One Hundred Pranks, One True End

ntire body ached with a deep, hollow pain. I was in a hospital bed, an IV drip

was rumpled, his hair a mess. He looked exhausted, broken. When he heard me sti

ant performance

ook my hand. His touch was repulsive. "You're awake

word. He squeezed his eyes s

ling, my face a blank mas

thick with fake remorse. "I swear to God, I di

ies, his performance of a grieving father-t

aw. Then he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to the bandage on my abdomen, where the

my skin. "I'll never leave your si

o him move around the room, talking quietly on the phone to doctors, to his assistants, arranging for

ne "too far." But he wasn't sorry for the ninety-nine that came before it. He wasn't sorry for the game. He wa

He spoke of his regret, of how he couldn't live without me, how I was his entire world. T

game. This "tragedy" was just an unplanned complication. It was prank #99, gone wrong. A prank he had known about and al

es. A hundred times, yes. The answer was as clea

room talking to a doctor, I used the small

voice hoarse. "It's tim

e, Ava? You'

y settling in my bones. "They took

nder my pillow just as Chloe Jenkins walked in. S

ng with fake concern. She placed the lilies on the bedside table, the

ow, I have to hand it to you, Ava. Getting pregnant was a

y silence a wall s

lls. That grant you were so hoping for? The committee heard about a very compelling new artist. Me. And as for your reputation

my grief, surged through me. I sat up,

" I hissed, my voi

m a winner. Ther

vase of lilies and hurled it against the wall. Water and shattered glass spra

me," I snarled, my f

her smug composure finally cracki

w open again. Liam sto

l is going on

f of her. For a moment, I thought

with a fury I had never seen before. It

erously quiet. "Get out now and do

, what are you doing? She attacked me!

oared, pointing a tremb

urned to me, his chest heaving. He looked from my furious face to the shattered vase on the fl

who was starting to lose