.”

I take a slow sip of my drink, swallowing the heat in my throat.

“I need to hurt him,” I finish. “I won’t be able to move on until I do.”

If Alice thinks my reasoning is pathetic, she doesn’t say it. She watches me from her nest of cushions, tapping her manicured fingers against her glass with a little tinkle. And then she shrugs.

She smiles, sweet and deadly.

“Well, that shouldn’t be too hard. Max only really has one weakness, doesn’t he?”

I sit up. “He does? What is it?”

Alice gives me a slow, wolfish smile.

“His father, the senator, of course.”

36

Federal Crime