Page 69 of Soulless Rivalry

It was his turn to frown, gaze lost in the distance. “Probably, that wouldn’t surprise me. Why do you care?”

I opened my mouth but no words would come out. How was I supposed to tell him that I didn’t particularly care but I researched it because Elyssa seemed really interested in solving that mystery? He would freak out, knowing I was quite literally sleeping with the enemy. Dom couldn’t stand the Italians.

“Just tell me what you know. I can’t tell you why yet.”

My brother eyed me suspiciously but ultimately decided against saying anything. He sighed and threw his head back on the back of the couch.

“From what I know, it’s a brotherhood that was rekindled back when this school first opened.”

“When it was still an all-boys school?”

“Yes. The guys that initiated it were rich fuckers for the most part. They had the money but lacked a set of balls so they decided to get together and… help each other out, I guess. It was mostly about making connections, creating a name for yourself out there.”

“How did you know about it? Did they ask you to join them?” It made sense if that was the case because as soon as I’d asked him about the order, that’s where his mind went.

When he nodded, I knew I’d been right.

“In my first year here, I had to share my room with some scholarship kid from Wisconsin, Sam Mindings. He was hella smart, spoke four languages, first in our class in basically all subjects. Crazy wicked smart.” His gaze got lost in the distance.“But people still made fun of him because he came from a modest family.”

This story was starting to sound awfully familiar. It seemed like history always found a way to repeat itself, after all.

“One day, he came back late. We weren’t exactly friends but I guess we got along fine, like any roommates. That day, something was off about him. There seemed to be a new spring to his step, he looked more confident somehow.”

“He’d gotten into the brotherhood,” I concluded, linking my hands together and reclining in my seat, knees spreading a little.

“Not yet. But he’d been invited, and like the desperate fuck he was, he accepted. He told me I should join too, that the guy who approached him had spoken pretty fondly of me,” he snorted, shaking his head. “I refused, of course, but he still tried to change my mind. According to him, their brotherhood was sacred, they looked after each other. Of course, they had to prove they were worthy of being members first, but he didn’t look worried about that. Dumb fuck.”

“I gather it didn’t end well for him.”

“He was seeing a girl from one of his classes. She was also a scholarship student and I guess they both could relate to what it felt like being the poor ones in a sea of rich kids. He loved her. Really loved her. But she became his sacrifice.”

My eyes narrowed as I tried to make sense of what it even meant. How could he love her so much if he decided to kill her to benefit his own agenda?

“I have no idea how their sacrifices worked. Just that she was found in the woods, dead and missing gallons of blood. Pretty much like the girl they found a month ago.”

“How did the school board react to it?”

“They said she had killed herself. Everything was swept under the rug in record time, they couldn’t afford a scandal.”

“Where is he now? Sam?” I didn’t know anyone by that name in Dominik’s year but, again, most of his classmates left the Academy after getting their degree; they didn’t pursue a doctorate.

“He left not even a month after Stacy’s death. He was slowly losing his mind. I’d wake up in the middle of the night and find him knocking his head against the wall over and over again until blood drenched his face.”

Well, fuck.

“He couldn’t cope with what he’d done, but he also seemed… scared. I think he wanted to come clean to the authorities but was being blackmailed by the guys he’d linked himself to. The whole point of these sacrifices was that they would all have shit on one another as leverage. And if one of them became weak, then all of them would make him pay. So he ended up leaving and never returned. I have no idea where he is now.”

This was just as Elyssa had suspected. It made sense, too.

“Do you have any idea of who the other members were?”

Dominik thought about it for a beat. “Only one. Sam mumbled his name in his sleep whenever he was having nightmares. Jameson Taylor.”

My eyes widened. “Dean Taylor’s son?”

My brother nodded. “You have no idea how deep this all runs. The Order has men everywhere. They’re powerful, and they like to target poor guys or guys with something to prove because they’re easier to manipulate. They dangle success and power over their noses just to get them to do their dirty work. But these guys never make it very far, at best they end up working for the more powerful and confident ones.”

I let the information he’d given me seep in and settle into my brain, before looking up and boring my eyes into his.

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