Cruel Love (20 page)

Noelle tucked her flouncy skirt beneath her as she sat on the picnic blanket laid out under the tree and lifted her thick, dark hair over her shoulder. She looked around, her expression typically irked as she reached for a bagel.

“
Where
is the coffee?” she groused. “I need coffee.”

“As always, your wish is my command,” Taylor Bell called out, arriving with two trays of iced drinks. She placed them down in front of Noelle and stood up straight, shaking her blond curls back from her face.

“Were you going to join us, or were you just going to hover?” Noelle asked, taking a sip of her latte. Taylor narrowed her blue eyes. “I don’t know. Something feels off today, doesn’t it?”

“Off?” Ariana asked, tucking her long blond hair behind her ear as she reached for a coffee. “It’s June, the sun is shining, we’re all here together. This is the perfect day.”

She took a sip of her coffee, then offered the straw to omas. He gave her a sly smile, one that sent shivers of happiness all through her body, as he leaned in and took a sip. But when he sat back again, his face looked suddenly pale. Almost gray.

“Thomas?” Ariana said, concerned. “Are you all right?”

“I don’t know,” he said, clearing his throat. “Does anyone else feel cold?”

“I’m freezing,” Kiran replied, tugging a leather jacket around her slim shoulders.

Ariana glanced up at the bright sun, the gorgeous blue sky, but suddenly the sun seemed
too
bright, the sky far too vivid a blue, and her heart skipped a frightened beat. When she looked down again, it took a moment for her vision to clear of the floating, purple spots caused by the sun’s glare. When she could finally focus again, she saw that Kiran’s skin had gone waxy. She looked positively ill. Halfway dead, really.

“What the hell?” Dash said suddenly, his cheek full of unchewed bagel. “Thomas. You’re bleeding.”

omas was white as snow now. He lifted his hand to his head and his fingers came back caked with blood. A single rivulet of dark red blood seeped past his ear and dripped off his chin. “What?”

“Oh my God, Thomas!” Ariana cried, recoiling. “What happened?”

“I … I don’t know,” he stammered, his eyes full of betrayal, full of sadness. “I … I thought you loved me.”

“But I did!” Ariana cried. “I do! I love you more than anything. I don’t understand. I don’t understand what’s happening.” “
What
is that infernal noise?” Noelle asked, staring up at the sky.

Ariana blinked rapidly, squinting up into the now-blinding sun. A rhythmic, persistent beeping noise filled the sky, the air, the world. She blinked harder, trying to see past the light. Trying to see omas. She had to make sure he was okay. In less than twenty-four hours they would graduate from Easton, have their picture taken as class couple, run off to Europe together for the summer and then to Princeton in the fall. It was just as she had always dreamed. She couldn’t let go of it now. She refused to let go.

And then, suddenly, she took in a painful, gasping breath and her eyes popped open wide. She wasn’t at Easton at all. And she wasn’t blinking at the sun. She was staring up into the intense white light of an operating lamp. And someone was squeezing her hand.

“Ana? Ana? Oh my God. You’re awake!”

“Jasper?” she croaked. She tried to focus on his face, his mouth, his eyes, but everything was blurry.

“Her name’s not Ana,” Noelle’s voice said from somewhere at the foot of the bed. “Why do you keep calling her that?” “Noelle? Noelle! You’re here,” Ariana cried, a tear slipping down her temple.

“Try not to move, hon,” a gruff voice ordered, shoving her shoulder down.

“Ana, I was there. I was at the airport waiting for you. I … I saw you on the news and came right over,” Jasper rambled. “You’re gonna be fine, okay? You’re going to be fine.”

But the grim face of the doctor hovering at the other side of the bed said otherwise. What was wrong with her? Ariana did a mental scan of her body and realized she couldn’t feel a thing. No aches, no pains, nothing. Nothing but cold.

Cold, just like omas. Cold like Kiran. She had just been with them. ey had been right here. Ariana blinked against her stinging eyes, trying to reconcile the happy, vivid memory of where she’d just been with this harsh, unrelenting reality.

“And then I tried to call the police, and that was when … when she lunged at me. And I just fired.”

