Chapter Eleven
Romy
T he guilt written on my brother’s face wrecks me. My entire life I’ve looked up to him and adored him. He’s been my lifeline when I’d felt the most confused, lost, and pained. Bastian was always the good guy.
But good guys don’t have friends like the Crownes. Bastian has Megan, the new, improved, and thoroughly brainwashed version of her—a product of the famed Crowne Unity Project. I need to know his involvement in all this.
Caius seems to be enjoying my brother’s obvious discomfort. I may be angry with Bastian, but I’m mad at Caius as well, so his smugness irritates me. I extricate myself from his hold and grab Bastian’s wrist.
“My room,” I say to him, tugging him along with me.
Caius stays back with Megan and begins chatting amicably with her. My mind races, wondering what sort of hell she was put through. She’s no longer the shy, mousy girl I went to class with. There’s an air of sophistication about her, from her sleek hair, flawless makeup, and confident way she carries herself now. I’d witnessed it on the video call and it’s even more evident in person.
As much as I want to stay back and pick her brain in an effort to uncover all the whys and hows of what happened to her, speaking with Bastian is of the upmost importance.
Once inside my bedroom, I close the door behind us and sit down on the edge of my bed. I cross my arms over my chest and glower at him. Bastian sighs heavily and rakes his fingers through his gelled hair, mussing it up, before striding over to the computer desk chair. It creaks with his weight as he slowly turns it to face me.
Shame.
It’s not an expression I’m used to seeing on his face. In fact, I hardly recognize him right now. I need to know everything.
“Tell me about Megan,” I state, voice curt. “Be straight with me, Bas.”
His shoulders hunch and his eyes fall to the floor between us. “Just someone I met.”
I bark out a harsh laugh. “Not going to cut it.”
“Romy…”
“I said be straight with me. Cut the crap. Tell me how you got with Megan of all people.”
He fidgets with his Rolex, turning it around and around his wrist a few times before answering. “All the women I date are…” He huffs. “They’re money hungry, vapid, and quite frankly, obnoxious.”
“You wanted a robot you could train instead? Pure wife material right there,” I bite out, back stiffening.
“That’s not fair,” he rumbles. “She’s not a robot.”
My body vibrates with anger. “She’s not the girl I knew from school. Why her?”
“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not like that.”
I stare at my brother, truly seeing him for the first time. I’m a dumb, innocent girl who has no business worrying about the dark parts of the world that only men like him, Dad, and the Crownes are privy to. But I’m not that girl. I was born into this world and dragged deeper into it when Theo took me.
“I know what CUP is,” I tell him coolly. “I know that they ‘transform’ people. We both know it’s not as it seems. Hell, I lived their poor attempts to brainwash me.”
A flash of fury crosses over his features. “What? Explain.”
I want to roll my eyes at his sudden chivalrous desire to defend his baby sister. If I told him I was kidnapped and taken against my will, there’s no telling what Bastian would do. I’m not looking for war to happen in the family dining room.
“I’ve been around their manipulation techniques. I know what they do,” I say to him. “I know Megan went missing from school. That’s how I met the Crownes.” His eyes narrow, reading through the lines, but I continue on. “Then imagine my surprise when Caius connects me with Megan, and I learn she’s at your house. That she’s your girlfriend now. You didn’t have time to actually fall in love with her.”
Bastian glowers at me, the gentle big brother aura completely gone. He reminds me of Dad in this moment. “The same could be said with you,” he bites out. “One second you’re in school, totally focused on your studies and newfound freedom from Dad, and then you’re in a serious relationship with one of the Crownes. Fishy as fuck.”
“Maybe if we get to the bottom of why you came to have Megan as your ‘girlfriend,’ you’ll understand more about Caius’s and my relationship.”
His features darken and I know I’ve hit him where it hurts. I arch a brow, waiting for his explanation. Finally, he relents with a sigh of resignation.
“After my breakup with yet another spoiled brat, I wanted someone different. Way different. I’ve known about CUP—hell, everyone who’s anyone does—and I reached out to Orion. I knew he was connected with Dad, which meant it was legit, and they’d be discreet. Orion worked with me to find out what I was looking for.”
“Matchmaking for the elites,” I mutter under my breath. “How charming.”
We both know this is more than a dating connection.
It’s mind control, manipulation, and morally corrupt behavior.
“Megan was presented to me and she was the opposite of everything I’ve known,” Bastian says, shrugging. “She wanted a reformation through CUP. I got what I wanted because she wasn’t like those witches I’d been dating, but she was also…”
“Trainable?” I offer. “How is this not a ‘mail-order robot bride’ situation?”
“Why is everything so black and white for you, Romy? There’s so much you don’t understand, nor will you ever. Just accept that I like Megan, and if things go well, she could be my wife one day.” He offers me a sheepish grin. “You could be an aunt.”
I stare at him, shaking my head. “Do you even hear yourself right now? Megan had dreams, Bas. She left her old town where she had nothing going for her and was going to make something of herself in California. We were in class together. She was my freaking partner—my friend. I knew her. This ‘arm-candy-to-the-rich-guy’ wasn’t her plan. That girl in there is not the same one I went to school with.”
