Page 45

Della

One hand on the curved iron railing, I drag myself up the clock tower stairs.

With each step, I curse my stupid, heavy velvet skirt that keeps trying to drag me back down. Finally, I reach the top, passing the massive iron bell.

Flinging the door open, I step onto the roof, shivering violently as a gust of wind sends me stumbling back a half-step.

I was about to break into the science building when I saw Ms. Huffman in a full-length silver dress that looked like aluminum foil.

After what I overheard Vincent, Xavier, and Levi talking about right before they ditched me, it’s clear Ms. Huffman is wrapped up in the mystery of who killed their omega.

Apart from gray stone, there's little else up here—just impressive views of the school about twenty feet below and the distant city.

I don’t know what Ms. Huffman is doing here, but when I saw her dart into the clock tower, my instincts screamed it was nothing good.

Does she have a weapon? Will she start picking off omegas from the roof with a rifle?

“You watch too much damned television,” I mutter to myself, yanking out a mouthful of hair when the wind whips it into my face.

I jump when the door slams shut behind me.

Ms. Huffman steps out from the shadows on my right, a small black gun aimed at me, and I realize I should have thought a little longer before I followed her up here.

She’s in a silvery gray ball gown, her blonde hair in a fishtail braid. Something about her expression is so different, I barely recognize her from the shallow, somewhat dim wellness instructor with a smooth, wrinkle-free face.

“How much do they know?” Her voice is different too. Not the high-pitched, irritating tone that I’ve come to hate. It’s as cold and metallic as the gun in her hand.

“I’m not sure I understand,” I say, regretting my life choices.

The sound of the gun cocking echoes across the roof, and my heart clenches in response. “Those cops who were here.”

I think she’s gotten the wrong idea about all of this.

“ Cops ? Look, Ms. Huffman. I just?—”

Crack .

I squeal, ducking away from the bullet she buries into the wall beside me. It was literally inches from my head.

“The math teacher, the gardener, and the fencing instructor. How. Much. Do. They. Know ?”

“Nothing. They know nothing,” I lie, raising my palms to show her I’m no threat.

She gives me a long look, then nods, motioning with the gun to my left. “You’re going to jump.”

I don’t move. “I’m going to do what now?”

“You’re going to jump, and while everyone is scraping your body off the ground, I’ll be slipping away from the cops I saw in the ballroom.”

Is she nuts?

I plant my feet and cross my arms. “I’m not jumping.”

“Then I’ll shoot you.”

“No, you won’t. You’d have done that already, since for whatever reason, you want this to look like an accident.”

She’s not wrapped up in the mystery of who killed Pack Madden’s omega.

She did it. And I bet those omega murders over the last ten years will line up perfectly with the times she was away on her ‘spa retreats.’

It wasn’t just wrinkles she was getting rid of; it was omegas as well.

She moves closer to me, her finger tightening on the gun trigger. “You lied. They know something, don’t they? Did they send you here to snoop for them?”

“I am not their underling,” I snap.

Her eyes narrow. “ Jump or I’ll shoot you.”

“So, shoot. You’re already fired once. Someone would have heard the shot and is probably rushing up the stairs.”

I hope someone is, but the music in the ballroom was loud, and hardly anyone was outside except for me. I told Kylian I was going to the science building, so that’s where he’ll go looking for me. He won’t know about this little detour that’s about to get me killed.

“You’re lying.”

"Why’d you do it?” I ask to give myself time to escape this mess.

“Do what?” She takes another small step toward me.

“Kill Aly.”

“Which was one Aly?”

Oh God. I’m going to die.

Ms. Huffman is not a shallow, plastic surgery-obsessed wellness instructor. She’s a twisted serial killer.

She smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “I’ve surprised you.”

I keep my eyes on her as she closes the gap between us. She won’t shoot me, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t getting ready to push me over the edge.

I angle my body slightly to the left, tracking her movements closely. “A little.”

“They were a fuck you to Lincoln.”

“Lincoln?” I know who she means before she can tell me. The rumors about her husband leaving her for a waitress might not have been rumors after all. “He left you for an omega.”

“He didn’t leave me. I killed him.”

She lunges.

She’s fast.

A lot faster than I was expecting.

I scramble away, lose my footing, and scream as I tumble over the edge. Heart in my throat, I grab the raised side of the clock tower to stop my fall.

She smiles at me, satisfied. “You should have been looking where you were going.”

I dig my nails into the cold gray stone, the wind whipping up my skirt and freezing my legs. I lose a shoe as I kick out and cling to the wall with every part of my body.

“You won’t get away with this,” I call out, wincing.

You’ve watched too many films, Della.

“I already have.” She crouches inches away from me, the gun clasped loosely in her right hand.

“I pushed him down the stairs, then put him in his car, poured some booze over him, and made it look like he’d driven into a river and drowned.

He was always flirting with omegas. Always fucking them, too.

Didn’t care if I was right in front of him or not.

The first one wasn’t planned. The ones after were. ”

She lifts the gun, and my heart clenches in terror.

“What happened to the first one?” I burst out, desperate to stop her.

“I went to apologize for my sleazy husband hitting on her. The sweet little omega smiled and said it was fine. That I had nothing to apologize for.” Her expression hardens. “As if I didn’t see her pity. As if I didn’t know she thought she was better than me.”

“You killed her.”

“I asked for a glass of water. Then I followed her into the kitchen and I hit her on the back of the head with a vase. Dumped her body on the highway, and made it look like a guy did it.” She slams the gun down on the fingers of my left hand.

I cry out, briefly lose my grip, and scrabble to hold on. “ Stop !”

“You’re going to fall, Delilah Farrow.”

I cry out again as she slams the butt of the gun on the back of my right hand.

I lose another shoe as I kick out.

“Let go. It’ll only hurt more in the end.”

My left fingers skim over the ground, dislodging and moving loose gravel. I seize what I can and I fling it in her face.

Then I grab her ankle and yank her toward me.

She throws herself back, not just faster, but stronger than she appears. I no longer have a gun pointed at me, but this nightmare isn’t even close to being over.

She takes a step toward me, and jerks her head over her shoulder at the sound of rhythmic pounding.

Someone is coming.

Thank fuck.

After a brief pause, she takes off, sprinting back to the same dark corner she came from. There must be another way down.

“ You bitch! ” I scream after her.

I’m falling, fingers sliding over the edge. My panic is so sharp I can taste it. “I will haunt you forever, you evil witch.”

I fall.