Page 6 of Wild Elite

“I make it my business to learn all about girls like you when they step into my world,” he replied, eyes narrowing in the dim light.

It could’ve been quite a compliment, I suppose, but coming from him in that venomous tone, it sounded more like a nasty insult. As if he could merely look at me for five seconds and know I wasn’t in the right place.

Growing up in this state, I’d met a lot of people like him before. People who genuinely believed you were born into a certain station in life and were forever trapped there, bound to your fate and unable to mix with anyone ‘above’ you. People who believed they deserved to be rich and successful because they’d ‘earned’ it by supposedly working harder, even though they were just lucky to be born with all the privilege and opportunity in the world which automatically put them twenty steps ahead of everyone else, while poorer people worked their asses off and still often made it nowhere. According to those kinds, someone like me was just lower-class trash, and I never missed the disdainful curl of their upper lips when they met me, as much as they tried to hide it behind fake, simpering smiles immediately afterward.

Obviously, not all uber-wealthy people were like that—take Willa, for example, who was kind and accepting of everyone—but my god, there were still a lot of them around these parts. It seemed the worse economic inequality got, the worse their smug personalities got along with it.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I finally bit out, my cheeks burning and my arms quivering by my sides. “Girls like me?”

The air between us seemed to crackle with a mixture of forbidden chemistry and loathing. As much as I already detested this guy for being what I could only assume was an arrogant, elitist prick, I couldn’t ignore the way my stomach flipped when his stark gaze speared me. Couldn’t ignore the way he seemed to suck up all the air around him as if he owned the world.

His hand closed over my mouth again, engulfing me in heat and making me even more aware of his powerful masculinity. “Shut the hell up,” he muttered, leaning down so his lips were brushing against my left ear. A bolt of electricity shot through me. “Get down on the floor. Now.”

Slow footsteps were heading our way. I knew he was telling me to be quiet so that we wouldn’t be heard by the crazed girl with the gun, but his words still made me reel. It was a demand, an order, a command. He had no problem telling me what to do, and suddenly, unwittingly, I had no problem swallowing my retorts and doing exactly what I was told.

It made my knees weak and my stomach fill with butterflies as I forgot all about the ache in my ankle. This man made me feel powerless and dizzy, and he made me want to give up all control to him, body and soul. All with just a few words. I didn’t really know him and I certainly didn’t like him, yet when he spoke, something deep within me compelled me to do as he said. Let him make all the decisions. Please him.

I sank to my knees. Elias removed his hand from my lips and pushed on my shoulders so that I was forced to curl up right in the corner of the cupboard, next to some cleaning supplies. His touch made a tremor roll down my spine. “Stay right fucking there. Don’t open your mouth or come out until I tell you to.”

The words pounded in my head in time with my heartbeat. Why did it sound so blatantly sexual, when all he was doing was telling me to stay put in the stair cupboard?

He turned and slowly opened the door before quietly stepping out into the hall. He closed the door behind him with a soft click, but for some reason it didn’t shut all the way. Through the little crack that was left, I could see him standing in the hall, lifting his hands up as the young woman with the gun approached.

My eyes widened. What the hell was he doing? The girl was obviously unstable. She could shoot him right now if she wanted, and at such a close range, she wouldn’t miss.

“Stay back!” she shrieked at him.

“I’m not moving. Just tell me why you’re here. I want to help you,” Elias said, his voice crisp yet soothing.

She let out a deranged cackle. “Yeah fucking right! You want to help me? What a load of shit.”

“You’re obviously upset, and I know you’re looking for something. Tell me what it is.”

From my hidden corner, I could make out the girl’s face as she drew closer. Her skin was even paler now and tears were beginning to stream down her cheeks, mixing with trails of caked mascara which had dried on her cheeks some time ago. She must’ve been crying on and off all day. “I want… I want my sister!” she choked out, growing more hysterical by the second.

“Who’s your sister?”

The girl took a deep, juddering breath, trying to calm herself enough to speak clearly. “Kylie Burns. I know she was involved with men like you.” She practically spat out the word ‘you’. “You rich fucks. You think you own the world. You think you can own other people!”

I frowned. The name she’d mentioned rang a bell, but I couldn’t recall exactly where I’d heard it before.

“What makes you think Kylie is here?” Elias asked, his voice deep and calm. I could see him eyeing the gun.

“This was the last place she came! She thought those guys wouldn’t hurt her. Thought it was just some party she was lucky enough to get invited to. But now she’s been missing for two fucking years!” she screeched, wiping her face with her free hand.

Comprehension dawned on me. That was where I’d heard the name before. Kylie Burns was a scholarship student at Roden University who went missing a couple of years ago. Apparently she’d had some sort of drug problem, and it was assumed that particular vice was linked to her disappearance. Despite extensive searches, no trace of her had ever been found.

“So your sister was here two years ago, and you think she’s still here after all that time?” Elias said. His voice was gentle, but his meaning was clear: she wasn’t making any sense.

Suddenly the girl took a faltering step back. “Oh my god… you’re one of them.” She waved the gun at Elias, motioning toward his right hand. At first I couldn’t see anything, but when he moved it slightly, I saw a gold ring on his middle finger. It caught the light long enough for me to register that it was there, but he moved again before I could make out any details. “You have the ring.”

“It’s just a ring,” Elias said calmly.

The girl sniffed and wiped her face again. “That’s what you all fucking say! That it’s just a ring. That it’s just a silly little club for parties. That I’m crazy for saying anything else is going on. I’m fucking sick of it!”

“I don’t have your sister. No one does. She’s not here.”

“Yes she is! Or maybe you fucking pricks have taken her somewhere else. So which is it, huh?” The girl’s free hand darted out to a nearby accent table and grabbed a large patterned china vase. She hurled it right at Elias.

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