Page 47 of The Revenge

“Why didn’t Syn say something before?”

“If you believed him, what would you have done?” he asks.

I’d have tracked down Lissa Carmichael and followed through on my previous threat. Right now, I want to rip every single strand of her hair from her head. “Turn the car around, Royal.”

Royal doesn’t even take his foot off the gas. “You don’t need to worry about her.”

“What does that mean?” When Royal doesn’t answer, I lean forward between the two seats. “Royal?”

“All you need to know is that when Syn warned everybody there would be consequences if they did anything to you, he meant it.”

I shake my head. “I want to know what he did. Is she alive?” I was half-joking, but then Royal undertakes a 16-wheeler instead of responding. “Royal? Did he kill her?”

Royal glances sideways at me. “Not this time, but I bet she wishes he had. Her father, a pastor of an uber conservative mega church in Missouri, is an Elite alum who’s had to use Elite resources on two separate occasions to arrange abortions for the seventeen-year-old girls he’s gotten pregnant. Details of which were sent to the FBI, as well as the members of the church, and several news organizations.”

My stomach twists. “You’ve been sitting on this information without doing anything about it for this long?”

“I had no fucking clue, Tori,” Royal tells me. “And before you say anything, neither did Syn, nor Gemini. We’ve not lied to you when we keep telling you members of the XXXVII are rich and powerful. Pastor Carmichael isn’t a member of the XXXVII, but he is Elite alum, which still makes him rich and somewhat powerful. Maybe there are some decent millionaires out there, but most will do whatever they want and not care about who they hurt in the process. Syn just assumed there would be something dirty in his closet and got Gemini to go digging.”

Even if Royal thinks I’m naïve for believing so, I refuse to believe everyone who’s rich is evil, even including the members of the Elite I’ve met. Because there are plenty of evil people who are broke.

I slump back into my seat. “What about you?”

Royal’s eyes narrow as he meets my gaze in the rearview mirror again. “I’m no angel, Tori, but I’m not a fucking pedo. Neither is Syn. And Gemini might have some really fucking questionable kinks, but even I know kids are a hard no with him.”

That thought had never crossed my mind and wasn’t what I was asking.

The three of them checked the box for insanely rich and were also members of the XXXVII; I’d asked because I was curious what skeletons were lurking in their closets.

I know they went through an initiation like mine. They might be twenty-one now, but I doubt they waited until the morning of their birthdays for the first drop of alcohol to pass their lips. Drugs, blackmail, illegal fights, and hacking are all things I’ve witnessed first-hand.

“I’ve done questionable things—illegal things—but everything I’ve done, I’ve only ever done to protect the people I care about. Including you,” Royal continues. “And I will do whatever I need to do to keep you safe.”

Even though they shouldn’t, Royal’s words provide a little warmth.

Plus, I can’t say I’m mad that they carried out some revenge against Lissa on my behalf.

After a while, the countryside gives way to houses, and before I know it, we’re crossing the bridge into Manhattan. It’s not long before Royal pulls up behind Gemini’s Maserati in front of one of the tallest, most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen,overlooking Central Park. The car door is opened before I can get to it.

“Aren’t you coming?” I ask Royal when I realize he’s making no effort to move.

“I’ll be back later. I need to do something first,” he replies.

He doesn’t strike me as the sort of person to run errands himself, but there is a man holding my door open, and I’m sure that even if I asked, Royal won’t tell me what the errands are.

I get out of the car, and the man holding the door quickly closes it behind me, before hurrying past me to open the door to the building we’ve stopped in front of.

The apartments on Fifth Avenue across from Central Park are probably some of the most expensive in the city. I’ve heard rumors of billionaires, celebrities, and other members of society’s elite living here, but I’ve never been in any.

“The longer you stand here, the more attention you’ll draw to yourself,” Syn tells me as he joins my side. “That’s the opposite of what you want right now.”

There’s no snow in the city, but there is an Arctic wind, and even that hasn’t stopped the tourists from flocking to the area. My bright blue hair probably isn’t helping, but as I glance up and down the street, I can see that Syn is right.

Dropping my head, I hurry inside, with Syn close behind me. Without acknowledging the doorman, or the security guy who has clearly risen to his feet as we walked in, Syn leads me across the marble floor of the foyer towards the elevator. The doors open the moment Syn presses the button, and it’s only when we step in that I realize that Gemini isn’t with us, either.

“What are Royal and Gemini doing?” I ask.

“Scared to be alone with me?” Syn presses his finger against the panel, causing a button to light up. He presses it, and the elevator starts moving.

---