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Please. Please don’t be too late.
“Breathe, Jasmine,” I ordered as I pressed my palms on her chest to begin CPR. I’d learned it when I was a lifeguard one summer. But practicing on a plastic dummy was nothing like—
Montgomery kneeled beside me. I could feel the presence of other men looming behind me in morbid fascination. Everyone watched on as I attempted to bring Jasmine back from the dead. We couldn’t just let her die. She wouldn’t be a victim of some sick sex game of the Order. She deserved better than this. She shouldn’t die naked, wet, and for all to see. This was not how a woman like Jasmine should meet her maker.
But no, she wasn’t going to die. Stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive, dun dun dun, stayin’ alive. The stupid disco song from my CPR class was a drumbeat in my head as I continued compressions.
“Cover her,” I somehow shouted as I pushed against her chest. I didn’t want anyone to see her like this. Dignity. We must give her dignity.
Montgomery removed his tuxedo jacket and laid it on her bottom half.
And then, as if the simple act of civility was all she needed, water suddenly shot out of Jasmine’s mouth, and she coughed herself back to the land of the living.
Rolling her over to her side and assisting her as she emptied her lungs of fluid, I whispered, “You’re okay now. I got you. I got you.”
Her big eyes looked up at me as she wheezed for air. She looked terrified and her fingers clung to me. I held her tight, wrapping her up in the jacket and thanking the universe for not stealing her away. The Grim Reaper had left the room in defeat—for now.
The banging of canes vibrated through my bones as one of the Elders said, “The Trial is complete. Walker St. Clair, you and your new belle are excused until the next Trial.”
And just like that, bodies of men who watched on as an innocent woman nearly died went about their business of getting a fresh drink, lighting a cigar, and talking about business or the stock market. As fucked up as it was, this was normal. Just another Trial of the Order of the Silver Ghost.
New belle? Jasmine VanDoren couldn’t possibly be my new belle. Who in the world would think this is a good idea? How could they do this to her? I didn’t choose this. I didn’t choose her. Didn’t I have a say at all?
“This must be their way of sticking it to Sully,” Montgomery said quietly next to me as he helped me lift Jasmine into my arms as I cradled her against my chest. “Get her up to the room and warm her up.”
Jasmine’s shivering body reminded me of the ordeal she just went through, and standing in this cold room with heartless killers wasn’t going to help her right now. We’d figure out the rest later, but Montgomery was right. I needed to get her warm and safe.
But just as I got ready to turn and leave the room, Jasmine wiggled free from my hold, yanked the jacket over her shoulders, pulling it close to her chin and screamed, “Fuckers!”
I watched every man—both member and Elder—turn to look at her with shock and confusion on their faces. A few even had the audacity to smirk with amusement.
Jasmine’s once lifeless body now exploded with new energy. Her eyes shot daggers at the men who watched her, her body tensed in fury, and her rage nearly rattled the chandelier that twinkled above her. “How fucking dare you? You almost killed me! You kidnapped me, forced me in that water tank. You…” She pulled her jacket tighter, making sure her nudity was fully concealed. “…you all watched me almost die!”
It was my father who approached in his calm and soothing manner. He had mastered the ability to extinguish any flame in order to climb to the top of politics. “This is not the way a belle speaks to the members of the Order.”
“I’m not a belle,” she snapped, not backing down even a little, regardless that my father now towered over her. She tilted her chin up to look him directly in the eye in challenge. “You all took me against my will.”
“Regardless how you got here,” my father continued, “you are now the belle whether you like it or not. You trespassed. And if you value your family business and would like to see it succeed in the future, this is what you are required to do. You must do what your brother Sullivan couldn’t.”
“I own VanDoren enterprises for now,” Montgomery said, stepping forward. “The company will be handed over to Jasmine. That was the deal from the—”
“Just because you hand the business to Jasmine does not mean the Order can’t destroy it. And we will. We will tear it to the ground piece by piece unless she completes the Trial with Walker.”
