Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Ella
Daylight - David Kushner
I love you. That’s what matters. I love you, Nicole.
I grab the remote and turn off the TV.
“What did you do that for?” my brother asks, taking the remote from my hand.
I’m lying on the sofa, my head on the pillow I put on his lap.
“Because I’m sick of romantic movies.”
“You love those stupid holiday movies. He was about to stop her from going back to New York.” He turns the TV back on. “I need to know if she stays in their hometown.”
I snatch the remote back. “She does. Those endings aren’t realistic. We must stop watching them.”
“You watch them,” he mutters.
“You love them. Shut up.”
I sit up and he messes with my hair. His eyes drop to the bandages on my right thigh, and I pull down the sleep shorts I’m wearing. “Stop looking at them, Luke. I’m fine.”
“It’s the worst it’s ever been. ”
My gaze drops. “I know. But it’ll never be like that again. I feel better.”
“It was yesterday. It’s okay if you don’t feel better, but you need to let me know.”
I throw my head back, looking at the ceiling of the theater room in our family home, and decide to change the topic.
“When’s Mom coming back from France?”
“I don’t know, but you’ll be fine for another week here, at least.”
My brother can really read me, can’t he? “I should go back to campus. I can’t miss classes.”
“You’re unwell. You’ll go back when you’re better.”
“Peach and Alex are worried.” Who wouldn’t be after they saw the massacre I had made of myself.
“Then text them that you’re safe here with me. I’m telling you to rest, Ella, and I’m telling you you’re not going anywhere I can’t keep an eye on you. If Chris approaches you. I want to know.”
Heat creeps up my cheeks, translating the anger amping up within me. “Don’t tell me what to do. I’m a big girl, not the stupid five-year-old you think I am.”
“I should have told you what to do a long time ago,” he snaps, standing up from the sofa. “I should have clearly spelled it out to you to not date my best friend. Had you had an ounce of honesty toward me, I could have told you he was a controlling asshole with a handsome face. Why do you think I told all my friends to stay away from you? I know they’re not good enough for you. Do you think you know him better than I do? You fell for his stupid shit like every other girl did, and now I’m forced to fix shit I was never prepared to deal with. So cut me some fucking slack.”
My gaze drops to my hands on my lap, shame tightening my chest. “We were in high school. I had no idea what I was doing.”
“ He knew what he was doing. He’s the exact kind of man I wanted to protect you from, Els.” His voice is calmer, but I can still hear the betrayal in it.
“It’s not my fault this time,” I rasp. “I… He…” I’m so scared to say the words out loud. “He doesn’t want to let me go. Even with Megan in the picture.”
“He will let you fucking go, or he’ll die.”
My heart stutters before it drops to my feet, and a wave of dizziness washes over me. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“He’s your best friend. Even if he wasn’t, you can’t…you can’t kill people.”
He crosses his arms over his chest, facing me and forcing me to face the truth in the process. “Do you want him to let you go?”
The honesty in his question makes me unwell. I don’t want to answer that.
“Do you?” he insists.
“Things between Chris and I have always been complicated, and I don’t expect you to understand.”
“Do you hate him, or do you want him, Ella? The question can’t be any simpler than that.”
“Both!” I bark. “Both, okay? Now leave me the fuck alone.”
I stand up with a huff, ready to avoid the questions that point out exactly how fucked-up my feelings for Chris are, but my phone makes a noise.
The Hermes noise.
And my gut is telling me that I should check it right. Now .
I look down, unlocking the SFU app with a swipe of my thumb and let the post load.
“No,” I cry out, the floor falling under my feet. “No, fuck. No .”
I collapse back onto the sofa, head swimming.
She just can’t get enough!
Uh-oh… is this how Ella Baker keeps her spot in Professor Reeves’s class?
Sometimes under the desk, sometimes bent over…and her grades keep climbing!
I think those two are about to get in serious trouble.
#EllaBakerfutureattorney #GoodbyeProfessorReeves #whowillbeournewcriminallawprofessor?
