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Chan walked out of the ladies’ room, wearing a silver and white 1920s flapper dress that curved around her body like silk. She stole my breath away, and the tassels sparkled with all the bling dangling. Her face lit up as she approached me, and people admired her closely. I ignored them for now because I couldn’t take my attention away from her.
“You look stunning.”
Chan giggled and twirled, playing with the tassels, and I chuckled. She held the garment bag still when I told her to turn around. I pulled a jewelry box out of my pocket, holding several diamond hairpins. I eased them into her hair, and they shimmered in the light as she turned her head. These pins were why I wanted the stylist to do her hair in a specific way. Chan now emulated Daisy off the pages of The Great Gatsby. She embodied the vision to perfection.
I kissed the back of her neck and grabbed the garment bag. “Beautiful.” Chan spun around and smiled while a couple of women sighed, but nothing could tear my gaze away from the young woman standing before me.
Chapter 8
Chantilla
When I unzipped the garment bag and a stunning flapper dress appeared, I became instantly intrigued and excited to wear it. As soon as I shimmied into it, I couldn’t help but move my hips and swoosh the tassels everywhere. When I was younger, for Halloween one year, my mom and her husband at the time were going to a party, and when I watched her descend the staircase in her dazzling red flapper dress, I instantly wanted to wear one.
That year, I stayed with the housekeeper as she made popcorn, and we watched the soaps she recorded earlier in the day. The babysitter had backed out at the last minute, so the housekeeper offered to watch me. Of course she demanded to be paid overtime, and she was not the friendliest of women. Most of the night she had me getting her cold sodas out of the fridge.
However, my mother in that dress made an impression, and the one Abel got for me was even more beautiful than the one my mother wore.
Abel’s hand landed between my thighs as we sat in the back of the limo. His thumb trailed and circled along my skin, making me soak my thong. I closed my knees tightly together, hoping to get an ounce of friction at the right spot, but Abel was having none of that. He kept me on edge and wound me tight.
“Thank you for my dress. It’s beautiful.”
“You look stunning in it.” He smiled but then quickly frowned. “Tonight, you’re going to need to be quiet and observe. We’re attending an event that holds a set of the representatives of the future.”
Tipping my head toward Abel, I waited for him to explain more.
“The kids of the highest leaders and biggest corporate owners of the world are part of this secret society. I’m pledging tonight, but I don’t know who else is. This society has existed for years, and it’s ideal to get accepted into it for my plans for my future. The connections I make here will be the difference between ruling in the Supreme Court and only becoming an attorney general.”
I frowned at Abel, thinking it surely wasn’t like that. Wasn’t this secret society a plot in a movie from the nineties or something?
“These members meet quarterly, or more so if needed, and make decisions about policies, corporate sabotage, or corporate buyouts that will affect the future. It’s not a guess as to why students of Malum Kings Academy end up being prominent rulers of society. This so-called club is a guarantee of making all of it happen.”
As Abel spoke, I grew uncomfortable with how the one percent ruled the world. It scared me how people who didn’t live from paycheck to paycheck or had to decide whether to eat or pay the electricity bill were making decisions affecting the rest of the population. They had no clue as to what those people went through.
“The people we meet tonight are only a small fraction of this group’s reach, but they become strong allies and contacts later in life. Contacts I’ll need when I run for different offices. Contacts that would plant my name in the ears of all the future and potential presidents to come. The frats and sororities help to manage and weed out potential prospects.”
These people had no morals whatsoever. The calculations and manipulations: it was a game to them. I held back my disgust at how they were effectively changing policy and how the world was run, and they didn’t do it for the common good, but by how it affected personal ambitions and their pocketbooks. I grew quiet as Abel continued explaining.
“We must be careful because the society plays games behind the scenes. We always have to keep our guard up, which is why I don’t want you talking. I want you to gather anything and everything you can. I’ll need to be smart about how I make myself a full-fledged member. The peers we’re meeting have been in the game for a few years. A lot of them are blood seats, so they were able to join the first year and have had years of advancement on me. New members were not invited until their senior year, and only then there are only so many invitations issued.”
“Why is it so cloak and dagger for the group? It’s not like they’re out in the real world. They’re still students.”
Abel laughed as if he thought what I said was adorable. “Babe, these people are already in the thick of things. They’re groomed from the day they’re born. It’s what I’m up against. Shit, half of them have either started working in their family businesses or started their own corporations, so when they graduate, they’re hitting the ground running. They’re to be leaders soon, and they need to have backing to accomplish that. Most of them are in the alphabet club, and a small majority are like me and headed toward politics.”
I moved in my seat to give him more attention when I asked, “Alphabet club?”
“Yeah, like CEO, CFO, VP, that sort of thing. This is the beginning of the major shift of having it all. I worked my ass off to get here tonight.”
If this society was so secret and Abel worked hard to get here, why was I coming along? I voiced my question, and he humorously huffed. “Because, princess, membership to the club is passed from parent to child. The child doesn’t become a full-fledged member until the parent dies or gives up their seat, but the child is still initiated, so they’re ready to take over fully. Well, your seat has been passed over.”
Astonished at the turn of events, I stared at Abel slack jawed. He chuckled at my expression. “Trust me, shocked the hell out of me, too, but this plays nicely into everything. It turns out Blake’s daddy didn’t think that Blake deserved his seat, so he passed it on to you since women are allowed now. The group has been working to make it more diverse since women are becoming strong leaders and are voicing more concerns.”
The knowledge that I’d been given Blake’s rightful seat in this secret society spun my head. I had no clue where to go with it. “How did he pass it down to me? I’m not his child. I was only his stepdaughter for a couple of years.”
Abel shrugged. “You’re the talk of the classes, baby. It is weird since you’re not a blood relative at the very least. I don’t know what the president was thinking about overriding the call and granting it to you. It has never happened before, but it happened now, and we’ll work it to our advantage. So once again, observe and stay quiet. You don’t know what’s happening and don’t want to make enemies or insult anybody on your first meet and greet.”
I was annoyed and a little hurt at Abel’s callous words. It shouldn’t surprise me since it was how Abel spoke, but he made it sound like I didn’t have the smarts or the capability to manage my given seat. I wouldn’t let it dampen the possibilities, though. I had always taken advantage of everything given to me, and now would be no different. I’d absorb everything and earn my place at the table. Just like Abel, except I had one advantage over him. It sounded like I didn’t have to prove a damn thing, whereas he did. I took satisfaction in knowing that.
The silence in the car became needed as I tried to figure out why Richard would give me his seat and not his son. It made no sense.
