Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Achilles
Starbuster - Fontaines D.C.
"Your tie, Achilles," my father grunts as I get into our town car. He's been sitting in there for God knows how long. "And you're late. I've been waiting twenty minutes for you."
Twenty minutes? That’s nice.
I loosen the knot of my crooked tie a little more and turn to him, offering my best smile.
"I know you're annoyed about having to come to this event, but Catherine is stuck in the middle of nowhere after the jet had to emergency land. She won't make it on time, and I can't show up alone. Portraying the image of a united family is very important at the moment."
Despite the AC blasting in the car, I take off my suit jacket. It's too hot to even breathe today.
"The only thing I'm annoyed about is that Catherine's emergency landing wasn't a full-blown crash," I answer calmly.
He ignores my comment and drops his phone on my lap. "There are two of them. Pick one."
His screen shows the picture of a woman with her age.
Twenty. Just three years younger than me.
At least she's older than the eighteen-year-old he offered two days ago. I look before I swipe, not because I’d choose any of them, but because I have to know what they look like to make sure I put the fear of God in them if they try to approach me.
On the second one, I pause. She's cute; there's no denying that, and the pouty lips add the right amount of sexy. But I simply don't care.
"How much are you offering them to initiate?" I ask as I give him the device back. "Or did you find them somewhere so fucked up that they'll do it for the smallest favor?"
Locking his phone, he puts it in his jacket, looking out of the window when he answers.
"I haven't offered them anything yet. But you know, not everyone has to be forced into a secret society that will protect them at all costs." His gaze turns to me. "Some people aren't self-entitled kids who think themselves invincible. They're thankful for the opportunity."
My smile brightens, because nothing puts me in a better mood than provoking my father.
"Yes, those grateful people need a whole society behind them to feel invincible. It only shows how weak they are."
Saying that to the president of said society truly brings me all the joy I need for the rest of the day.
We're dropped off on campus by our chauffeur.
Right where everyone is waiting for us on foldable chairs that have been put on the grass for this occasion.
The piece of land SFU had bought many years ago was always meant to be used to expand their campus in the Silver Falls Forest. They were just waiting for someone "generous" enough to fund a new building.
I step on the red carpet leading to a stand the second I walk out of the car, and it takes all of me not to roll my eyes. My father follows, and a round of applause roars around us. He walks in front of me, waving, smiling, pretending to be humble as his left hand comes to rest on his heart.
Fraud.
I don't make the effort to go all the way with him, instead choosing to join my friends I spot standing at the back since all the chairs are taken. Why did so many people come? We're just celebrating someone evading taxes and succeeding at his philanthropist PR stunt.
I almost laugh at myself. That's why so many people are here. Because I grew up in a town where we celebrate that kind of behavior.
"Excited about the new music department, are we?" I ask my friends, Wren and Peach, as I settle next to them at the back.
"It's always safer to keep an eye on your father," Wren replies, his arm casually draped around Peach's shoulders. Her long red hair falls below her chest, and every now and then, Wren's fingers play with it.
"Sure is."
"When did he grow a heart?" That's our other friend, Ella. She and her boyfriend, Chris, are a little farther back, right behind me.
I exchange a look with Wren.
"He needs the good publicity," I say lazily.
Wren observes our surroundings, making sure no one’s listening to us.
"Last year was an unfortunate year for his precious society," he explains with more will than I have.
"Every terrible thing that happened on campus, hell, in this town, in the last couple of years was related to people in the Circle. His closest members are mad. The board’s probably threatening to kick him out if he keeps bringing unwanted attention to them. "
I can't help but smirk, listening to how badly my father’s doing. Should it happen, he deserves his downfall.
"Plus," I add. "Someone burned his precious temple." My accusatory stare goes to Wren, but the pride in my voice is proof of what I really think. "Members died. They're scared, and they're losing faith in him. He needs to show the influence he has."
I grew up surrounded by the Silent Circle.
My dad has been president of the secret society since I was a teen.
