AllFreeNovel
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The fewer people who know the least amount of information possible, the easier things become to control.
All my life, I’ve been left, mostly, to my own devices. Dad’s one of the richest people in the world, owning two separate hotel chains. There are only a handful of countries in the world where I couldn’t stay in one of our buildings.
As the youngest of four brothers, all of whomwantto take over Dad’s empire, no one cared when I said I had no intention of joining that battle. The only interest in the hotels I had was in high school when I was hosting parties in several of the New York locations.
And then one day, dad released a press statement announcing I would be following his footsteps and attending James Keyingham University.
A fact he’d neglected to tell me at any point between then and my birth.
Ironically, at that point, I’d probably spent more time in one of his hotels than high school, but it’s amazing what money can buy these days: a better GPA, glowing references from internships in the family business, certificates, and other shit from a whole bunch of extra-curricular activities my high school may or may not have offered.
The only thing that was the truth on there was my position on the basketball team. And I’m good at basketball. Despite the partying, during the game season, I don’t drink and there’s no recreational drugs. Same still applies.
Mostly…
It’s not like the Keyingham Wildcats are a Division I team. You don’t come to James Keyingham University for the athletic program.
None of my brothers went to JKU. None of them believed my grades were real either. They’re not dumb. Which also means they know better than to question Dad.
And they say blood is supposed to be thicker than water.
The second that statement was released, each one of them banded together because they think Dad’s putting things in motion to havemetake over.
Which also means I avoid going home until Dad summons me, and thankfully, over the last three and a bit years, that has only been a handful of times.
Did I want to come here? No. But when I heard Syn and Gem were going to be here, I figured it wasn’t the end of the world.
I should have known something was up when, in my sophomore year, my dad came to watch my game when we were in Boston. He’d never been to a game of mine before.
A week later, and I was a member of a society more exclusive than Skull and Bones, and more powerful than the Illuminati.
“We put up with Preston for three years, we can put up with Declan,” Syn tells me as I start to scroll through Netflix.
Gemini’s phone buzzes, and I automatically look over, but as I start to turn my attention back to the TV, I notice him frown. “What’s up?”
“It’s the notification from the camera on Tori’s room,” Gemini responds without looking up. Instead, he motions on his phone to zoom in. “She’s doing laundry at this time?”
“You care?” Syn asks, dryly.
“It’s like she’s… Just look.”
A second later, the CCTV image is on the television screen, the picture so clear that it’s almost like I’ve selected a show. Tori is wearing a tiny pair of shorts that barely show beneath an oversize T-shirt. Balled up under one arm is the university issued comforter—she must be the only student using that—and in her other hand, she’s carrying another sheet, only it looks like it’s been stuffed with something.
“The fuck is that about?” I ask.
“Let me see if the other camera was online,” Gemini mutters, more to himself than to us. A moment later, a slightly grainier image comes on the screen.
The room, I recognize. I’ve been in it before. But the fact that I can see it on our TV makes no sense. “Is that her room?”
“I want eyes on her,” Syn says, as though it’s completely normal.
“Wait.” I turn to him in disbelief. “Isthiswhy you had her do our assignments? I thought you just wanted access to her computer.”
“I did. And with it comes the camera.”
The image on the TV suddenly changes as Tori appears out of nowhere, sitting right in front of the camera, staring like she’s looking right at me. “The fuck, Gem!”
“I’m trying to work out what happened.” He rolls his eyes, but the image on the screen speeds up. For a while, Tori switches her attention between the laptop, her phone, and what looks like a copy of the Ledger—people still read that?
