Bully Deal: Allegri Elite High School, #4

By Moira Barretti

One shot.

That's all it takes to change everything.

But maybe it's still not too late for me to stop it.

.
This is the final installment in the Allegri Elite High School series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Moira Barretti
• Release date: Jun 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201400019

Book preview

Chapter 1

I BLINKED, WISHING that the scene in front of me would turn out not to be real.

A dream.

Hopefully, it was all a really, really bad dream.

But, deep down, I knew that it wasn’t. The Dinartis’ and my family’s men still surrounded Caden and me, their guns trained on us.

My dad still stood where he was, and Mr. Dinarti hadn’t gotten out of his car yet.

And Caden...

Caden was still holding his gun to his head.

Caden, I found myself saying. Caden, please. Look at me. Don’t do this.

No one had fired just yet, so maybe there was hope that he and I could get out of this alive.

A part of me wished the cops would show up and interrupt the whole thing, but I knew they weren’t going to do that. No one was on the street except for us, and there was no danger of any innocent bystanders getting hurt.

It was just us.

The cops would be glad if something happened to us. If we killed each other, at least they’d have less work to do, until someone else laid claim to the town.

Caden, I love you, I blurted out. Please, put down the gun.

He slowly turned his head toward me, surprise flickering in his eyes, as if he had just now become aware where we were and that I was with him too.

As if I’d just snapped him out of his dark little world.

I’m sorry, he whispered, and then he lowered the gun.

I let out a small sigh of relief, but we still had a whole lot of weapons pointed at us.

Dad! I yelled. Can we please talk about this? I’m sure there’s some kind of misunderstanding. You don’t have to do this. Please!

I had no idea if it was going to work or if my dad was going to listen. But dammit, being with Caden was my only crime.

So what if he was a Dinarti? He and I clearly had feelings for each other, so why couldn’t our parents put the hate aside and just listen to us? There didn’t have to be a war.

Not because of us, at least.

As slowly as possible, I turned toward my dad. The sight of my brother next to him made my throat constrict.

It instantly reminded me that I still had the flash drive with the video of my brother confessing to his lover, Amanda, that he planned to kill our dad to take over.

But I couldn’t think about that now. Surely, my dad wouldn’t let me die so easily, without even trying to talk to me.

Or maybe he would.

Did he really care so little about me?

What my brother had done and intended to do was far worse, but my dad didn’t know anything about it. And if I died now, he probably wouldn’t find out in time.

Everyone! Pull back! If anyone fires, you will feel my wrath, my dad yelled. Adrianna, come to me. Slowly.

Oh, thank god.

Now all I could hope for was that the Dinartis’ men wouldn’t fire at Caden and me anyway. But would Mr. Dinarti really kill his son?

He hadn’t made a move when Caden had threatened to kill himself, and I had no clue what that was all about.

Maybe I’d get to find out if we survived this.

No, I had to find out.

Come on, I said to Caden, and we slowly backed away from the Dinartis’ men as my dad’s men moved closer to my dad, their weapons still pointing at the Dinartis and us.

Some of the Dinartis’ men glanced back at their boss’ car, but it didn’t look like Mr. Dinarti would give them any signals, and he wasn’t willing to get out of the car either.

He was just sitting there, as if the whole thing didn’t concern him. Or maybe he was afraid, but I doubted that was the case. If he feared for his life, he wouldn’t be here at all.

Just what the hell was wrong with him?

I couldn’t understand it.

Still, no one fired.

When we were far enough away, I snatched the gun from Caden’s grasp, and then I pointed it at him. He let out a small gasp as I grabbed his arm.

I want you to come with me, and I really don’t want your father’s men to shoot. I had no idea if it was going to work, but if Mr. Dinarti hadn’t ordered anyone to fire, then maybe he was hesitating.

If he killed his son, he’d have no heirs. Was that the only thing that was stopping him from ordering his men to shoot both Caden and me?

Maybe, but as I held the gun pointed at Caden, still backing toward my dad, the Dinartis’ men looked more and more confused about what to do.

No one appeared to be willing to risk Caden getting killed, especially since their boss was just waiting to see what would happen.

I’ll take her home, I heard my brother say, and a shudder ran through me.

All right, my dad said. I’ll see if Dinarti wants to negotiate.

My dad’s men surrounded Caden and me, protecting us from the Dinartis since we were already very close to my dad’s car.

What are we going to do about him? Bruno asked, just as I lowered the gun.

Dad, please let me take Caden with me. We don’t want a war, and we don’t know what Mr. Dinarti wants. If Caden is with us, then we can— I took a step closer to my dad, turning my back to my brother.

Adrianna—

Dad, please. I love Caden. I love him, okay? If you hate me for it, then so be it. But I know you don’t want a war. And taking Caden with me is the only way. It can help you negotiate with the Dinartis. I didn’t want to use Caden as a bargaining chip, but I doubted my dad would just let him stay with me.

