Page 1 of Ruthless Ambition
Prologue
Six years ago
I sat in the car, frozen at the scene in front of me, looking at the two parked SUVs in front. Then I looked back at my date, whose knuckles were white on the steering wheel because he was gripping it so tightly.The cars in front blocked the road, halting our drive back to campus.
“What’s going on?” I asked him quietly. It seemed to be more than a car accident ahead. The more I looked, the more it was quite obvious that the cars weren’t there by accident at all.
They were placed there.Why?
“Dave?” I prompted him again, but his eyes were firmly fixed on the cars in front. Finally, he broke away from them and looked in the rearview mirror, his mouth a thin set line as his eyes narrowed.
Turning in my seat, I looked behind me. There was another SUV blocking us in. Wetting my lips, I turned slowly back to face front. “What’s happening?”
I thought he was going to speak, but up ahead, the car doors opened, and three guys got out. Swiveling in my seat, I looked over my shoulder again. Another two guys were behind us, heading our way.
Five guys.
With baseball bats.
As they got closer, I realized they all had hoodies pulled up and over their heads. The headlights played havoc with their approach in the dark, and they were coming in and out of focus. But as they neared, I saw they wore bandanas covering the lower half of their faces, making it harder to identify them.
“Dave?” My voice was a low whisper. I’d been apprehensive before, but now . . . now I was scared. My date wasn’t answering,and no longerwantingan answer, I reached into my purse for my cell.
His hand grabbed mine, my cell falling to the floor as he shook his head. “No. No cops.”
“What? Why?” I demanded, but he said nothing else. “Do youknowthem?”
I screamed suddenly when the first baseball bat hit the car. “Fuck!” I yelled again when another followed, and then I heard the back taillight get smashed. My door was wrenched open, and one of them reached for me, hauling me out as I fought him. I may as well have hit a brick wall for all the good it did me.
“Settle down. We’re not here for you,” he said gruffly.
I watched as another swing of a baseball bat smashed onto the windshield, cracking it, the sound loud in the night. Dave was still in the car and making no effort to get out.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked as I struggled to get free of him. “Who are you?”
More swings and more damage happened as the four guys used Dave’s car like it was a piñata, and still, he remained in the car.
“Why isn’t he getting out?” I cried as the hands holding me tightened. One of them at the car looked up and saw us standing there, watching. As he walked up to us both, his head jerked to the one holding me, telling him wordlessly to let me go. Which he did, leaving me free but frozen to the ground.
“Here, make the fucker hurt.” The new one passed the bat to the guy who had been holding me.
The words broke my daze, and I darted to the side, ready to run back to Cardinal if I had to. I heard a curse, and I knew someone was running after me.
“Oh no you don’t.” Hands grabbed me, lifting me against a chest as I was turned and carried back to the cars, as I kicked and struggled against him. “Crazy bitch, stay here.” Dark eyesglittered in the night as he stared down at me, his bandana tight across his face. “Don’t move, you wouldn’t want me to catch you a second time.”
Both of us turned to the sound of a door opening. Slowly, Dave finally got out. I heard the lunatic in front of me chuckle as he started to walk forward, now seemingly content to leave me behind. Hastily, I grabbed his arm, halting him. I didn’t know why, but this one had a more dangerous vibe than the one who took me out of the car.
“Why?”I asked again. “Why are you doing this?”
He looked me over once before he looked back toward his friends, who now had Dave pinned against the car. “Mayhem.”
“Mayhem? What the hell is Mayhem?”
“Stay here, don’t move, don’t scream . . .” He leaned in close. “And we may just take you back to school.”
“I’d rather walk,” I snapped at him. His laughter was loud as he turned away from me.
“Stay put,” he called over his shoulder.
