And then I hear it. Cadee’s voice. And Dane’s too.
I push Elizabeth aside and Ax and I jump down the stairs three at a time. When I get to the bottom I see Dane just inches from Cadee.
And then I see his hand gripping her arm so tight, her skin is white.
“Get the fuck away from her.” I cover the distance between Dane and leap off the stairs. I chop my hand down on Dane’s arm, breaking his grip on her, then maneuver myself in front of her.
Ax is right next to me. And now he and his father have changed places and it is Ax who looms over Dane. Imposing and threatening, but also protective and challenging. “Touch her again,” Ax hisses, “and I will break that arm in half.”
Dane laughs. And I want to punch him so bad. But that’s exactly what he wants. It’s one thing to start a fight in the mansion, in private. Quite another to do it in public. “You guys really are that stupid, aren’t you? I mean”—he huffs out some air—“I get it. You’re big bad Ax. Everything is a fist fight with you. And you win, too.” Dane shrugs. “So I get it. I get why you think you can punch your way out of this. And you.” Dane looks at me. “You’re give-no-fucks cool Cooper. Oblivious to everything going on around you. Even when it’s right in front of your face.”
He glances at Cadee.
“Touch her again,” I say through gritted teeth, “and I will show your secrets to the world. I will expose you for the rapist you are.”
Dane guffaws. Like, literally throws his head back and barks a laugh at the ceiling. And when he looks at me again, his blue eyes are bright with…what? What is that look? Confidence? Security?
No. That look is power.
And it stops me for a moment. Ax too, I think. Because he goes quiet.
So when my brother Dane whispers his next few words, we hear him loud and clear.
“Don’t you get it, little brother? They’re not secrets. Everyone knows. And you three can walk away all you want.” He points a finger at the ceiling. “But you can’t stop what’s going on upstairs. And if I were you, I’d want to hear all that news. Because it’s going to dictate how the rest of your life plays out.”
Then he turns and walks back up the stairs.
CHAPTER SIX - CADEE
The three of us watch Dane disappear up the stairs. Then wait a few more seconds, just to make sure he’s really gone.
Both Ax and Cooper turn to me.
“Are you OK?” Cooper asks, just as Ax says, “I’m gonna kill that fucker.”
“I’m fine.” I take a deep breath to steady my heart. It’s still galloping inside my chest as it tries to catch up with my brain and accept that the threat is over now.
“What did he want?” Cooper asks.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. He said some very strange things. And what did he mean? What’s going on upstairs?”
“Predictably, the fucking pledges all caved,” Ax says.
“Not just the pledges,” Cooper adds. “Isabella and them too. Everyone gave in. They’re not coming back to the inn, Cades.”
“Well, I’m not surprised,” I say. “I tried to pay everyone’s tuition and they’ve all been paid.” Then I look at Ax. “Except yours. I paid that. And mine too.”
“Mine?” Cooper asks.
“Paid for, Coop.” I shrug. “And when I asked who paid it, the cashier told me that you don’t pay tuition. Never have.”
“Hmm,” Cooper says, thinking about that.
“But what else is going on upstairs?” I ask. “Because Dane seemed to think that…” God, I don’t even know how to explain it. “And his wife.” I shudder. “She’s creepy. They said…” I have to stop and convince myself that I actually heard what they said.
“They said what?” Cooper asks.
“They said I belong to them, Cooper. That I was… bred for them? What the fuck does that mean?”
His face goes white. “I don’t know.”
I lower my voice just in case someone is listening in. I don’t want this part to be heard. “You’re lying. You know things. You’ve been in that tomb. What happens in there? Why do they call Sophie the offering? What the actual fuck is happening here?”
“I don’t know,” Cooper insists.
I’m just about to lay into him when Ax says, “He’s not lying, Cadee. They don’t tell us anything until after we graduate. We don’t know any more than you, probably. I mean, we’ve seen the inside.” He shudders. “And I’m not gonna lie, it’s fucking insane. But as far as what they really do in there? We don’t know. We won’t know until we’re through initiation and that happens when we graduate. But my father said some very sick things once.” Ax looks at Cooper, not me. Which is telling.
“Was it about me being the offering?”
Ax directs his gaze to me now. “Yes. So I think”—he pauses—“and I hate to say this”—he’s looking at Cooper again—“but we need to go back upstairs and see what the fuck they’re doing.”
“Are we allowed?” I ask Cooper.
“Actually, we’ve all been invited. I’m pretty sure they’re expecting us.”
“Even me?” I ask.
Both Cooper and Ax nod. But they don’t smile.
The three of us collectively sigh. Secrets suck. Especially when you have this very good plan put in motion by evil Dante and now you realize you didn’t have all the facts when that plan was made.
“Fine then. I want to go. I need to know what the hell is happening. That word. ‘Bred’ for him, Cooper? What does that mean? Like… my mind is going places, ya know? Really dark, gross places.”
“I don’t know,” he insists. “But we need to stop pretending things aren’t happening just because we’re not participating. Because clearly, these people are proceeding as usual, whether we’re a part of it or not.”
“And obviously those secrets we thought we had?” I say. “Aren’t very secret.”
“Yeah,” Cooper agrees. “But maybe Dane is lying? Because why would my father leave us alone for all these weeks if he wasn’t worried about them?”
“Did he leave us alone?” Ax asks. “Or, like you said, did they just proceed without us? Because one week ago we were all on the same page. And now, everyone has changed.”
“We don’t know that.” I say it because I want to believe it, not because I do. I lower my voice. “I mean, the whole plan involves discretion.”
“The whole plan,” Ax says, “involves everyone doing their part. You didn’t see all the pledges in the dining room, Cadee. Everyone was all smiles.”
“So they’re out?”
Both of them just shrug at me.
“Let’s go,” Cooper says, taking my hand. “The more we know, the better off we are.”
I’ve been in the Chairman’s dining room several times, but my visits have been few enough that entering it still takes my breath away. The royal-blue velvet curtains and gold tassels that frame the wall-to-wall windows overlooking the college campus and the lake beyond make for a breathtaking initial view. And the many crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling are like a lesson in opulence.