by Hart, Stella
“Okay, this was kinda funny at first, but it’s just pathetic now. Nice to hear from you, Tatum.”
“Wait! Before you hang up, just do one little thing for me. Please. I’m literally begging you.”
She let out a deep sigh. “What?”
“Try and get in contact with Pri’s friends back in New Zealand. You should be able to find them on Facebook or Instagram. Ask them when they last heard from her. I’m gonna call back in a few hours and see how you feel about this whole thing then.”
“Whatever. Bye.”
The line went dead. I put my head in my hands and sobbed. Elias must’ve heard me, because he came in and slipped an arm around me, pulling me tight against his broad chest. “It’s okay,” he muttered. “You’re gonna be fine.”
“She didn’t believe me. She really hates me,” I said in a choked voice.
“She doesn’t hate you. She’s mad, but she’ll get over it. Just keep trying to talk to her,” he replied, rubbing my back in soothing circles. “Did you tell her the thing about Pri?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Give it time. She’ll do it. From what you’ve told me, she won’t be able to resist looking into a possible conspiracy theory, even if she feels like she hates your guts.”
I drew back and wiped my cheeks. “It just sucks knowing that she really thinks I ghosted her and said all that nasty crap about her. I would never.”
“I know that, Doll. She’ll know it pretty soon too.”
I nodded and let him hold me as my grief poured out of me all over again. It wasn’t just because of my friend’s rejection. It was the last few days in general; the ruptured cyst and all the emotions it brought up. For so long, I thought I was having a baby, and I’d finally come to terms with that fact and found joy in it only to have it ripped from me in an instant when the blood started to flow. It was heartbreaking.
I knew some people might think me overly-sensitive for my reaction, seeing as I was never really pregnant and I wasn’t even sure I wanted to have a baby until a few minutes before I ‘lost’ it, but I couldn’t help how I felt. Confused, despondent, shocked. Suffocated with inexplicable guilt.
Elias understood. He held me whenever I cried. Rubbed my stomach and back when they ached with cramps. Made me hot drinks and spoke soothing words. Lent me his strength until my tears dried up and a smile was back on my face.
He’d make a great father when we had a real baby.
He kept me distracted with a movie for the next couple of hours, and then he squeezed my shoulder and nodded to the phone again. “Want to try Greer again?”
I swallowed hard and gave him a determined nod. Then I picked up the phone and dialed the office again.
This time, Greer answered. “Hello?” she said impatiently. “Sorry, I mean, Roden Daily News.”
“It’s me again.”
“Thank god.” She lowered her voice to a hushed tone. “I’ve been waiting for you to call back. I’m so sorry, Tatum. You were right. I…” She trailed off for a moment. I heard her swallowing a lump in her throat. “I found a few of Pri’s old friends from New Zealand on her Facebook. I asked them when they last spoke to her. They all said they hadn’t heard from her in over six months, and her parents told them she was still here at Roden. But then everyone here was told the opposite.”
“That’s because she’s a prisoner at the Lodge,” I said quietly. “Unless we do something, none of them will ever hear from her again.”
“I should’ve believed you.” There was a raw note of pain and grief in Greer’s voice now.
“Don’t blame yourself. I know how crazy it sounds. I probably wouldn’t have believed me either.”
“Where are you right now?”
I hesitated. “In a safe place. I probably shouldn’t say more, just in case.”
I heard her breathe a sigh of relief. “I get it. I’m just glad you’re safe. How did you escape?”
“I was lucky. Elias helped me.”
“Elias King?”
“Yes.”
“But… you said his father is the ringleader of all the Crown and Dagger shit.”
“He is. But I trust Elias. He’s on my side. Our side.”
“Okay.” Greer cleared her throat. “You said the society pays off the cops to keep things quiet if necessary. Probably the mainstream media too. So how can I possibly help?”
“I need you to write down everything I’ve told you. You might need to speak to Elias as well, because he has a lot to add. Then I need you to turn all of that information into an article and release it on the student paper’s website. Make sure it’s shareable, and make sure every student gets an email notification with a link. The higher-ups will probably take the article down as soon as they see it, but not before people start copying and sharing it all over social media. Once it’s out there it’ll spread like wildfire, given the material.”
“I’ll do it right now.”
“Wait. Not yet. We need solid evidence to attach to the article first. We have a plan to get it, but it won’t be right away. So you can write the article and have it ready to go, but don’t publish it until we send the proof to you.”
“Of course.”
“I need one more favor from you.”
“Anything.”
“Find a motel that doesn’t ask for any ID or a credit card. Book a room with cash for a week. As soon as you’ve released the article, head there and hide. Take Willa with you. Katie too, if she’s back in the States now.”
“Katie is still in France. But I’ll take Willa with me.”
“Good. Hopefully it’ll all be over within a few days of the article going viral, but just in case, I want you to be safe.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. By the way, I’ll make a fake email address for you to send the evidence to, just in case anyone is tracking my email as well as my cell. We want this to take them by total surprise, right?”
“Yes. Good idea.”