Stopping a war was at least something he could understand.

Sure, it was a totally weird situation, especially since no one could tell if Mr. Dinarti wanted Caden alive or not.

Did he believe Caden had been bluffing to stop the Dinartis’ men from shooting me? That was something only he knew.

My dad pressed his lips into a tight line. All right.

Thank you. I pulled the flash drive out of my pocket and slipped it into my dad’s jacket. There’s something extremely important on the flash drive I just gave you. Please watch it as soon as possible. It’s a matter of life and death. Please. And don’t tell anyone about it. Absolutely no one can know about it. I lowered my voice, making sure my brother couldn’t see what I was doing.

My dad’s brow furrowed, surprise filling his eyes, but then he gave me a nod.

I turned toward Caden and my brother, hoping this would all work out in the end, even if I had to pretend in front of my brother that I was clueless about what was going on. If he tried anything, I still had my gun.

Take them both home, my dad said to my brother, and I caught Caden’s hand, my fingers intertwining with his.

Maybe we could survive this after all.

Chapter 2

AS SOON AS CADEN AND I entered the foyer of my house, the guards surrounded us, and some of them had their guns out and pointed at Caden.

My stomach did a nervous flip.

What if these men were my brother’s men? What if they were no longer following my dad’s orders? What if my brother was planning to kill Caden and me here?

But no one pulled the trigger.

At least not yet.

You should’ve done it, Bruno said to Caden with a wide smile on his face. You should’ve pulled that damn trigger.

Bruno! I shot him a glare, unable to keep quiet.

What, sis? It’s true. He cocked his head at me, but at least his gun was tucked in his holster.

If he wanted to kill us both, I thought he’d do it himself.

Where’s Mom? I desperately wanted to know if she was in the house, because if she was, her life might be at risk too.

If my brother planned to take over, I didn’t think he’d stop at killing Dad.

Okay, maybe it would work if he could blame someone else for Dad’s death, or if we didn’t know he was behind the whole thing.

But since he was here and our dad was out there...

I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep myself as calm as possible. If my brother had arranged for something to happen to our dad and intended to blame it on the Dinartis...

No, I couldn’t think about that. My brother couldn’t have turned everyone against our dad, even if he’d managed to find a few supporters.

Mom’s not here, my brother finally said. She’s out, and she’s somewhere safe. That’s all I know. Why do you ask? Do you think she can save you and your precious little boyfriend? He sneered.

No. I was just worried, I said. But don’t you get that we’re on the brink of war? Do you really want for all of us to be at risk?

Well, clearly, he didn’t give a shit about us—his family—or he would’ve never ever thought about killing our dad, but I had to try to fool him into thinking that I wasn’t a threat and that I didn’t know anything about his plan.

Caden was just watching me, completely quiet, and I knew he was doing his best to make sure things didn’t escalate.

Because if he did or said something, my brother could use it as an excuse to hurt him.

You should’ve thought about that before you fucked him. My brother’s face was serious as he glared at Caden.

I wished I could ask my brother about Amanda, but I couldn’t bring her up or he’d figure out something was up.

But once my dad watched the video, I had no idea what was going to happen. Despite everything, it was still surreal for me to think that my brother would be capable of such a thing.

A part of me refused to believe he’d cold-heartedly end our dad’s life, but there was nothing I could do about that, except to accept the truth.

It’s not like that, I said. Caden and I are together. As a couple. Why would that have to be a problem? We can find common ground. Strike a new deal.

My brother snorted. Please. Don’t make me laugh. Can’t you see what happened tonight? Dinarti clearly renounced his son.

Caden’s jaw clenched, and I tightened my fingers around his.

How do you know? I asked. Did he let his men shoot? No, he didn’t.

Oh, come on. His son fell for you, and you’re a Savanti. That’s unforgivable.

And messing with Amanda and planning to kill your own dad isn’t?

Ugh.

Actually, our father should renounce you too. You embarrassed this family. You hopped in bed with the enemy.

The same family you want to ruin?

Really, brother?

Really?

Why are you pretending you care about us?

But maybe it was a good thing he was saying things like that because it meant that he didn’t plan on killing Caden or me.

At least not at the moment.

Are we just going to stand here in the foyer and discuss stuff that shouldn’t matter right now? We can talk about it once Dad gets home, I said. I’ll take Caden to my room.

No, you won’t.

Dad didn’t say anything about—

My brother waved his hand. Don’t be ridiculous, sis. No one in their right mind would let you take this little shit to your room so you can fuck him again. He needs to be locked up. Do you really think we should let him laugh at us under our own roof? Nuh-uh. That’s not happening.

There was a weird glint in my brother’s eyes that I hadn’t noticed