Page 48 of Heartless Prince

She looked over my shoulder, as if she were looking into the past. “He just stared at me, totally shocked and horrified. I could see it in his eyes; he was wondering if he’d have to have me killed now that I’d discovered it all, even some of the secrets of the third level. I was his baby, his little daddy’s girl, and now he might have to arrange for me to take a bullet in the head or ‘accidentally’ overdose on coke. But I told him he didn’t have to do that. I wouldn’t say a word to anyone. I would keep it to myself just like I’d done for the last several years if he promised to let me in on it. If all of them did. I wanted to be one of them, you see. It took a hell of a lot of convincing, and a lot of good old-fashioned nepotism, I suppose, given how high-up Daddy is in the society, but they saw reason after a while.”

“You wanted to join them even after you heard about all the sick things they do to women?” I said incredulously.

She smiled smugly. “You wouldn’t understand my reasons, Tatum. Or are you Doll now?” she said with a malicious gleam in her eyes, her eyes falling on the notebook Elias left in here the night before.

God, she was such a bitch.

She went on. “Anyway, I told them I could be useful to them. I could talk with the girls here, woman to woman, and help them accept their new places. I could make them see reason in ways that men just can’t manage. Stuff like that. They were uncertain, but they saw another way in which I might be useful, and so they gave me an opportunity to prove my worth to them.”

“What was it?” I asked, although I already had an inkling as to what it was.

“They wanted me to befriend a girl during her Roden campus tour and maintain the friendship with her until they were ready to take her. That way, there would always be someone close to her, watching her every move and making sure she didn’t randomly decide to leave the country for any reason, which would make it harder to track her. She was very important to them, because the society president wanted her for his son.”

“You’re talking about me,” I said softly.

She smiled again. “Yes. It had to be someone you’d never suspect. They figured I would be perfect for the job because I’m a girl and I’m also the same age as you.” She waved a hand. “It all went to plan, and the society was very happy with how I performed.”

There was a deep pit in my stomach. “Performed,” I repeated in a low murmur. “It was all a joke to you. An act.”

“Not exactly.” She cocked her head to the side. “To be honest, I actually enjoyed being friends with you. You’re smart and nice, albeit incredibly naïve. And you were also my golden ticket into the society. I’ll always love you for that.”

“Great,” I said miserably. “That makes me feel so much better.”

Mellie sat down next to me. “Don’t you want to hear the rest? It’s pretty entertaining, if I say so myself. I’m kinda proud of it.”

I waved a hand. “Whatever.”

“I planted the Crown and Dagger sociology paper thing in your head on purpose,” she said, her lips turning up in a triumphant grin. “When I heard you bring up your urban legend assignment that morning, I saw an opportunity to let the society play with you. So I mentioned them in our conversation, and then I let you, Greer, and Willa get all excited about it. It worked perfectly. I could see how much you wanted to write about them.”

“So even that was a setup….”

She nodded proudly. “Uh-huh. When Greer suggested sneaking into the Tap Week party, I quickly called my dad and made sure it would be easy for you to get in. That way you’d start to feel invincible, like you could actually get in and out of Crown and Dagger events unscathed, all for your stupid exposé. Then when they finally got you, you’d be terrified and shocked out of your mind. Great entertainment value. My dad and the rest of the society loved my idea, so they went with it. That’s why they took you specifically at that ceremony, when really, they could’ve taken you any time around then.”

I shook my head slowly. “But you were so against it! You avoided me for ages, and when I confronted you, you said it was because you were concerned.”

She laughed. “Of course I said that. It would’ve been too obvious I was in on the whole thing if I didn’t,” she said. “Instead I acted like I was so worried and against the plan, because I knew it would only make you more curious and also make me seem more trustworthy. You fell for it.”

I could almost see the evilness emanating from her, spreading through the room like a cloud of black dust, blotting out all the light.

“You’re so fucked up,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “How could you do something like that to another person?”

“Like I said, I wanted to prove my loyalty and worth to the society. I wanted to be one of them.”

“Tell me why,” I said impatiently. “Tell me how you could possibly think it was okay, woman to woman, to help these men kidnap and torture young women.”

She rolled her eyes. “I already told you before, you wouldn’t get it.”

I glared at her. “Try me.”

“Fine. Look, it’s just the way of the world. As much as people don’t like to admit it, some people are just better than others. Richer, smarter, more attractive. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, some people are obviously born to serve. Look at you, for instance. Your family has always struggled, and you’ve grown up to struggle as well, just like them. Class reproduction at its finest. It’s literally in your blood to be a loser. But at Crown and Dagger, there’s an opportunity for girls like you to cease the constant struggle and follow your true subservient natures. So by helping the society, I’m also helping the girls find their true purpose in the world. That’s what I want to do. That’s mypurpose.”

I stared at her, my forehead lined with incredulity. She sounded deranged. “You’re serious? You really think you’re naturally better than me just because you’re rich? That someone like me should be nothing but a slave?”

I thought back to all the times she’d comforted me over my insecurities about coming from nothing and feeling like I didn’t belong. She was always so kind, so caring, so sympathetic. She told me people like her were no better than me and that they were just lucky to be born into wealth, so it was simply astonishing to see her displaying her true colors and saying the opposite now.

She sneered. “There’s a reason my family has everything and yours doesn’t, Tatum. You’re below us. Simple as that. Sorry if I ever led you to believe otherwise. I had to make you like me somehow, right?”

I didn’t bother arguing with her. There was no point trying to reason with someone so obviously unstable and irrational. Someone so utterly sociopathic.

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