XIX
Royal
S omeone had better be losing millions by the minute.
The first game of the season is tomorrow night, and instead of being at the gym for our pre-game massage, the Elite exec decided to call an emergency meeting.
Syn is staring at the door to the boardroom like he’s going to pull out a gun and take headshots at anyone who walks through it. I’d have thought by now, our exec would know better than to pull this shit and undermine Syn.
They’re not doing themselves any favors by not turning up early, either.
“Do you have any idea what this is about?” I ask, like either Syn or Gemini got a different message then me.
Gemini doesn’t look up from his phone. He’s been watching the stocks of a company I can only assume has something to do with the guy Virgo had been with, even though the market closed hours ago. “Syn’s being too soft on Tori.”
The murderous look Syn was giving the door is now directed at Gemini, even though he’s oblivious. “What?”
Gemini takes that long to respond, there’s a knock at the door and Tori walks in.
When I found out about the meeting, I told her to make sure she was wearing the maid uniform and gave her a quick summary of what she would need to do. Even though I hide it, I’m pleased to see her step back to let the other members of the exec enter. She waits until everyone is seated before moving towards the table. I look up and nod at her.
“May I serve anyone refreshments?” she asks.
“Red wi—”
Before the Social Chair, Alice Lumley can finish her sentence, Syn snaps his attention to Tori. “No one will be staying long enough. You can wait outside.”
Tori nods and then leaves the room, closing the door behind her.
“Whoever decided they were more important than the president can lead the meeting.” Syn’s voice is full of venom.
“Syn, no one thinks they’re more important than you, Royal, or Gemini,” Alice says.
“And yet it wasn’t one of us that called this meeting.”
Alice shifts uncomfortably, lowering her head.
“I did,” Eddie says, our Sergeant-at-Arms. If there was ever a figurehead position, it’s his. Only, it seems he’s not aware of it. “And I did so because there are a lot of unhappy members of the Elite.”
Syn stares coldly at the dark-haired guy but doesn’t say anything.
Oblivious, Eddie ploughs on. “Here’s the thing. You spent weeks telling everyone that Victoria Anderson—Reynolds—whoever… that by the time you were done with her, she’d be leaving here…” Eddie frowns. “Okay, you didn’t say it outright, but you implied it would be in a body bag. Then, out of nowhere, she’s an initiate—which wasn’t even discussed with the rest of the exec.”
“I mean, we understand that she’s now bound to a contract and NDA,” Alice hurriedly adds.
“Yes, we get that.” Eddie rolls his eyes. “But you have her living in this house. And while you might have been distracted by that girl at the beginning of the year, it was us who kept the hazing going on our initiates—”
“Hazing is illegal,” Syn says. “Watch your words, or I will have you charged with defamation.”
If Eddie knows what’s best for him, he needs to shut up now.
Of course, he doesn’t.
“ Initiation challenges ,” he says. “The point is, this year’s initiation continued as it should. Until she came along. And now we’re told to treat her like she’s one of us, instead of the initiate she is? And what hazing has she suffered in the last two, nearly three, weeks? Served you at meals? Whoop-dee-doo. You said she had the same responsibilities, and yet this house is…” Eddie runs his finger over the tabletop and holds it up. “Filthy. Worse, she’s walking around this campus with a smile on her face.”
Syn settles his hands on the table in front of him, clasping them together.
Beside me, Gemini exhales softly, but I can hear his words. “You’re done.”
No one else seems to have heard him.
“And is there anything else you would like to get off your chest?”
Although Syn’s body is relaxed and there’s only a hint of concern in his voice, looking at Syn right now is like looking at an angler fish. In the dark depths of the ocean, they attract their prey with a glowing light, the rest of their bodies hidden. That’s Syn. Luring Eddie and the others to take the bait.
“Initiates are here to service us, as well as you,” Eddie blindly continues.
Done is probably an understatement.
“Eddie, I’d leave it there,” Rylan, another member of the exec, mutters at him.
“If you were at least being seen to be hazing her properly, and if she walked around the campus looking completely broken like you promised, that would be one thing. Instead, it’s coming across as favoritism, and the whole of the Elite is upset about it. You need to do something before you’re facing a coup.”
Done is definitely an understatement. I’ll be surprised if there’s a body left to identify.
Syn says nothing, instead, stares at Eddie with an eerie expression on his face. He looks like one of those weird dolls with a painted-on smile. Although, if I was going to compare him to any doll, it would be Jigsaw.
The exec sits in silence, waiting for Syn’s response. But he keeps quiet until all of them are squirming.
Finally, Eddie let’s out an irritated sigh. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
Taking a deep breath, Syn leans forward, placing his hands on the table before he pushes and gets to his feet. With his palms still on the dark wood, he narrows his eyes at Eddie. “Coups are not organized by the masses. They’re organized by individuals. People who get power-hungry and think they know best. In this case, you.”
Eddie pales.
“I always knew you had as many brain cells as a jellyfish. Seargent-at-Arms means that you are in charge of discipline within the Elite, so if there was even a whisper of a coup, you should be ensuring that doesn’t happen.” Syn straightens, although the ice doesn’t leave his glare. “However, I don’t believe those whispers came from anywhere other than someone in this room.”
“You’re deflecting.” Something feral flashes through Alice’s eyes, but it’s like seeing a kitten try to square off against a street dog.
Syn smiles. “And here’s our puppeteer.” Folding his arms, the smile turns into a sneer of disgust. “You disappoint me, Finchlin. Lumley’s blowjobs are subpar at best.”
“Fuck you, Synclair,” Alice spits.
Eddie reaches for Alice’s hand before she can stand, but he keeps his gaze fixed on Syn. “We’re not here to discuss anyone’s sexual prowess.”
