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Yes—from the moment he wrapped his hands around my neck in the library.
However, I also feel like he wouldn’t go that far, if only because he’s supposedly on that presidential track, and while the general public has seen a lot of corruption from certain presidents over the years, actual murder is probably crossing the line…
Unless it comes out after.
But running for president isn’t going to be easy from a prison cell.
Do I think he’s more likely to torment me to the point I’d do it myself?
I look around the room and sigh.
Probably.
Only, what Syn doesn’t realize is that just because I’m not lashing out every time something fucked up happens to me, it doesn’t mean I’m weak and close to breaking.
I realize now something has changed.
Right up until I walked into this room, my goal was to find whatever evidence I could to prove Cole was innocent and force Syn to apologize and ask for my forgiveness.
Now?
Now, I want more.
As much as my present living conditions suck, I’m inside this house. And I know this house has more than one secret hidden within its walls. The things I’ve seen Syn do are just the tip of the iceberg.
I let my resolve cool my burning irritation, then I leave the room Syn’s given me so I can explore.
V
Royal
Last night—or more accurately, this morning—after getting back from Tori’s initiation, Syn let Gemini walk into the house, but before I could follow, Syn grabbed me by the scruff of the collar and shoved me up against the side of the house as he slammed the door shut.
“If you need to scratch an itch and have your dick in every one of her holes, you do that, but don’t you dare forget that JP was your brother as much as mine.”
Syn has this ability to turn on the charm and let this almost magnetic appeal ooze out of him with such ease, that if you didn’t know him, you wouldn’t be able to tell there’s absolutely no sincerity behind it. With his looks, especially his perfect smile, I’ve never doubted that he’s got what it takes to not only be a politician, but to also take himself all the way to the White House—even if that’s not what he really wants.
Even though he wasn’t hurting me as he held me up against the wall, that was the first time I’ve ever seen that dark side turn on me.
Syn was right.
JP was family. I was closer to him than I’d ever been with any of my brothers, and I still feel his loss.
When the former Elite president, Preston du Pont, announced Gem and I would be vice president this year, I was worried about moving into this house. The results hadn’t even been a surprise. Since my freshman year, I knew Syn would be the Elite’s president, and Gemini and I would be there by his side.
Yet somehow, the moment it was made official—to the rest of the society, at least—the reality of moving into the house that JP once lived in became real.
I’d never even visited JP while he was at college, and I don’t think even Syn ever had the chance other than the day JP moved in, so I’d never seen what Denali House even looked like then.
Preston said the building had been completely renovated over Christmas break after JP’s death. Before that, it was still a house fit for the president and vice presidents of the Elite, but afterwards, it had upgrades and tech that would surprise a lot of people.
Preston said he made sure the designer in charge of the project had completely altered every room, including JP’s. Not to remove any trace of him, but so that in future, when Syn would be living here, he wouldn’t feel haunted by his brother.
However, if that was indeed the intention, it was a huge failure.
JP’s still all over this house.
Denali House is unique in many ways, but one is the double staircase in the entrance. On the walls on either side hang portraits of each of the former Elite presidents since James Keyingham himself, the first, back in the 1840s.
