Page 19 of Pretty Secrets

I peer down at my hands and shake my head. Trying to be her best friend may have just cost her life—and mine. Because there’s no scenario where she goes down and I don’t follow.

9

Eden

Babysitters? They want me to have not one but three babysitters? How in the actual fuck am I going to look into Dee’s death with three men going through this with me?

They did this on purpose.

I stare up at the Knight announcing the new rule. I can’t make him out. His hood falls forward too much, and I don’t recognize the voice either. My father is one of the other hooded figures standing throughout the space. I try to find him too, but it’s useless. He should’ve told me what was going on before I got here. I know it doesn’t work like that, but shit, this is big. It fucks up my whole plan.

Plus, it’s degrading.Oh, you cute little girls, you. Don’t worry. We know you won’t be able to fend for yourselves, so we’ve devised a plan to take care of you—from us.

Give me a break. Accepting females is clearly for show. Depending on who works with which girl, the Knights may be using these babysitters to sabotage the Pledge too. Then, when none of the females make it, the Knights can say they just couldn’t hack it.

I hear my name, and every face in the room peers my way. Suddenly, my throat is dry. My hands start to tremble as my heart rate speeds up.

“Move forward,” the man commands. The crowd makes room for me as I make my way directly in front of him. He’s perched on the next level, and I have to arch my neck so I can glare at him while he issues my sentence. “Your assigned Knight has the information you need to move forward with the process. Do you understand?”

I lick my lips. “Yes, Sir.”

“Do you comply?”

That word skeeves me out. I most definitely do not comply.Greater good, I remind myself. None of this matters if I can find out what happened to Dee. Expose the culprit at the very least and take down the Knights at the very best. “Yes,” I say, my voice working around a spiked ball that’s currently lodged in my throat. What I really want to say is, “Go fuck yourself.” Alas, none of that backtalk works here.

“Barclay, Jarvis—”

A figure comes up behind the Knight talking and sets a hand on his shoulder. Whispered words are exchanged, and I wait with bated breath for the third name. Barclay’s my freaking Economics professor—my hot economics professor. Jarvis has a reputation for being a reckless thug, even for a Jarvis. I can’t imagine who they’re going to add next.

A figure moves to my right, and I peer over to find Oliver staring up at the second story with a tiger’s determination.

“Ah, yes. There we go. Barclay, Jarvis, and Prince Oliver. You are released.”

Relief floods my veins until another man in a hood walks up to me. When he finally lowers the covering, I recognize him as Professor Barclay. “This way.”

Oliver and I follow after. I don’t see Leonardo Jarvis until we’re almost through the crowd. He’s standing at the edge, looking grumpy as fuck. He sneers at me, but I give it right back. His look screams his lack of interest in babysitting me, but I’ve got news for him, I don’t need to be pampered. I hate the idea as much as him.

Silently, we walk from the room. Behind us, other names echo around the chamber before the loud door closes with us on the other side. I’d love to say free, but I’m not.

Leo shakes his head. “Unbelievable.”

“Problem, Jarvis?” Barclay shoots back.

“You could say that,” the grumpy one answers. Now that we’re all standing in a circle, I’m able to get a better look at the guy who barreled through Oliver and I when we were making our way to the Knights headquarters. He has dark, cropped hair, sharp cheekbones, and a look that makes you want to steer clear. If you were walking at night and he started to approach, you’d move to the other side of the street. He’s covered in tattoos licking up his neck and down his arms. I haven’t seen him since these new additions. They make him that much sexier, if you ask me. A dark, dangerous kind of sexy. Tattoos aren’t something you see in our world, which is one reason why he’s the black sheep of his family. He goes his own way. Reminds me of someone I know, actually.

“That’s rich,” Barclay answers. “How’d you get back in, anyway?”

The tattooed-man growls, a sinister sound that seems to originate deep within his belly—or the bowels of hell, I’m not quite sure which.

“Granddaddy had a change of heart?”

I don’t know the two of them well—or at all—but something tells me Barclay’s got balls. Or he’s just as much of a cocky bastard as the rest of these assholes.

Jarvis moves as quick as a whip. Before I know it, my professor’s back is slammed against the wall, Leonardo leaning into him with a cruel smirk. They match each other in height, but there’s something about the fierceness and overwhelming presence of Leonardo Jarvis that makes him scary. “Why don’t you mind your business?”

“This caveman talk is all very scintillating,” Oliver callously remarks, “but we should probably get out of here….”

As if on cue, the door to the room swings open and Anne-Marie strides out with a babysitter on each arm and the other following closely behind. She giggles, and they look at her adoringly.

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