Ariana’s blood curdled. Reed Brennan. at was Reed Brennan’s voice. She turned her head ever so slightly and saw her, standing in the hallway just outside the room, perfectly alive and well, giving her statement to a blue-clad officer. Suddenly it all came back to Ariana in a rush. Following Reed back to her room. Strangling the life out of her. Being kicked in the gut. And the gun. Oh, God. The gun.

“Noelle?” Ariana asked. “Noelle, please, I—”

Jasper released her hand. Noelle stepped over to the bed and looked down at Ariana. Her brown hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and her face was grim, her eyes hard. Ariana swallowed, her throat so dry she almost choked.

“She’s not your friend. Look what she … she … she tried to kill me. You can’t be friends with her. You can’t. I’m your best friend, right? We were always … always … together…. Best friends forever, right?”

Noelle’s eyes flicked to something or someone across the room. Her skin looked green under the lights. She pressed her lips together. Gritted her teeth. And then, she smiled.

“Of course, Ariana. You’ll always be my best friend.”

Ariana let out a choked sob of happiness and reached for Noelle’s hand, but Noelle’s fingers jerked away. Ariana blinked, but before she could ask what was wrong, a loud, long, wailing tone filled the air. Ariana felt her heart stop beating. Her chest tightened unbearably. Her vision grayed just as Reed came into the room and stood next to Noelle.

No. I won’t let go
, Ariana thought.
I won’t. I’m in control here.
I
am in control.

But the breath refused to come. Her heart refused to respond. e last thing she saw as she closed her eyes was Reed Brennan—her awful face, those hated brown eyes

staring down at her—as Noelle Lange held her close to her side.

Dear Maria, Soomie, and Tahira
,

I know this is going to come as a surprise to all of you, but I’m leaving APH. I wish that I had the time to say good-bye, but sometimes, when you make a decision like this, you have to go through with it as soon as possible, before you lose your nerve. Besides, I know that if I had tried to look you guys in the eye and explain, I never would have had the strength to leave, and I need to do this. I need to go. It’s simply the best thing for me right now.

One of my biggest regrets, aside from the sad fact that I won’t be hanging out with the three of you every day, is leaving Stone and Grave without a leader. at’s why I’d also like to use this note as my official endorsement of Soomie Ahn as my successor. Hopefully the other members will honor my wishes and elect you, Soomie, to this position—an esteemed position that I believe whole-heartedly you deserve.

ank you so much, Tahira and Maria, for the incredible party. I fully enjoyed it for the short time that I was there. I don’t want any of you to worry about me. Where I’m going next … it’s where I belong. And I know in my heart of hearts that I will be happy there.

All my love,

Briana Leigh Covington

If someone had told me five years ago that I would write an entire series about a psychotic murderess teenager, I would never have believed it. If they’d told me how much I would end up enjoying it, I would have rolled on the floor laughing. But in the end, Ariana was one of the most inspiring, enjoyable characters to write. What that says about me, I don’t even want to contemplate, but I know I’m going to miss her. erefore I must give special thanks to those who convinced me that Ariana was, in fact, the Private character who deserved her own spin-off, and who were there with me every step of the way.

Josh Bank, Lanie Davis, and Emily Meehan, thanks for convincing me to keep Ariana around. anks also to Sara Shandler, Julia Maguire, and Courtney Bongiolatti for all your ideas and inspiration. And, as ever, thanks to my personal support team: my agent, Sarah Burnes, and my family and friends, especially Matt, Brady, Mom, Erin, Wendy, Shira, and Ally. anks to Sharren, the one friend who read them all, and to all the other fans who rooted for Ariana and let me know about your devotion on Twitter, Facebook, and on and on. I hope you stick with me for my next crazy ride!

For the past four months, Ariana Osgood has led a charmed l
ife at elite Atherton-Pryce Hal
l
, all wh
i
le concealing her true identity prison escapee and murderer. But when Dr
.
Melani, the psychologist who worked with her in prison, resurfaces.Ariana rea
l
izes iust how
tenuous her new
l
ife i
s.

cruel love be the end of h
im?

From the author of the bestsell
i
ng PRIVATE novels comes the d
ra
matic conclus
i
on to a series about the dark world of wealth
.
s
ecrets,
and PR
I
VILEGE

V
I
S
I
T PR
I
VATENOVE
L
S.CO
M,

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