“The same people working with you. I’m not your enemy, Dax. I never was.”
“Then you need to come with me, and we’ll straighten this out once and for all.”
Ben doesn’t move. He takes a breath and hums then lifts his hood again. “I don’t know if that’s a great idea.”
“Great idea or not, get downstairs now.”
“No.” He shakes his head, still obscured by the hood. “No cameras. Trust me, this is as much for your sake as mine,” Ben says. There’s urgency and desperation in his voice, as if he needs Dax to understand. It works. Dax’s posture relaxes, his shoulders loosening. He glides to his bedroom door and opens it.
“Fine. My room, now.” I move to join them, but Dax’ hand falls upon my shoulder. “No, Jules, not you.”
“You forget, he came to me for the info. I’m already involved.” Already I can tell my argument has fallen flat. Dax won’t budge.
“You are, but if I can keep you out of worse shit, then I am going to do that. Let me hear him out. If you need to know any of it, I’ll tell you.”
“Besides, it’s movie time,” Sylvie interjects, speaking up for the first time since appearing around her doorframe. Her eyes dart between the three of us but linger on Ben the longest. Her brows pull together and there’s a flicker of bitchy Sylvie until she blinks, and it’s gone.
Dax jumps on her suggestion far too enthusiastically. “Good idea. You two watch the movie. The pizza is already downstairs getting cold.”
I glower, but it changes nothing. Sylvie reaches out and touches my arm. Reluctantly, I step away, hating the snide grin on Ben’s face. He winks at me as I pass, releasing within me the urge to shove my fist down his throat.
I follow Sylvie downstairs, but my mind isn’t on the movie or food. It remains up there with the conversation they’re having without me. I deserve to know what’s going on. I deserve to know the reason my life has been pulled apart.
“You need to let it go,” Sylvie advises, pausing the movie mid-action. “You heard Dax, if you need to know, he’ll tell you.”
I grunt at her naivety. “We both know he won’t tell meanything.”
“Then you need to accept that, too. If he keeps you away from it, it’s probably for your own good.” She doesn’t even sound like she believes the shit she’s selling.
I call her on it. “Would you let it go?”
“Me? No. I’d let them think they were getting their way and then I’d find out for myself by other means,” she admits.
“Other means?”
“Tits and ass, Jules. They are like truth serum for some guys. Just show a little skin, work your hips, and get what you want.” She shimmies her shoulders, her breasts shuddering obligingly.
“Holy shit, you’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Of course, do you really think I’m happy wandering around this house with too much money, home-school tutoring, being watched twenty-four seven and only security guards for company?” I hadn’t thought about what kind of life Sylvie had, but aside from the wealth and luxury she sounds just as trapped as I am in my life. “I have to find some way to amuse myself.”
“I see.” I don’t really want to think about it. The idea that she sleeps around because she’s bored doesn’t sit well with me. It sounds a lot like self-abuse. A lack of self-worth. But my views come from a life lived at another extreme. I have no cause to judge.
“Look. No matter where you come from, or what your bank account looks like, the real currency in life is power, and knowledge is power. The more you know, the more power you can claim from people. I might only be a silly teen in most people’s eyes, Dax included, but one day all of this will be mine, and I refuse to be walked over. I will be respected or feared, but never underestimated.”
I understand her viewpoint. It doesn’t differ far from my own. Knowledge—my education in particular—is my way out of my situation. It’s the same for Sylvie, the only difference is that her knowledge comes in the form of understanding her allies and competition. If she wants to get ahead, she needs to become influential in her circles. If I want to get ahead, I need to establishsome influential circles to begin with.
“Good advice.”
“If you want to win the game, you need to be prepared to play.”
“I’m not sure I was ever really a player.”
“Even a pawn can become a queen. Understand their rules and then wreck them. Play to win, girl, or get off the damn board.”
Play to win. Something about those words stays with me. Up until now I’ve been a bystander or worse—a victim of the circumstances which brought me here. I surrendered myself to Dax and Aiden’s care as though that was the only thing I could do and I gave up everything, even my hope of getting my law qualification. But if this is a game, why am I the only one playing with impediments?
There’s no reason for me to give up my entire life, and I don’t plan on it either. I want my education. I earned it.
