“You’re missing the point, Sierra,” Courtney said softly. “This is the way things work, the way they’vealwaysworked.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little sad that this is the best you could come up with?” My voice was cold, cutting.
“This isn’t just about us. We’re thinking about the good—”
“Not for the good ofeveryone, surely? Otherwise, you wouldn’t just be lining your pockets.”
They exchanged glances with one another, starting to flounder. This conversation was not going the way they had expected. A grim satisfaction spread deep within me.
“Not of everyone, no.” Courtney fixed me with her gaze. “But you could be one of them.”
My eyebrows shot up almost to my hairline.Were they serious?
I let out a disbelieving laugh, while deep down, something inside me cracked. For a while, I had considered this to be my found family, my people, myhome. The revelation of who they truly were was jarring.
“You’re that desperate to keep this thing going?” I asked, seething. “Haven’t you got enough already?”
Julia didn’t even blink. “Think about it, Sierra. You could have almost anything you want. Designer clothes, luxury trips —you name it. Just imagine the possibilities. The doors this could open for you.”
She really didn’t get it. Didn’t know me at all.
I stared at her, disgusted. “I feel sorry for you.”
“What is it going to take for you to let this go, Sierra? What do you want?” Courtney tried to coax me.
“Nothing you can give me.” I crossed my arms over my chest, unwilling to fold. “Unlike you, I have this little thing calledcharacter. A conscience!”
“Get off your high horse,” Julia scoffed.
“How can you be so greedy? You’re literally stealing money meant for charity and betraying the people who entrusted you with it. That’s disgusting. Not to mention you’re betraying the rest of us. I will never be part of this pathetic scheme.No fucking way.”
Courtney pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head ever so slightly, and it was Julia who took the lead now. “All right, Sierra. You asked for it. You made your bed; now lie in it.”
“Meaning?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“If you won’t join us, we’ll have to protect ourselves in other ways. As of today, you’re considered a traitor to Zeta Gamma Gamma.”
An incredulous, slightly manic laugh escaped me before I could stop it. I blinked, disbelief twisting my chest. “On what grounds?”
Julia’s expression stayed calm, cold. “You’re disrupting the bond of our sisterhood. We held a vote during last week’s chapter meeting. The decision was unanimous — you’re suspended from all activities effective immediately. You must turn in your badge and leave the house within 24 hours. Any items provided by the sorority must be returned.”
I looked at them, my chin held high, my gaze cold as ice. “You’re pathetic.”
Courtney sighed, and Julia looked at me with vicious malice.
“I guess there’s nothing else to discuss then,” said Courtney, before turning her back and opening the door.
Julia hung back, a gleam in her eye that I didn’t like. “We tried to keep you out of it. We even put a wonderful diversion right in front of you, but you had to rock the boat. We’re lucky he agreed to it at all, and you go and fuck it all up.” She scrutinized me disdainfully one last time. “With that stick up your ass, I’m not surprised he couldn’t take it anymore.”
With a self-satisfied expression, she closed the door behind her, and the thud of the door closing reverberated throughout my entire body.
Holy fucking shit. I froze, an icy chill running through my limbs and the blood draining from my face.
I felt nauseous, felt the bile rising, but couldn’t move. Eventually, I managed to slump to the floor, just crouching there with my head between my legs.
It was one thing that David had just been playing me. I could live with that. But the fact that the betrayal of my so-called sisters was even more far-reaching and vile than I could have ever imagined?
That was almost unbearable.
