My Boyfriend Played Mind Games, So I Played Them Better Chapter 06

My Boyfriend Played Mind Games, So I Played Them Better Chapter 06

Ethan had sent a driver to pick Mia up, but one of the tires had picked up a nail and blown out. The driver had to get it replaced first.

Accidents happened. No one was to blame.

As for the “helpful local,” he was actually a guide I’d hired online.

I’d told him to take Mia up the longest, roughest trail he could find.

He’d also spent the entire climb feeding her anger, ensuring she arrived ready to confront me and too furious to care how she looked.

Unfortunately for her, she hadn’t gotten the confrontation she wanted. She’d only disrupted Vivienne’s party and humiliated Ethan in front of his closest friends.

Unless Ethan’s family somehow went bankrupt, Mia had probably just destroyed any chance of ever taking my place.

Mia pointed at me, shaking with rage. “You did this on purpose! I know you did!”

I gave her a smile that said, “So what?”

Ethan and I were standing in the doorway with our backs to the ballroom.

No one inside could see me baiting her.

To them, Mia was simply losing her mind.

Ethan told security to escort her out, then went back to apologize to Vivienne.

Mia struggled against the security guards, her eyes still fixed on Ethan.

Then her gaze snagged on Julian.

“Impressive, Ivy. Your ex and your current boyfriend are in the same room, and neither one has thrown a punch?”

Mia tore free and called out loudly enough for the entire ballroom to hear:

“Oh, and here’s something Ivy probably doesn’t know. We went to the same high school.”

“Ivy and Julian dating was huge news at our school. Everyone knew about it.”

The murmuring ballroom went dead silent.

Vivienne looked at me, and every trace of her usual courtesy vanished.

She linked her arm through Julian’s and led him forward.

“Everyone, this is my boyfriend, Julian Hale.”

Ethan had often warned me that Vivienne knew exactly how to get what she wanted and that I

should never cross her.

“Anyone who crosses her pays for it.”

Mia had probably only meant to drive a wedge between Ethan and me.

Instead, she’d put a target on my

back.

I’d set the trap, and somehow I was the one caught in it.

After that night, Ethan never yelled at me, but he stopped calling too.

Our relationship existed in name only.

He was afraid of Vivienne, but breaking up with me immediately would make him look

spineless.

His friends would’ve laughed at him.

Vivienne’s retaliation came quickly.

My name disappeared from the leadership ballots for several clubs, and I was suddenly replaced as the emcee for a campus event.

That wasn’t the part that did real damage.

I was preparing for a high-profile business case competition when the application portal refused to accept my entry.

One of my teammates pointed at the screen. “Ivy, look. I get an error every time I try to submit the application.”

That was obviously Vivienne’s work.

For her, all it would’ve taken was one phone call to the organizers to get my name quietly added to a blacklist.

The closer you got to the world of the untouchable elite, the easier it was for them to crush the

fight out of you.

When someone came after me, I either had to swallow it or spend days plotting a counterattack that might still blow up in my face.

Vivienne only had to say the word.

When I stayed silent, my teammate added, “Maybe too many people are applying right now

and the site is glitching. I’ll try again tonight.”

“It won’t work tonight either.”

Mia stood in the meeting-room doorway, openly gloating.

The library wasn’t an option for a group discussion, so I’d reserved a student government meeting room.

Mia was on the communications team, so it wasn’t strange that she could get in.

She announced to my teammates, “Ivy made an enemy of someone powerful. As long as she’s on your team, that application isn’t going through.”

My teammates looked at me in confusion.

I stepped close enough that only Mia could hear.

“If I remember correctly, you’ve been playing the sweet, sunny freshman since the day you arrived at Alderidge,”

“If you’re going to wear a mask, keep it on.”

“Just because I figured you out doesn’t mean you should drop the act in front of everyone.

Don’t you

realize how stupid that is?”