It took me a second to process what he had said, because surely he had misspoken. “What? No, I’m not going to do that so you can forget about your game. I’m not playing.”

David practically purred at me. “Oh come now, it will be fun.”

“That is not fun. I won’t do it,” I said.

“But you and one of your three boyfriends will have the rest of your time in life together completely unbothered by me. Isn’t that what you’ve been wanting?” he asked.

I snapped my head in his direction, making sure I looked him in the eyes as I spoke my next phrase. “I won’t choose one of the guys to die. We all stay together, and I won’t choose. It’s as simple as that.”

“You don’t want to choose,” David said. “Because you feel like you love all three men. But I’m afraid the game is not optional. You have to play.”

“And if I don’t anyway?” I asked.

He grinned so wickedly I wanted to vomit. “Then I choose which two will die. But don’t worry, you have plenty of time to think about it. You have until the night of the gala to tell me which one to let go of and which one to save.”

I couldn’t make a choice like that. I couldn’t even decide which of them I wanted to be with the most, let alone which of them I would be willing to sacrifice.

None of them. I wouldn’t sacrifice any of the three of them.

David stood and drew in a solid, even breath. “And if you mention our little game to any one of them, then they all die. Even Michael. And I really hope you don’t choose that option, because I’ve always been more keen on having a brother rather than a sister anyway.”

David turned and walked out of the room without another work spoken and left me with even more on my mind now than had been there before. The pit of despair I had been feeling opened up into a wide and bottomless chasm. What was I going to do? The one thing that had kept me going this whole entire time was being able to tell the guys anything and having them there to support me.

Now, I was on my own with this.

Autumn stretched on as if it would last forever, and the fall semester was teeming with problems that I couldn’t care less about. Students were constantly vacillating between an escalating addiction and a downward spiral of withdrawal as David tried out new ways to distribute his drug. I started to think that some of the students on my floor even knew about the drug operation and may have started working for him in some fashion or another. They were falling behind on classwork, acting more strangely by the day, and generally trying to steer clear of any questions that I asked them. Honestly, I didn’t give a shit about it. The only problem that I cared about was my own.

As the winter season came closer, so did the threat of the Winter Gala. And along with it, the sick game that David and I were somehow playing and the secret choices that I had to make in order to save one—if not all—of the men I cared about.

It was an impossible situation, and I felt like I was drowning in it.

The Lineage Academy Winter Gala was the most talked about event of the year and every student on campus was looking forward to it, everyone except for me that is. Even the guys were talking about it as if it had somehow become normalized that we worked here and were going to campus events.

“Have you guys lost your minds?” I asked in an aggravated mood.

Adam and Julian looked at me in confusion and Michael stared at me as though he was trying to figure out what was wrong.

I scoffed when they all stared at me blankly. “How can you be excited about a stupid gala, one that David himself is putting on?”

“No one is excited about it, Lisette,” Michael said calmly. “We were just talking about it from a point of interest. If David is close to really letting this whole drug operation hit its peak, then what better opportunity to use as a final hooking point than a giant party? Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” I said curtly. “I have to go check on my floor.”

I walked down into the stairwell, and before I had even made it down to the next floor I started to cry. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t keep secrets from them. I couldn’t choose between them. I couldn’t stay here any longer.

I felt like I was breaking apart from the inside out.

“Hey, you okay?” someone asked.

I looked up to see the guy from my floor that had come to talk to me on his first day here.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said as I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

He chuckled. “You don’t look fine.”

I bristled at his tone of voice. “What are you doing in the stairwell?” I asked, feeling suddenly suspicious. “Students are supposed to use the elevators. The stairwell is for advisors only.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know that. It’s just that elevators freak me out sometimes.”

I knew I had told all of the students that the stairwell was off-limits on the first day. So, already this asshole was on my shitlist.

“Where are you heading to?” I asked.

“Fourth floor,” he said. “My girlfriend is on the fourth floor.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling as though I had probably overreacted. This guy was just walking the stairs to see his girlfriend, not a big deal. My nerves were on overdrive and were making me more suspicious of everyone and everything that I needed to be.

I sighed. “Well, next time take the stairs.”

“Okay,” he smiled.

I walked past him and turned around right before I pushed open the door to the third floor to go check on everyone. It was a little strange when I saw him still standing in the same spot, staring back at me, though. However, once I turned my head forward, I froze.

Much to my surprise, David was on the third floor when I arrived. He said he was doing some sort of inspection, but it looked like he was looking for someone instead.

“Hello Lisette,” he smiled as he saw me walk in. “Nice of you to join us.”

“I had to grab something from upstairs,” I lied. “What are you doing here?”

“Routine inspection, it’s one of the Headmaster’s duties to inspect the dorms for safety and efficiency. I’m a bit behind on my duties since there has been so much to plan for with the upcoming Winter Gala. How have your preparations for the gala been coming along?” he asked.

“I don’t have any preparations for the gala,” I replied, knowing that he was referring to the secret game between us.

He frowned at me as if he were hoping to get a bigger rise and reaction out of me than the one that I had. “Perhaps we should move the date up then, since you’re bored and already completely prepared from the sounds of it.”

“You can’t do that,” I said. Now the anxiety in my voice was apparent and I couldn’t hide it. “The students aren’t finished with their preparations. They would be disappointed if you rushed their big event, I’m sure.”

I tried to save the situation by placing the blame on the student body, but it didn’t work.

“I’m sure they’ll adjust,” he said with a common shrug. “I think moving the date up by let’s say, two weeks would be good? Please tell everyone accordingly.”

My heart raced in my chest. That gave me less than a month to figure out what to do.

But then the stairwell door opened behind me and the guy from before stepped out onto the floor. David’s eyes homed in on him and they seemed to stare intently at each other for a moment.

“I thought I told you to use the elevator,” I scolded him.

“My bad,” he said as he finally broke his gaze with David. “I forgot.”