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Her gaze meets mine when it rises all the way. She lowers her voice and says, "They are, and the sons of Kenyan started it. Dravin told me sixty-six members are to be trusted. It started after they lost their mother. Dravin thinks that they could have saved his mother in time. She was sick with depression, so why didn't their father always have someone with her. He also mentioned that Reid wanted an alliance after his loss."
I pinch my brows in confusion. "His loss?" Who did Reid lose?
She nods her head. "Yes, he had an older sister. She was murdered, and the Order covered it up, but he took care of it. Then Dravin's mother committed suicide. After Dravin's mother, that was the nail in the coffin. The Consortium was born to weed out the rule breakers. The murderers. The depraved." She swallows thickly, and her eyes lift. "There is one more thing I learned after last night. Valen is on a warpath after you left. The twins and Reid had to calm him down. They mentioned he needed to see his doctor, and I was confused. I had never heard of them mentioning a doctor, and that is when Draven sat me down and told me the truth about what Kenyan really is and not what people think the university is. To society, it is an elite Catholic college for the rich, but they don’t know there is a fourth floor."
The tiny hairs on my forearms stand up under my coat. My skin turns hot and cold, and I know what comes next will put the E in evil and where we are in the middle.
"Let me guess. There isn't a second pool in the building on the fourth floor for the rest of the students to use."
She shakes her head slowly, and her expression goes blank, staring into space. "It is a psychiatric ward for the mentally insane and it’s where people go to get therapy. The sons of Kenyan and all the children from the richest families in the world send all their unstable offspring to one place to get an education off the grid to shape them for society. To be able to take over and lead. The ones that can't cope. The ones with mental issues, addictions, traumas of all kinds. They send them here.”
"Holy fuck," I whisper.
Her eyes flick to mine. "I'm sorry, Jess. But we are here for their game. We are their Prey. Valen has a sexual addiction, and that addiction is…you. I think Reid has PTSD, I'm assuming. Dravin and his brother have PTSD and another disorder he didn't want to say, but he says he doesn't have it. I'm not a psychiatrist, so I can't say for sure. I didn't want to hear more because…I love them."
"We are in a school with insane, rich people."
She nods slowly and looks at her hands in her lap. "I'm sorry I told you."
It means Michael is mentally unstable, which makes sense. Who knows what else he has done. I don't know much about it. It makes sense as to why they are waiting to get to Warren. The first year I was here and fell Prey to Veronica and her games. It. All. Makes. Sense. Zero is one of them, so that means he is mentally unstable in some way. I knew that, but maybe I wanted to overlook it. Maybe I wanted something real.
“The Consortium are––”
Gia interrupts me. "Considered criminally insane. Allegedly. But so are people in the world. Look at the monsters at your high school. Michael wasn't the only monster in that room that night. There were more. His so-called friends."
I know she doesn't want to bring up my past. My past trauma. The Order gifts the underprivileged an opportunity in exchange for being a test subject. The separate dorm. All Prey are identified somehow and kept in the dark by dangling a better future at the end of the tunnel, like a carrot to a rabbit with a room full of foxes.
After the drivers drops us off, we walk into a designer boutique and a woman immediately greets us wearing a black pants suit. Her blonde hair is pulled tight into a low bun.
“How may I help you?”
Gia makes the introductions and upon hearing our names, the woman’s face lights up. She immediately shows Gia the latest collections of gowns from different designers.
Feeling overwhelmed looking at all the colors, patterns and lengths of different ball gowns, I step to the side and wait. I came because Gia invited me and I don’t think I have enough to even purchase underwear from a place like this.
Gia’s head turns and she smiles at me. “Come, on Jess. Pick one. Whichever one you like.”
The stylist from the boutique turns to me once again and I think she said her name was Carol. “Jesse Sharpe. Right this way.”
I furrow my eyebrows, trying figure out why she is leading me down the hallway toward the back of the store when there are perfectly good dresses on the rack in front of Gia.
She stops where there are dresses in glass cases like they are memorabilia. There is one in the center of the room made of lace that looks expensive. It’s black with cream silk underneath with a deep v down the front stopping right before the mannequin’s fake belly button. The crystals are woven into the lace, glittering when it catches the light. I wonder if there are real crystals.
I must have been staring for a while because I hear Carol clear her throat. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? A masterpiece.”
“Yeah,” I mutter.
Carol walks forward and opens the glass case just as Gia walks up behind me. “Wow,” Gia says.
“I know. I couldn’t help myself. I had to stop and look. It’s…gorgeous.”
Carol faces me and grins. “The dress was imported from France. It is made of the most expensive lace in the world, which is known as the "Reticella" lace, which originated in Italy in the 15th Century. Reticella lace is a type of needle lace that is made by hand, using very fine thread and intricate stitching techniques. It is known for its delicate and intricate design, which often features geometric shapes, floral motifs, and other ornate patterns. One of the reasons why Reticella lace is so expensive is because it is incredibly time-consuming to make. Skilled artisans must work for hundreds of hours to create a single piece of lace, using specialized tools and techniques that have been passed down through generations––” she nods to her assistant wearing gloves so she can take it out then continues––“Another reason for the high cost of Reticella lace is its rarity. The purchaser wants to remain anonymous but this dress was made for you, Miss Sharpe. I was given specific instructions to make sure you receive it and leave here with no other dress and shoes.”
Gia steps close to me and whispers near my ear, “Someone wants you bad, Jess.”
CHAPTER22
Jess