The picture is of me exiting Reeves’s office, hair disheveled, shirt unbuttoned, and uniform skirt barely put together. Reeves is holding the door behind me, leaving no doubt as to who put me in that state.
“What, what is it?” Luke asks, trying to take my phone.
“Don’t look!” I jolt to my feet and step away from him, fear flowing thickly through my veins. “Please, don’t look.” He just found out I’ve been seeing his best friend. I can’t let him know I slept with Reeves.
I already know I’m not going to survive this from Hermes, but the next notification that comes from my phone gives me a near heart-attack.
“Luke.” My voice trembles, a mere whisper compared to what I intended. “We have a problem.”
I show him my phone.
Unknown: Aphrodite, you have been called to the temple immediately. There has been a request to change your status within the Circle. Zeus
“You’re not going,” he says right away.
“I can’t do that. I have before and…I won’t again.”
“Ella, you can’t go. This has Chris written all over it.” He’s trying to stay strong for me, but I can see the panic in his eyes that matches mine.
I look at the message again. “It was sent by Eugene Duval.”
“But whatever change of status they mean was initiated by Chris, I’ll bet my life on it.” He turns around, starts pacing, and looks at me again. “I swear to God, I’ll end him.”
“Stop saying that!” I fight back. “Please, just… I’ll go. I’ll go, and I’ll tell you what they want. I’ll call Achilles on my way, ask him if he knows anything. But I can’t not show up.”
His jaw clicks, his eyes hardening on me, but his tone is a plea. “I don’t want you to go, Ella.”
“Achilles is allowed in the temple. If anything goes wrong, I know he’ll be there.”
“I want you to message me. Every step of the way, do you hear me?”
“I will if I can. Luke…I know how you feel, but you are not useless. You did everything you could to protect me. I don’t doubt that, and I never will.”
I can breathe a little easier when I see his shoulders relax. I understand what’s been angering him so much. The helplessness. I hid my relationship with Chris and it meant he couldn’t protect me from it. He’s not part of the Circle and can’t save me from them .
“Sometimes things are out of our control. But I promise I’ll be perfectly fine.”
A lie neither of us believe, but still, it feels good to say it.
Once in a taxi on my way to the Stoneview Country Club, I call Achilles. I’m wearing jeans, pressing on the denim where my cuts are bandaged and letting a string of dull pain run through me to calm me down.
“Tell me you know something,” I murmur as soon as my friend picks up.
“ About? ”
“About my ‘change in status’ within the Circle.”
There’s a pause before his low voice comes from the other side of the line again. “ Did that come before or after the picture Hermes just released? ”
“Right after.”
He thinks for a moment.
“Achilles,” I insist. “What’s happening?”
“ There are only two options for an Aphrodite’s status to change. Either a Shadow asked to marry her and she gets to become a Hera... ”
“Or?”
“ Or she’s being removed from the Circle. ”
“Being removed?”
My heart stops altogether, my lungs refusing to draw in a breath.
“ I’m going to assume that what Hermes just published put you and Reeves in a tricky situation. It’s more than okay for both of you to sleep together, but not to put the Circle in jeopardy. Everyone knowing a professor slept with a student is a risk for us. It puts eyes on a Shadow and also on the Circle.”
I run my hand through my hair, pulling at my roots as my chest tightens some more .
“Are they going to kill me for putting the Circle at risk of being found out?”
“ Where are you? ”
“Why aren’t you answering my question? Am I safe?”
“ Are you on your way to the temple? ”
“Yes! Achilles?—”
“ I’ll meet you there. ”
The second I go past the front door, two men are on me. “This way, Aphrodite.”
They don’t touch me, but their mere presence is terrifying. As we walk up the stairs, my legs feel like jelly. I don’t think they’ll get me all the way to Duval’s office before giving up on me.
We’re almost by his door when it opens, and Megan and her dad walk out.
She’s crying, screaming at whoever is inside the office while Gabriel McLean holds her tightly by the upper arm.
