Page 188 of The Revenge Plan (Forbidden Descendants 1)

“What’re you talking about? I’m still a badass Reese’s cup eater.” Then I laughed as I half-heartedly dodged his grasping hands. “Watch it, buddy. You’re going to start a war.”

Heat entered his pale eyes as he murmured, “Bring it,” because every tickling match we’d ever started had ended in awesome sex.

And yep, I somehow landed up on his lap after we rolled across the couch, straddling his waist and tickling his tongue with my own, as our hands raced all over each other. We were in the middle of tugging at each other’s shirts when my phone dinged, announcing an incoming app notification alert.

I glanced down out of habit and checked the subject line before returning my mouth to Wick’s, only to pull away again, muttering, “Wait, what?” as I did a double take and reached for my phone.

Opening the full app into the university’s online newspaper to make sure I’d merely been seeing things that weren’t really there, I could only stare at the screen in horror when I realized my eyes had yet again not been deceiving me.

“Oh my God,” I uttered.

“What?” Wick stopped kissing my neck to peer curiously over my shoulder.

I pointed. “There’s another issue of ‘Hopeless Henry.’”

His mouth fell open. “What? No.”

He squinted, focusing his attention on the link that I motioned to that said it went to the final edition of “Hopeless Henry.”

“What the hell?” he exploded. “She promised she was going to stop.”

“It says it’s the final edition,” I started optimistically, only to sigh sadly. “But, no, she definitely didn’t stop.”

Climbing off his lap to sit next to him, I clicked into the article, and Wick leaned closer so we could read it together.

It’d been about two weeks since we’d realized we were unsuspecting characters in a story. Wick had talked—for a long time—to Izzy about the whole thing. And just about the moment I was sure I couldn’t pace outside her dorm room a moment longer, waiting for them to talk it out, he’d opened the door and stepped into the hall with me, announcing there would be no more issues published.

Except he’d been wrong.

“Un-fucking-believable,” he growled, not even bothering to finish reading before he yanked his phone from his pocket and started to dial. As soon as his caller answered, he boomed, “Get your ass over here, to my apartment, now. We need to have another talk.”

“Wick,” I said softly as he hung up, but he only shook his head.

“No,” he said before I could defend his sister. “She lied to me. This is—”

“Oh hell,” I broke in, covering my mouth with my hand as I reached the author’s note at the end.

“What?” Wick crowded closer, his eyes widening as he read too. Then his mouth dropped all the way open. “Holy fuck.”

“She ousted us,” I said in a hollow, disbelieving voice. “I can’t believe she basically just called us all out. She might as well have just named us by our real names. Wha—why would she do that?”

Wick merely shook his head, unable to stop staring at the words his sister had written. “I don’t…” He gulped, then shook his head some more. “I don’t know.”

By the time Izzy knocked timidly on our front door, Wick had bowed his face and was resting his elbows on his spread knees as he laced his fingers together at the back of his head.

“I don’t think I can even look to her right now,” he uttered, sounding sick.

So I stood and answered the door. Izzy sent me an apologetic cringe as she meekly stepped over the threshold. I shut the door behind her, and a dead silence followed, Izzy wringing her hands in worry, me not sure what to say, and Wick still trying to process what had happened.

Finally, Izzy started. “I know what I promised, but—”

“I just want to know why?” Lifting his face, Wick let her see the rage, and disappointment, and utter betrayal that flushed his cheeks. “Why in God’s name did you do it? You just exposed us all. Haven. Me. Cannon. Do you hate us that much? Do you—”

“What? No!” Izzy cried, her eyes filling with tears. “Bubby…” Her voice broke as she knelt in front of him and grabbed his knees desperately. “I had to do this because I love you. This was the last step of my plan. Everything would’ve been for nothing if I didn’t write this one issue and let everyone know the truth.” She shook her head. “I know it exposed you too, but I had to do it. I always meant to call him out, from the beginning of the very first issue.”

“What?” Wick blinked at her, then glanced toward me. “Do you know what the fuck she’s talking about?”

“I…” Squinting, I began to wonder if maybe Izzy had—but no. So I shook my head. “No,” I admitted. “I have no clue.”

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