Some people would give anything to be part of it.
Because nothing is impossible once you're a member, or what they call a "Shadow.
" Laws don't apply to you; the world is yours.
The connections it brings are unimaginable.
Some people never had a choice but to join. Ella and her boyfriend, Chris, for example. Or Wren and his fiancée, Penelope. They had to fight with everything they had, almost losing their lives to find a way out after they were forced to initiate. Everyone around me is a member.
So far, I’ve managed to escape. The privilege of being my father's son, my absolute disgust for it, and my stubbornness have bought me time.
But my father is onto me. Especially after Wren lost his mind and tried to kill them all last year.
He needs to prove that the Circle is just as strong as it's always been.
And what better way to show that than having your reluctant son finally join?
That's why he keeps showing me women. Every potential member has to bring a woman to initiate with.
Someone who will eventually become their wife and provide heirs to the Silent Circle.
They need trusted members now more than ever.
And since I've never had a girlfriend, he's ready to arrange this for me.
He keeps trying to find women desperate enough that they'd initiate into a dangerous secret society that'll take away all their independence and power so they can be safe from the outside world.
Yes, wives of Shadows can ask any favor they want of the invincible men in the Circle. But they also become their husband's property. Most women either don’t have another choice or don’t know what they’re getting themselves into. Apparently, some don't even know they're my father's target yet.
My attention focuses on him again. He could talk about himself for hours on end. His fake charming voice quickly becomes a dull background noise, and my gaze gets lost on the woman standing next to him like a trophy.
I pause, recognizing that face.
She's got her hands clasped in front of her, wide brown eyes looking out at the crowd. She looks like an animal in a zoo while the man next to her is discussing a fucking building that's barely putting a dent in his bank account.
"Remember her?" Wren asks quietly, clearly insinuating I should.
The thing is, I’m not often fully present when people talk to me, and I disconnect a lot, which annoys my friends to no end, but I remember her.
"I've seen her somewhere," I mumble nonchalantly, not telling them whether I really do or not.
Peach jumps at the occasion to break my balls, as she loves to do.
"For fuck's sake, Achilles. That's Nyx Mayer. You've met her. We talked about her when Hermes made that awful post about her."
"She looks different."
"Yeah, until yesterday, her hair had two colors. Apparently, she's settled on brown now."
"SFU probably made her do it," Ella chimes in.
"She's the recipient of your dad's scholarship. I literally showed you Hermes's post yesterday," Peach concludes with an eye roll.
Ah, Hermes. Peach kept talking about our own campus gossip account yesterday.
A poor girl who's going to get eaten by the big, bad rich.
Well, yeah, she's already stepped into the wolf's wide-open mouth by accepting my father's new scholarship. One would think the post from yesterday would’ve pushed her away, but here she is.
Hermes has been making everyone's life a living hell on this campus.
Only our students can access their account on the SFU app.
People have the best time sending pictures of the ones they want to take down, to destroy their reputation.
Hermes never holds back, picking the ones that will have the most impact.
They live by one motto: "Your secrets are safe with me, until they aren't." No one knows how many secrets they're sitting on or when they'll reveal them, but they always seem to pick their timing perfectly to cause as much damage as possible.
My friends and I are their favorite victims. We're important. We're popular. We're juicy topics.
We hear some muffled giggling, and my eyes go to the two students sitting in the back row, right in front of us.
The women are zooming-in on Nyx's dress with their phone's camera.
They get closer and closer until they're showing that one of the spaghetti straps of her summer dress is held by a safety pin.
One murmurs something, and the other snorts loudly before slapping a hand over her mouth.
I feel Peach shift next to me before she takes a step forward, snatching the phone.
"Seriously? What are you, twelve? Get a fucking life, you losers.
" She throws the phone on the ground just as my father takes the gold-painted shovel and digs it in the grass, inaugurating the beginning of this new endeavor.
He smiles brightly at the journalists taking pictures before handing the shovel to someone else.