“Dad—” she attempts as he drags her away violently. “I didn’t?—”
“You are a disgrace to this family,” he cuts her off, then snatches the necklace with the lotus flower she has around her neck. Her sign that she was a Hera. “Your jealousy and hysterics have cost me enough. You’re lucky I’m too important that you’re not being killed.”
She notices me, her face reddening some more. “You,” she snarls.
“What’s happening?” I barely choke out.
“You’re finally going to get what you want, aren’t you? Little fucking bitch…” She tries to come my way, but her dad holds her back.
“I don’t understand,” I rasp as I try to calm my breaths.
“Into the office, Aphrodite,” McLean growls, dragging his daughter away from me.
I don’t even dare to not listen, hurrying into the office.
My brother was right.
Chris is there, standing tall with his hands in the pockets of his suit and a serious look on his face. Eugene Duval is in front of his desk, running a hand through already tousled hair. His angry stare comes to me, and I notice his jacket has been thrown on one of the chairs.
“Ella Baker.”
I try not to gulp, but I fail, and my knees almost give up under his dark voice.
“You’re becoming more trouble than you’re worth.”
“I’m sorry?” My trembling voice doesn’t impress any of them, and even Chris doesn’t give me an ounce of reassurance.
“Aphrodites only have one job. To be used when we want to use them. You failed that already and had to be punished. We granted you a favor, though. So that’s already us doing more for you than you did for us. And now we have to cover for you again. Sleeping with a professor? I guess you only ever found one way to get help from people.”
Shame burns my face all the way to the tips of my ears, and my stomach twists, eaten by the disgrace demon. What a way to call me a whore.
“That was…before,” I attempt.
“Before? Oh, well. If it was before, then it doesn’t matter that some student account outed you and that the Circle has to intervene to save the reputation of not one but two members.”
“I’m sorry…I?—”
“That’s the problem with our kids. We spoiled you too much. You think we’re going to clean up after all of you before you’ve even earned your rightful place in this society. If Christopher hadn’t come to me, how long would this have kept going? When were you going to tell me that a social media account was targeting you? If you’re at risk, the Circle is at risk. What if their next post was to tell the world you were an Aphrodite for the Silent Circle?”
“It wasn’t?—”
“But it was.”
I look at Chris, and I notice the faintest shadow of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.
“I don’t understand,” I admit, talking to whoever wants to hear, but looking at him.
“This.” Duval gets my attention again. He’s holding a phone, waving it at me. “Hermes was Megan McLean. Christopher found this phone at their house. It’s logged into the account. She had a post scheduled for today that we didn’t manage to stop on time. It posted as we were going through the phone. And there was one scheduled for a week from now to tell everyone you were part of a secret society. Our society. We were about to be exposed.”
My eyes practically bulge out of my head. This is exactly what Peach and I thought—that Megan was after me. I look back at Chris, but he stays quiet, unreadable. So, I bring my attention back to Duval.
“She…she posted all those things about me?”
“She did. I know you three had some trouble, and I didn’t care, but she isn’t allowed to put the Circle in jeopardy.”
That bitch hated me so much she was willing to expose the Circle. She ruined my life, destroyed my reputation. I was right. She and Chris deserve each other.
My heart races, realizing her dad said she wouldn’t be killed. She deserves to be killed. “What is going to happen to her?”
Eugene puts the phone back on his desk before huffing and looking at me. “She’s been banned, her engagement with her Shadow broken, and her father will send her to Europe on family business.”
I struggle to take another breath, my eyes darting to Chris again. This doesn’t erase the things he did. It only shows that they’re both insane.
“What’s going to happen to me?” I whisper.
“Well.” He runs a hand through his hair. “You were going to be removed from the Circle. As I said, you’re more trouble than you’re worth.”
A chill runs down my spine, and I take a step back toward the door.
“No need to be scared, Ella. It just so happens that one of our Shadows is now without a Hera and is adamant he wants to pick you out of the pool of Aphrodites.”
I don’t register what he said for a moment, blinking up at him.
And when I do, my head whips to Chris.