“You obviously don’t know her well enough,” Bastian argues, scowling at me. “If you did, you’d know her dream is to be a wife and a mother. She’s sweet and caring. She irons my shirts because it makes her happy to do something for me. Irons , Romy. I don’t have to take my shirts in anymore because she launders and irons them better than they do at the dry cleaner. Plus, it saves me time.”
He’s not pulling my leg. He’s absolutely serious.
Bastian doesn’t want a wife. He wants a maid.
“Unbelievable,” I huff. “I can’t fathom how you’re okay with this.”
“Okay with someone who cares about me?” He rises from the chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “I thought you were one of those people, but apparently you think I’m some rich asshole who uses women.”
Isn’t that exactly what he’s doing?
My face must portray that thought because he curses in frustration.
“Dammit,” he growls. “She’s happy. I’m happy. Let it be, for fuck’s sake.”
He starts pacing the space in front of the bed, clearly unnerved by my calling him out. I’m not backing down. Whatever this is he’s doing isn’t right.
“I don’t understand all the mechanics of what they do,” I say softly, “but it’s wrong. It’s mind control. You literally bought a woman whose mind had essentially been wiped like a hard drive on a computer and reprogramed her to be exactly what you want. How is that not disgusting to you?”
His jaw muscle ticks and he shoots me a nasty glare. “You make it sound like I’m some sick, end-user fuck in a human trafficking scheme.”
Again, that’s exactly what this is.
“Megan chose this,” he barks out, face turning crimson. “She wasn’t stolen or kidnapped or forced. Go fucking ask her. She saw an opportunity, joined a program, and is now connected to our family. With me, she has a future she could never have dreamed of.”
“As a Stepford wife?!” I shriek. “No one chooses that.”
“According to the CUP program, the participants agree to everything that’s done to them. It’s not some shady shit like you think.”
We’re going to go around and around with this. He won’t budge. Either he believes it fully, or he’s simply delusional. I’m not getting anywhere with him, though.
I also stand and force a smile. “I guess we can agree to disagree.”
He flinches at my words. Then his features go placid. “Are you off your meds?”
This time, it’s me who recoils. Do I seem like the unhinged one at the moment? I didn’t buy a young woman to turn into my robot wife.
“That’s none of your business,” I say tartly. “When did you turn into Dad?”
I think of Eva and begin to wonder if Dad acquired her as his wife the same way Bastian got Megan. The thought sickens me. This really is a lucrative business. They farm out the women to rich guys all over who’re looking for “seen-but-not-heard” wives, trigger-happy soldiers for when they need a weapon, and teenage captives for the sick underbelly of the world. I’m disgusted by all of it.
And now I’m officially caught up in this world.
“How much did you spend on her?” I ask, leveling him with a hard glare. “Last question and then we’re done here.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“No, Bastian, it’s not. It’s reality. Now tell me.”
“I made a small donation to CUP. I didn’t buy Megan.”
“How much?”
“I said small,” he hisses.
“Bastian, how—”
“One and a quarter.” He throws his hands up in the air. “You happy?”
One million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That’s what a robot wife costs these days.
Megan, who came from nothing, certainly is worth something now.
“How much did Megan get?”
Bastian has the gall to laugh, like I’m hilarious. I’m not joking with him. The amusement fades and anger twists his features once again.
“I take care of her,” he sneers. “Better than she’s ever been taken care of in her life. Did you see her fucking handbag, Romy? I paid two grand for that just yesterday because she saw it in a window display and thought it was pretty.”
“She traded her freedom for a purse. You’re unbelievable. I don’t even know you anymore.”
“Get off your high horse and get back on your meds. If anyone isn’t who they used to be, it’s you.”
He storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Anger surges up inside me. I don’t feel like I’ve gotten more answers. Sure, I confirmed what I already knew—that Bastian essentially bought Megan from the Crownes—but nothing new or helpful.
Why, of all people, did Orion present Megan to Bastian? Was it all a strange coincidence or was there something far more sinister going on behind the scenes?
There’s no way they could have determined that I would go looking for Megan. Theo taking me, after my snooping around at their party, was on impulse. Caius stepping in and claiming me as his pretend girlfriend was a direct result of having to clean up what Theo had done. It wasn’t all some intricately set up plan.
Or was it?
My brain begins trying to fit puzzle pieces together. It’s all jumbled together right now, but I feel as though it all connects.
And what about Vivienne? She was my nanny as a child and then she was hired to be Kaitlyn’s nanny all these years later? That’s beyond a coincidence. There’s something there.
I want to lay all the pieces in my brain down on a smooth surface so I can begin arranging them in the way they go. This is complicated and messy, but I know I can piece it all together. I’m a master at this. And now that the fog of my drugs is gone, things are starting to get clearer.
I could walk away from all of this—from everyone—and never look back. It would be so easy.
But I can never leave a puzzle unsolved.
Looks like I’ll be in it until I finish.
Something tells me I’m not going to like what the picture looks like in the end.