“Give me a couple of minutes.” I heard her fingers flying over a keyboard a moment later. “Okay, done. Send it to [email protected].”
“Where’d you get that from?” I asked, jotting it down on a notepad.
“Just made up a random name and number. They’ll never suspect it’s us.”
“I hope not.” I took a deep breath. “I’ll send the stuff as soon as I have it, but it might take a while. Don’t be concerned if you don’t get anything for a couple of days.”
“I’ll try not to worry, but you know I will.” Greer’s voice had a slight tremor in it now.
“I’ll be fine. Elias is with me.”
She sniffed, and I could tell she was trying to stop herself from crying. “Okay. I’m really sorry I didn’t believe you earlier. I can’t believe all this shit was happening to you while I was just hanging around here, living a normal life.”
“Not your fault.” Tears began to well up in my eyes again.
“It’s just so fucked up. I’m so fucking angry. These bastards can’t get away with it!”
“They won’t if you channel all that rage into your article and make sure everyone sees it,” I said. “Anyway, I should let you talk to Elias so you can write down everything he has to say.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you soon. I love you, Tatum. Please be careful.”
“I will. Love you too.”
I handed the phone to Elias. When he was done telling her everything he knew about Crown and Dagger’s third level, he let me talk to her again to say goodbye, and then we ended the call.
Elias looked at me with a triumphant gleam in his eyes. “This is gonna work, Doll. Just a few more days and we’ll be outta here for good.”
I gave him a watery smile. “I can’t wait.”
“Me neither.” He smiled, but then his forehead creased with concern. “Are you absolutely sure you’re okay with doing it this way, though? We could try to think of something else if you’re starting to get scared. You know I hate the idea of you
being in any sort of danger.”
I gritted my teeth. My need for reprisal against Crown and Dagger was like a vicious beast snapping at my soul, relentless and unceasing. It could only be stopped by the sharp, brutal steel of revenge. Cold, merciless, oh-so-satisfying revenge.
“I’m not scared. Not when I have you. In fact, I want to do it right now,” I said firmly. “Besides, I don’t think there’s any other way.”
“You don’t want to think about it a while longer, just in case you change your mind?”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to. We’re doing this, Elias. You and me.”
He smiled and looked down at me, eyes gleaming with pride as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. My heart began to race, a kaleidoscope of butterflies flitting inside me. I knew what was coming next, and I stood on my tiptoes and tilted my chin up. He leaned down and kissed me, slowly and deeply at first, growing ravenous and hard within moments. Goosebumps broke out across my skin as he ran a hand down my side before slipping his arms around me, gripping me tightly. Like he owned me.
And he did.
I was his and his alone. His possession, his to control, and yet his equal at the same time. I would be totally and utterly lost without him, and he was the only man I would ever want. He was everything to me.
He finally drew his head back, arms still wrapped around my waist. His eyes were dark and hungry with grit and determination. “Let’s do it.”
17
Elias
“I still don’t quite understand this plan,” Dr. Paulson said, a frown wrinkling his forehead as he stared at me from across the table. We were in one of the cafés on the Ark’s ground floor, sipping on black coffee. “You said the evidence you need is in your father’s study at the Lodge. Why can’t I just go in and get it for you? No one suspects me of anything. You could just tell me the code to his door and his safe, and I could grab it for you.”
I sighed impatiently. “You don’t work there, and you’re not a society member. People will get suspicious if they see you wandering around. They’ll know you don’t belong and you’ll stand out like a sore thumb, especially with the festival being over, because there’s nowhere near as many guys for you to try and blend in with.”
“Perhaps, but it still seems easier if I do it. If anyone asks why I’m there, I could say I was asked to work there while the Finishing School is being rebuilt.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Like I said, it’s too risky. My father might see you when you arrive, and he’d know you were lying about working there. That’s if the guards even let you past the gate. Besides, Tatum is right—it’s a two-person job. We couldn’t just send you in alone. What if my dad decided to go into his study while you were in there rifling through his safe? You’d be dead before you hit the ground. There needs to be a second person distracting him for as long as it takes.”
He rubbed his chin. “I suppose so. This still seems very dangerous, though.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Look, Paulson, you’re the reason I started suspecting all this shit was going on in the society. You wanted me to look into it and I did. You were right; it’s a fucking viper pit down there. So do you wanna help us or not?”
He held one hand up. “Of course. I’m just pointing out the enormous risk. There’s so many things that could go wrong.”
“Going back to the Lodge is an enormous risk no matter how we do it, considering there’s practically a bounty on our heads right now. This is actually the safest plan I can think of,” Tatum interjected as she entered the room. She’d been up in the apartment for the last several minutes, changing into a thick jacket and her old bloodstained clothes from the other day.
There was a ring of fresh red marks around her neck. The marks would soon bloom into bruises. She’d done it to herself, wrapping her hands around her neck and squeezing until she could barely breathe. Makeup was too much of a gamble, she told me. It could rub off, and then the jig would be up.
Paulson looked at her. “You’re absolutely sure you can handle this? You don’t want to rest for a few more days?”