“So that’s why you told everyone Megan is Hermes. How long have you kept this to yourself? You were waiting for the perfect time, weren’t you?”
“I only just found out, Ella. There was no scheming here.” How anyone could believe his almost shy smile right now is beyond me. He’s a liar, and I know it. “I lost my Hera. I can’t be without one if I want to stay a Shadow. And I have to choose from the Aphrodites. That’s all this is.”
“And you chose me ?” I snarl past the knot in my throat. “What a surprise.” I look at Duval, pointing an accusing finger toward Chris. “He knew she was Hermes.”
“How the hell could I have known? I’ve been warning the Circle about this account for months.” Chris snorts and shakes his head like he’s disappointed. “The woman hates you so much she was willing to expose the Circle. You’re lucky I found that phone.”
“Ella.” Duval’s patience is wearing thin. I can hear it in his voice and see it in the way he now stands straight in front of his desk. “I am about done with your impudence. You are nothing here. Your family is nothing. And you apparently learned nothing from your punishment. So here’s what it is: You are being expelled from SFU as punishment. The only choice you get is whether you want to become a Hera for Christopher, or to be removed from the Circle.”
“I want to be removed!” I rage.
He licks his lips, smirking at me. “Believe me, you don’t.”
“This isn’t fair…I… He’s tricking me into this! And how…how can you kick me out of SFU?! I worked my ass off to?—”
“You slept with a professor.”
“What about him? He slept with me. He sleeps with many of his students.”
“Reeves is a Shadow,” Duval explains, like I’m so stupid for not understanding. “Don’t you know the hierarchy here? You’re at the bottom. His life within the Circle will always be easier than yours, because he serves us in ways you never could. He’s useful, not just three holes to keep us satisfied. He’s been warned to stop, he’s been warned of the consequences of his actions, so you worry about yourself.”
“But—”
“If you choose to become a Hera, your Shadow can decide whether you can go back to college or not. But currently, you belong to the Circle, and as Zeus, I’m the one in charge of the decisions for you. You’re out of SFU.”
The door to the office opens, and Achilles storms in, stopping by my side.
“Can I talk to you?” he asks his dad.
“Can’t you see we’re busy?”
“Let me talk to you,” he insists. “Now.”
Eugene narrows his eyes at his son, but he nods. “Wait outside my office, Ella. Christopher, I’ll see you around.”
I flip around, practically running out of the office, and Chris is right on my heels.
“What the fuck?” I snap, the second the door closes. “You are out of your fucking mind, Christopher Murray.”
“Full name, huh?”
“You’ve gone too far .” I just barely suppress the will to scream. “This is my fucking life.”
“Language.” He plays with something in his pocket, and my eyes dart to it, wondering what he uses as a coping mechanism to keep calm. “I’m getting rather annoyed by your lack of listening skills. I told you I would do anything to have you, and it looks like I did, doesn’t it? The how doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. Megan is out. I’ve freed the space for you like I promised. Now, take your rightful spot next to me. Because God forbid, I take this a step further. I will, but I don’t want to.”
“You can’t?—”
He puts a soft hand on my cheek. “I can do whatever. Never forget that. I always play to win, and victory comes at any price. I promise you that at the end of this, you will be by my side, Ella. You decide when you’ve had enough of the torture and are ready to give in.”
With the knuckle of his index finger, he grazes the gold necklace I wear, the one with the shell that shows I’m an Aphrodite.
“This will be gone soon,” he says assuredly, and I wish that made me feel an ounce of relief. But I’m sickened, even as my skin tingles beneath his touch.
The door opens again, Achilles walking out. He takes my hand under Chris’s dangerous stare.
“Cut her some fucking slack, Murray. You’re a cunning motherfucker if I’ve seen one.” Then he turns to me, eyes searching mine. “I bought you two days to decide. Let’s go.”
My best friend drags me with him, and I look over my shoulder.
As composed as ever, Chris is smiling beautifully at me, making my heart skip a beat.
The fucker has me, doesn’t he?
He fucking did it.