Page 118 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

“My feet are shredded. I won’t be able to keep up with you, and I certainly can’t outrun a bullet.” I curse again and then turn to Lily. “You should run. I’ll gun it and take Ingram out while you get away. Run and get help.”

“Finn, no.” Lily grabs my hand. “I’m not going to leave you to die.”

“If you don’t, we’ll both die. Please.”

Suddenly, the world is imploding. My ears are ringing, glasses shatters and rains down on us, and Lily is screaming.

When I finally look up, the windshield is gone, and Ingram is standing next to my door, the gun aimed at my head.

“Out of the car, Foster,” he orders. “Nice and easy. Lie face-down on the ground and put your hands behind your back.”

“Ingram, come on,” I say, holding my hands up to show him I have nothing. “I’m leaving town. I’m not going to tell anyone about the drugs or what you’ve been doing. Just let me leave and this can be over. You don’t have to do anything you’ll regret.”

“It’s too late,” he says.

“No, it isn’t. It really isn’t. Just let us go, and—”

“Shut up!” he yells, waving the gun around. “Shut up, okay? I’m so fucking tired of listening to you talk.”

I hold my hands up a bit higher and nod silently. My instinct is to keep trying to reason with him, but right now, he has the gun, and the girl I love is behind me in the car. I’m going to do whatever he asks.

“It’s too late because I was already caught taking drugs from the locker.” Ingram rolls his lips together, his mustache twitching. “And I nearly lost my job.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You should be,” he growls, lifting the gun to my forehead. “I wanted to be done, but you refused to let it go. You threatened me and forced me to steal until I got caught. It’s entirely your fault.”

“Let me fix it.” I have no idea how I’ll go about doing that, but if I can just get him to lower the gun, then I can fight him for it and try to regain control of this situation. “Give me some time, and I’ll take care of it.”

“You’re too late for that, too,” he says with a smile. “Your dad took care of it for me.”

I blink at him, trying to comprehend what this all means.

Trying to understand how everything is interconnected.

“If my dad helped you, then why the fuck did you leave me at the mercy of the Hell Princes earlier? What a way to repay my dad.”

“What a way, indeed.”

I was so focused on Ingram and the gun aimed at my face that I didn’t see anyone get out of the patrol car.

I didn’t realize my dad was standing there until he says something, but now my attention is locked on him.

He is in a suit just like always, crisp and clean. His hands are in his pockets, relaxed, and he is smiling.

“I asked Officer Ingram to keep an eye on you and ensure you were doing as I asked. He’s the one who told me about your betrayal.”

“Fuck you,” I snort. “I never betrayed you.”

“You had a chance to finish what we started. Didn’t even have to get your own hands dirty. Nico was going to do that for you. But you didn’t. You failed at the crucial moment.” He sighs in disgust. “And now, here you are, running away from me with this trash.”

He glares through the windshield at Lily, and gun or no gun, I want to charge at him and knock his teeth in.

Then he fixes his eyes back on me. “You are a disappointment in every sense of the word.”

“Then let me go.”

“What was that?” he asks casually, kicking a rock with the toe of his shoe.

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