“Really?” The question comes from Gemini, who’s smiling in amusement, even though his attention is back on his phone. “Sounds like you’re pissed because you’re not fucking our initiate. And if you’re pissed about that, surely that means Alice’s performance isn’t up to scratch.”
“Fuck you, Gemini.”
Gemini looks up from his phone and arches an eyebrow. “I’m with Syn. You’re not worth a second round.”
Even though Eddie is still holding onto her hand, Alice stands, using her free hand to point between Syn, Gemini, and me .
Not sure what I have to do with anything—I’ve never fucked her.
“You three are a joke. I have no idea why my father wanted me to join so much, because this place is nothing more than a brothel. You’re nothing but pimps except you’re wearing Prada instead of leopard print.”
Syn sits back down, tutting. “Oh, Lumley… If you wanted to leave the Elite so badly, we would have accepted a resignation letter.”
“It’s not me who’s leaving, it’s you.”
“Then let’s put it to the vote.” Syn gestures to the room. “All those who wish for me to stand down, raise your hand.”
Alice’s hand shoots into the air. Then, after she elbows Eddie, he raises his hand.
They’re the only hands in the room.
With a snarl, Alice rounds on the other members of the exec. “This is not what we agreed before we came in here. Rylan? Dina? Phillipe?”
I sigh. “Alice, Eddie, I suggest you leave, now. And I suggest you do so quietly, because if I have to call campus security, they will remove you from the university entirely.”
Eddie momentarily closes his eyes. I didn’t think it was possible for him to go paler, but he now looks gray. Whatever plan they had, it’s failed spectacularly, and he’s well aware that he and Alice will now be facing the consequences.
Just as Alice starts to yell insults, Eddie stands. He takes Alice’s hand and drags her from the room, ignoring her attempts to pull free. He opens the door, and for a moment, I see Tori’s stunned face before she backs out of the way. Even though I hear Alice direct her shouts at Tori, Eddie manages to keep her away.
Tori appears back in the open doorway, her wide-eyed gaze switching between Eddie and Alice, and into the room. She catches my eye, and I just shake my head.
Although I can still see the alarm on her face, Tori steps forward to reach the door handle, and then she pulls the door closed, and the room falls silent.
“I assume that if the rest of you are still here, you knew nothing about this, and that this matter won’t come up again?” Syn asks, calmly.
I’m almost certain all of the remaining members had met with Eddie and Alice before coming in here, but they all keep silent, their eyes locked on the table in front of them.
Syn looks over at Gemini. “I want the pair of them removed from the campus within the hour. I don’t care if they’re left standing outside the gates like a pair of homeless roaches. It will give them the opportunity to get used to that feeling.”
“What…?” Rylan clears his throat before turning to Syn. “What are you going to do?”
“Should anyone be considering a coup, I’m providing an example of what will happen.” Syn’s speaking to him like Rylan’s seven years old. “Those two are no longer students at James Keyingham University, nor are they—or their families—members of the Elite.”
I glance at Gemini’s phone screen. He’s no longer looking at stocks, but his fingers are flying over the screen as he amends the enrollment status of Alice Margret Lumley. Once upon a time, the Elite President would have gone directly to the dean for that to happen, but since Gemini hacked the university’s servers his freshman year, no one has bothered with that formality.
It’s not like anyone in administration will question it.
Removing Alice, Eddie, and their families from the Elite will take a phone call. While Syn—or rather, his father—is high-ranking within the wider society, both Eddie and Alice’s families are reasonably high enough that the woven empire takes a little more power to remove them.
But, the Lumleys and Finchlins will be nothing more than a headline on a middle page of a newspaper tomorrow morning.
“As for the initiate,” Syn continues. “I find it insulting that anyone could think that I am being lenient on the one who shares blood with the lowlife who murdered my brother. And if I find out that anyone other than Lumley and Finchlin even whispers that they believe this is the case, they can join those two. Do you all understand?”
The members of the exec hurriedly nod their heads.
“Now, seeing as our Sergeant-at-Arms needs replacing, I am relying on you all to make sure that message is delivered very clearly to all members of the Elite.”
“Yes, Syn,” they mutter.
Syn arches an eyebrow. “Was there another reason for this meeting?”
Very quickly, the room empties, and the last person closes the door behind them.
“Unenrolled,” Gemini says, setting his phone down. He looks over at Syn and shrugs. “Told you so.”
“You’re a dick. Why the hell did you let it come to this?”
Gemini’s like a brother, and I love him. But sometimes, I think he needs to be medicated.
Like now, as he grins insanely at Syn.
“Because that was hilarious. And besides.” He shrugs. “You wouldn’t listen to me if I told you that it looks like you’ve got a soft spot for your little pet.”
“Her brother is the reason JP is dead.”
“And yet you brought her into this house and did what? Made her sleep in the basement in a dog basket and wear a kink collar? Ooooooh.” Gemini raises his hand and wiggles his fingers. “You could have sent her to the basement of one of the Elite dorms and let them treat her like an initiate—they’d make her life miserable.”
Crazy, maybe, but Gemini is also a genius. Not that it takes that many IQ points to come to the same conclusion.
But as Syn is starting to turn red, and I don’t want to live in a house with these two at war, I clear my throat. “Your father hates it when you call late with things like this,” I quickly tell Syn. “You should go deal with Alice and Eddie. And as for Tori, we can have her abducted after my game.”
Abductions are just part of the initiation. Usually, the initiates—or the female initiates, at least—are abducted in small groups, and dropped off somewhere with minimal belongings, before they’re told to get back to campus. Guys are left to fend for themselves, but the girls always have a member of the Elite close by to keep an eye on them.
“I can supervise.”
Syn switches his attention from Gemini to me, and for half a moment, I’m subjected to his murderous glare. “Abduction…” He nods. “I think we can do something a little special for her.”