Chapter 366

Ever since I had been brought into this competition, I had been mocked, ridiculed, shoved around, bullied, set up, nearly killed, and threatened at every turn. Bridget’s arrival hadn’t helped the situation at all.

While I could blame the underground organization for much of what happened to me in the past, except for the bullying, Bridget’s treatment of me had nothing to do with Jane or her evil group.

Bridget was mean to me, perhaps even mean enough to want me dead, just because she didn’t like me.

I’d had enough.

Growling I pushed myself up to my feet and swiveled to confront Bridget head on. She didn’t seem concerned at first. She just cocked her head and stared me down, almost looking bored.

“You have had it out for me since day one, Bridget, and I’m sick of it! It’s one thing to talk about me behind my back, or to bully me within the competition. But since we’ve gotten to this island, you have taken everything way too far.”

“Oh? Did I make you mad, Piper?” She straightened somewhat and began looking at me with more interest.

“Maybe you meant for me to be hurt or dead, maybe you didn’t,” I snapped. “But regardless, your actions could have led to my death!”

“You’re still alive, aren’t you?”

“No thanks to you!”

Bridget narrowed her eyes. She stepped away from the fridge and closer into my space.

“I didn’t realize I was supposed to be your babysitter,” Bridget said in a low, vicious tone. “Can you really not take care of yourself, Piper?”

“I never did anything to you,” I said, slowly coming to realize how deep her hatred for me rooted. “How could you be so unfeeling about my potential death? Or at least the very real threat to it?”

“You should know,” she snapped.

“Because of Nicholas?”

“You’ve turned both Nicholas and Julian against me,” she said. “For years they were in love with me. They would do anything I told them to. They’d bend over backwards to make certain that I was happy and all my needs are met. But then you come around… and suddenly it’s like I’m some nuisance!”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“You existed, Piper! You stole Nicholas’s attention and Julian’s devotion. You ruined everything for me!”

I failed to see how she could see anything this way. She remained a well-known, well-liked high-paid actress. The only thing that threatened that livelihood was her actions occurring during the competition. So far the royal family had managed to protect her image, but she was working on destroying it herself.

“I didn’t do shit,” I shot back. “Feelings are feelings and they can’t be controlled. You are the one who pushed both Julian and Nicholas away by acting so terribly. And you even threaten your own reputation by continuing to attack me.”

“I shouldn’t need to attack you!” she shouted. “I should already have what I want!”

“And what do you want?” It couldn’t be Nicholas. Or Julian. She didn’t seem to care about their feelings or their love. Whatever she wanted was something more tangible than that.

“I want to be Queen.”

Oh. Yeah, okay.

God help me, it made me so sad to know that some of these women wanted to be queen so badly they would do anything for it. Bridget, it seemed, was not quite ready to kill for it. But she was ready to let me die for it.

We were not the same.

“I don’t want to be queen,” I told her.

She looked at me in disbelief. “You think I’m some kind of idiot. Everyone wants to be queen.”

“Not me.” I never had any use for politics, especially after Elva came into my life. The only things I truly cared about were my family, those close to me, and survival. Becoming queen was such a far off fantasy, that it mattered so little to me. I wouldn’t care at all about it, except it directly affected Nicholas.

And, frankly, Bridget was far too selfish to be a good queen. She cared about the title and the power. But what good would she actually bring to the nation? If she only cared about herself, how could she possibly empathize with the kingdom’s people?

I shook my head. I was still furious.

“If you are responsible for what’s happening with Ronan,” I said, “you had better pray that no one finds out about it, or your entire reputation could be in shambles. You want to be queen so badly, but what happens when you fail? Don’t you want a life to return to?”

“I won’t fail,” Bridget said with unfailing confidence.

I could barely believe what she was saying. “Is it really worth the risk?”

Bridget lifted her chin. “Anything is worth becoming queen.”

It wasn’t an admittance of responsibility of Ronan, but it was a near thing. She certainly wasn’t denying it.

An unpleasant chill ran down my spine. The hairs on the back of my arms stood upright. I felt like I was looking at a different person than I’d been used to. The veneer had come off, and the true Bridget was cold and calculating, as heartless as they came.

A tiny bit of fear spurred inside of my chest.

Maybe she really would kill me for the crown. She might even do it herself.

“I hope you sleep well tonight, Piper,” Bridget said, her voice devoid of all emotion. “With Ronan still out there on the loose… I hope he doesn’t do anything too drastic.”

She pushed past me then and walked right out the door.

I stood alone in the kitchen, trembling slightly, looking down at the mess of melted ice cream and pint containers on the floor.

I was in over my head here. I’d known that from the start, but… I hadn’t realized it was like this. I could handle the bullying, even the occasional sabotage. But to actively seek my death? Just so she can have the crown?

And that look in her eyes…

I fully believed she wanted to be queen so badly she would do anything for it. Now, I felt as if not only would I have to watch my back for Ronan, but also for Bridget as well.

I never would have thought it would go this far. Bridget was so cutthroat. I didn’t know if I’d ever feel safe again under the same roof as her.

Minutes or hours past, I couldn’t be sure, until Nicholas came walking through the kitchen door.

“Piper, you taking so long that I…” His voice trailed as he gaze around the room, taking in the mess and my shaking form. Immediately, he took two long strides forward and pulled me into his arms. “What happened?”

I couldn’t speak right away, so I soaked in the warmth of his closeness instead. But then, eventually, I found my voice. And I told him everything, every word that I could remember from when I walked in this room and Bridget tripped me.

The more I spoke, the more Nicholas began to glower.

“You don’t have to be afraid,” he said, though the words were clipped. Anger was taking root. I saw his own doubt in his eyes.

I shook my head. He didn’t understand. “You didn’t see the look in her eyes,” I said. “Whatever Bridget you remember as children doesn’t seem to be there anymore. She’s totally obsessed with the crown.”

His reluctance to hate his friend was understandable, even with everything he’d seen, but something shifted in him when I said the words. That hesitation vanished as if he finally understood the depths to Bridget’s obsession.

“Nick, she’s willing to kill for the crown,” I said. “She’s willing to kill… me.”

Nicholas’s hold on me tightened.