Page 19 of The Ruthless Rivalry

He, along with the others, had tricked me into coming to the natatorium. Then they somehow got my mom involved, and she completely lost it, pushing me into the pool, which led to a concussion. Now, they were trying to make it look like I tampered with the fountains just because I ranked higher than them. Bishop spun his story, claiming it was because I’d openly refused to participate in the Altair Games, but I knew the moment he started spewing that nonsense that it was just a well-crafted lie. Too bad it worked.

The students at Altair were like eager streams of water, flowing toward the well-worn riverbed carved by the legacy of the popular families. They didn’t question the course; they simply followed it, bound by the pull of tradition, as if destined to merge with the status quo already set in place.

I changed into my pajamas and climbed into bed. Sleep eluded me as I tossed and turned, my mind racing with possibilities forrevenge. The rain, which had poured relentlessly through the night, continued its steady rhythm, tapping against the window. The soft glow of moonlight filtered through the curtains, casting eerie shadows across my room. I could almost hear the Legacies laughter echoing in my ears, mocking me all over again.

Sleep wasn’t happening. Not with my heart still pounding and my brain rehearsing comebacks I hadn’t said, truths no one had believed, and consequences I hadn’t earned.

With a frustrated huff, I threw the blankets off and swung my legs over the side of the bed. The floor was cold against my feet, but the chill only added to the static building under my skin. I slammed my heel into one shoe, then the other, the force sharp, ungraceful. I needed out—of the room, of my own head.

I hadn’t really had a destination in mind when I left my room. I just needed to move. To breathe. But apparently, some part of me knew where I was going before I did, because the next thing I knew, I was pushing open the doors to the dining hall.

The hush inside surprised me. Then again, it was late—late enough that even the most restless students had finally retreated to their dorms. Still, not a single straggler? No one lingering with a book, or scribbling last-minute notes in a forgotten corner?

The total absence of bodies gave the space an eerie, too-quiet kind of calm.

But I liked it. No one here to make fun of me. No one to whisper behind their hands or try to provoke me into snapping. And if my mother had been standing in the corner? No one for me to perform for. No one for me to impress.

Maybe that’s why I didn’t look away in time. Maybe that’s why my eyes landed where they had. And maybe that’s why I didn’t let them go.

The room was drenched in moonlight and shadows, the faint smell of old coffee and wood polish lingering. But my eyesweren’t interested in the tables or the empty buffet line. They went straight to the corner.

The piano.

It was as if it had been waiting for me. Like it knew.

I hadn’t played in years. Not since before everything got complicated. But my feet didn’t care. They carried me over, slow and certain, until I was standing right in front of it. I sat down without thinking, the bench creaking softly beneath me.

The rain tapped harder now, like it was matching the pulse in my throat.

My fingers hovered above the keys.

Just hovering.

I didn’t press them down. Not yet.

There was hesitation in the way my hands floated there, frozen mid-thought.

What was I even doing?

I hadn’t touched a piano in ages—not seriously. Not sincethen. Not since everything changed.

My fingers still knew what to do. I could feel it in the muscle memory pulsing beneath my skin, the way my wrists aligned instinctively, the way the keys almostleaned intoward me. I’d been good—reallygood. Enough to earn a full ride to one of the best music schools in the country. A prodigy, they said. A successful future. One to be remembered.

But when the acceptance letter came, I realized I didn’t want it.

And when I told my mother...

She’d gone quiet.

Too quiet.

Then there was glass. Everywhere.

Blood. So,somuch blood.

A low buzz began to build in my ears, like static under water. My hands were still hovering over the keys, trembling just slightly. I didn’t press down. Couldn’t.

Then—

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