Isla’s POV~
The air in the courtyard changed.
Bella didn’t hesitate.
She reached for Colt like she owned him.
Her hand shot out, aiming for his bicep, probably expecting him to pull her in for a hug or a kiss on the cheek.
She thought she still had the right to touch him.
Colt moved.
He didn’t just step back.
He side-stepped and avoided her hand like it was covered in disease.
Like she was contaminated.
Bella’s hand hit empty air.
She stumbled forward a step, her heel catching on the pavement.
“Colt?”
Her voice cracked.
It wasn’t the confident, shrill tone she used on everyone else.
It was small.
Genuinely confused.
She looked at her hand, then up at him.
“What—”
Then she froze.
Her eyes snapped to the space behind Colt.
To me.
She saw the formation of the quadruplets around me and how I was in the center.
Her face went through a rapid-fire transformation.
Confusion melted into shock.
Shock hardened into pure, unadulterated rage.
Her nostrils flared.
Her lips pulled back over her teeth.
“What is she doing here???”
Bella screamed it.
She pointed a manicured finger at me, shaking.
It looked like she was pointing at a pile of garbage on the sidewalk.
“You!”
“She’s with us,” Colt said.
His voice was cold.
There was no playfulness in it.
Bella let out a sharp, incredulous laugh.
She shook her head, looking around at the crowd like they were all in on a joke.
“She’s with you?
Colt, stop joking.
Why would you be with this prostitute?”
That word hung in the air.
I felt the guys stiffen.
The temperature in the air dropped ten degrees.
Colt turned.
He didn’t just turn his head.
He turned his whole body.
The playboy mask was gone.
What was left was something vicious.
The sadist was awake.
“Oh, Bella,” Colt said.
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
His eyes were dead black holes.
“The greatest bitch of them all.”
Silence slammed into the courtyard.
The crowd stopped breathing.
Bella froze.
The insult was so so brutal, it knocked the wind out of her.
“What?” she whispered.
Her face lost a shade of color.
Colt stepped forward.
He invaded her space.
He was taller than her, and suddenly he looked dangerous.
Like a killer.
“You’re really committed to this lie, huh?” Colt asked.
“Playing the victim.
Hiding things from me.
Pretending you were mine.
That we had something real.
Bella’s mouth opened and closed.
She looked panicked. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“We did—”
“We didn’t!” Colt roared.
“You were just a fling to play with, nothing more!”
A collective gasp went through the crowd.
I saw jaws drop.
Bella had been the queen of this school.
Now Colt was dismantling her in public.
Bella’s face went from pale to a violent red.
She couldn’t handle the humiliation.
“You—you BASTARD!”
She didn’t scream at Colt.
She turned on her heel and screamed at me.
Her eyes were filled with murder.
Pure, unadulterated murder.
“This is your fault!” she shrieked.
She lunged at me.
“You ruined everything!”
It happened too fast.
My eyes flew open.
Panic spiked in my chest.
I tried to step back, but I was boxed in.
I was trapped between Colt and Maddox.
Bella’s hand was a claw, aiming for my face.
I saw her nails.
She never made contact.
Slade moved like lightning.
He didn’t step in front of me.
He stepped through the space.
His hand shot out and clamped around Bella’s throat.
He lifted her onto her toes.
Her feet dangled inches off the ground.
“Don’t,” Slade said.
His voice was quiet.
Too quiet.
Bella clawed at his wrist.
Her eyes bulged.
“Let me.
Go—”
Slade didn’t blink.
He leaned in close to her face.
His expression was blank.
Terrifyingly blank.
“Touch her,” Slade whispered, “and I’ll break every single bone in your body.
Slowly.”
The silence that followed Slade’s threat was heavy.
Everyone knew he meant it.
The way his fingers were curled, the tension in his forearm, the dead look in his eyes,he would have snapped her neck like a twig and enjoyed the sound.
Bella knew it too.
I saw it in her eyes.
Fear finally broke through her rage.
Finally Slade released her.
She scrambled back, her heels skidding on the floor.
She didn’t say another word.
She just turned and ran, her hair flying behind her.
Her little entourage of mean girls scattered, tripping over themselves to get away from us.
The hallway seemed to exhale.
Then the whispers started.
It sounded like a swarm of bees.
“Is that her?”
“The weak girl?”
“ Why is she with them?”
“Did you see Slade’s face?”
I felt heat rise in my cheeks.
Great.
This was going to be all over Instagram and TikTok within ten minutes.
I was going to be the main character in a horror movie I didn’t audition for.
“Well, Colt,” Slade said.
He let out a breath, the tension in his shoulders dropping.
He smirked, that crooked, dangerous smirk.
“That was dramatic.”
“Necessary,” Colt corrected.
He wasn’t looking at Slade.
His eyes were intense, searching my face for a reaction.
“And revealing,” Slade added.
He shoved his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels.
“How many girls have you slept with while ‘gathering intelligence’?”
I raised a brow.
I couldn’t help it.
Colt immediately turned to me, his voice urgent.
“None of them mattered.”
“That’s not even an answer,” Slade pointed out, sounding bored.
“It’s the only answer that mattered!” Colt snapped.
He took a step toward me, closing the distance.
“Isla, listen—”
“Wait…” I stopped walking.
The crowd parted around us like the Red Sea.
“You were using Bella for information?”
Colt hesitated.
He looked at Brock, then Maddox.
“Yes,” Colt said simply.
“About what?” I asked.
“Riverine Pack.
Bella’s Pack.
Bella’s father is their Beta,” Brock answered.
His voice was calm.
“We needed to know their movements, alliances, weaknesses.”
“But she told everyone you slept with her,” I said slowly, looking at Colt.
The betrayal stung, even though I had no right to feel betrayed.
It was just…
humiliating.
“That you guys were a thing.”
“I didn’t tell her anything.
She assumed.
I flirted.
Bought her dinner.
Let her think what she wanted.” Colt corrected.
He stepped closer, invading my personal space again.
“But I never touched her.
Never wanted to.”
I pressed my lips into a thin line.
I wanted to believe him.
But he was a liar by nature.
Slade grinned, clearly enjoying the show.
“Still, the way those girls were looking at you in the parking lot?
They definitely think they have a chance.”
“They don’t,” Colt said flatly.
“They don’t know that,” Slade said.
“They will,” Colt deadpanned.
The warning bell rang.
Five minutes to class.
Brock checked his watch.
“We have to move.”
“Our classes are in the east wing,” Maddox said.
He looked down at me, his voice softer than the others.
“Yours?”
“West,” I answered.
automatically.
“We’ll walk you then.
Come on.” He gestured down the hall.
“You’ll be late—” I started, looking at Brock.
He was the head of the pack, the one who cared about rules.
“We don’t care,” Brock said.
And they didn’t.
They fell into formation around me again.
Maddox on my right, Colt on my left, Brock leading the way, Slade taking up the rear.
We walked down the hallway.
Students pressed themselves against the lockers, their eyes wide, their phones out but too scared to take pictures while Slade was glaring at them.
I could feel the heat radiating off Colt’s arm as it brushed mine.
I could hear Slade’s heavy boots behind me.
I felt almost like a prisoner, yes.
But as we walked past the classroom doors, ignoring the teachers yelling at students to get inside, I realized something terrifying.
I was the most powerful girl in the school.
And I hated myself for liking it.