She smiled bravely. “I feel fine. The bleeding has totally stopped now. I checked while I was upstairs.”
“All right. I’ll get everything we need from the medical wing and storage cupboards,” the doctor said, grudgingly rising to his feet. “What about a contingency plan if this all goes wrong?”
I shrugged. “There isn’t one. This has to work or we’re screwed.”
He shook his head and let out an exasperated sigh. “I’ll be damned,” he muttered. Then he left the room without another word.
Tatum glanced at me. “It’ll work out fine,” she said, rubbing her red throat. “It has to.”
“I know.” I jerked my head toward the door which Paulson had just stepped through. “He’s just a nervous kinda guy. He’ll stop worrying as soon as Greer’s article goes viral and he’s praised by the whole world as one of the major heroes in all this shit.”
“True. He’ll be rolling in cash from interviews. Plus women will be going gaga for him.” She bit her bottom lip. “You as well.”
“He can have ‘em all. You’re the only one I’ll ever want.” I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed her ass, making her mewl with surprise.
Dr. Paulson returned several minutes later with a small bag of supplies. He pulled out a small plastic baggie packed with cream-colored powder, a pocketknife, a couple of screwdrivers and a tiny pair of pliers. “Here, Tatum,” he said. “You need to cling to this stuff for dear life. The plan is dead in the water without it.”
“I know.” She unzipped the jacket and tucked the baggie beneath the tight band of her bra on her right side. The small tools went in the sides of her underwear. I lifted my brows at that, and she shrugged at me. “It won’t be that uncomfortable. It’s not like I’ll be awake for most of it.”
“True.” I held a cell phone and a mini USB cable out to her. “One last thing.”
She took the phone and cable and slid them into the side of her underwear as well. Paulson peered into his bag to double-check he had everything else we needed. Then he nodded. “Let’s head out.”
We left the shelter and made our way to the back of the van. I’d already cleared it out so that nothing remained but the mattress. “This is where you’ll put her?” he asked, glancing at me as Tatum lingered a few yards away, ensuring everything was still tucked in tightly.
I nodded and beckoned to her. Paulson held up a needle and looked down at her as she lay on the mattress. “I’m going to give you the sedative now. At this dosage and with your size, it’ll last around five hours in your system. Until then, you will be unconscious and unresponsive. Your heart rate will be slowed so it will be difficult for someone to find a pulse unless they’re an expert. Hopefully, that’s enough.”
She smiled bravely. “Yeah. Hopefully,” she echoed.
“Any last words?”
Tatum shook her head. Paulson rolled up the left sleeve of her loose, bulky jacket and located a vein. As he injected her with the sedative, I held her hand and squeezed tight.
Seconds later, she was dead to the world. With the massive bloodstains on her pants and the red marks around her neck, it looked like she was actually dead. I leaned down and kissed her forehead.
“Okay, Romeo,” Paulson said. “We need to head out now. If she isn’t in the Lodge by the time she wakes up, we’re screwed.”
“I know.”
He got in the passenger side of the van as I put the key in the ignition. When we reached the gate to the property, I stopped and let him out by his own car.
“I’ll follow you,” he called out as he started his engine.
I nodded and began the long drive back down to Connecticut, my hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white. I wasn’t looking forward to the phone call I’d have to make once I arrived at the gates of the Lodge, but it had to be done for Tatum’s sake and also for the sake of every woman still tra
pped there. For my mother, too. Not just Camille—Sylvie as well. Both women died trying to protect me, and I refused to let their sacrifice be in vain. Or Henry’s, for that matter.
When I finally neared the Lodge estate, I stopped five miles up the road from the black iron gates. Paulson pulled onto the shoulder behind me and stepped out.
He checked Tatum’s vitals in the back of the van. “She’s still out of it,” he said, glancing up at me from her side. “Very deep sleep. She really does look dead, doesn’t she?”
I nodded slowly. It was a terrible sight. “Why couldn’t you just give the drugs to her now, so she didn’t have to be knocked out in the back for the whole drive?” I asked tersely.
He frowned as he began to rub ice on her neck to make her skin cold. “If I gave it to her now, she’d be asleep for too long. You want her awake within the next couple of hours or so, right?”
“Yeah. But couldn’t you just give her a smaller dose or something?”
He shook his head. “If I did that, we’d risk her waking up too early because the dose would be so miniscule. Or she could even wake up from being touched upon examination, which I assume those guards will do to confirm your story.” He looked over my shoulder at the road beyond. Neither of us could see the gate or the guards from here, but we knew they were there. “With access to certain other anesthetics, I could’ve made it work, but the shelter supply was limited. This was the best I could do.”
I shrugged and held my hands up. “Okay. You’re the doctor.”
He gave me a hard look. “Yes, I am. That’s why I’m going to ask you one more time. Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
“Yes.”
“It’s not too late. We can turn around right now and go back to the shelter.”
“Look, Tatum might be small, but she’s not weak,” I said, gritting my teeth. “She’s the strongest fucking woman I’ve ever met. She’ll be fine. I know it.”