Page 46 of A Man of Prestige

“You don’t have to thank us,” Sebastian says, “we were just glad we found you.”

“I didn’t leave with anyone that I can remember. In fact, the last thing I remember was talking to a man at the party. I was bumped from behind and I remember feeling a pinch on my arm. He was kind and pulled me aside. We started talking…and that’s all I remember.”

“Do you know who the man was? Was he a brother at the frat?”

“No…I mean, yes, but he wasn’t in college at the time,” she says. “I know who he is.”

We all look at each other and wait.

“I…men came to the hospital. I was offered more money than I knew what to do with. All I had to do was transfer schools to Vermont and never speak of anything to do with the party again.”

“Who was the man?” Conner growls. I glare at him, and he glares back at me. Conner lacks patience.

“President Lewis,” she whispers. “Did you hear?”

We all look at each other because no one has had time to check the news yet.

“No, what?” I ask, playing dumb.

“President Lewis was killed in a boating accident today. His friend’s yacht blew up. Sounds like a horrible accident.”

Chapter20

Ella

The conversation doesn’t last much longerafter Tina announces the news about the president. When Sebastian finally hangs up, everyone is silent for a long minute. I can only imagine that each of these men is processing a hell of a lot right now.

“Jason was one of the alumni, the ones that showed up at parties to get girls,” Conner states with a look of disgust on his face.

“So were all our fathers,” Aiden adds with a frown. “All those fucking times our dads said they were just dropping by for old times’ sake, fuck!” He pounds his fist on a side table. “We were so fucking stupid not to see this! They were raping women! Right before our eyes, they preyed on young women, and we didn’t even notice!”

“Shhh!” Vivienne says as she looks toward the neighboring apartment.

Aiden glares at her but sits down and runs a hand through his hair rather than speaking again. “Anyone turn on their phones yet?” he asks.

“We all did for a hot minute, but as soon as we left for this place, we turned them back off,” Sebastian replies as he looks to Conner who nods.

“We need to get somewhere to turn them on. People are likely trying to reach us,” Conner says. “We need to deal with this situation.”

“A situation?” Aiden growls. “Are you fucking serious? This is a goddamn catastrophe! We didn’t expect this. Hell, our entire plan is totally fucked up now. We can assume Jason was our fourth elite member, but what about the fifth? And we haven’t finished questioning our other brothers. Could there be more of them involved? We’ve questioned our pledge brothers. They are definitely not part of this. And we’ve asked everyone on the council. I can’t imagine other brothers not on the council are involved. At least, they wouldn’t know they were involved. The elite likely used a number of us as pawns in their game. I’m sure whoever is behind this hired people, such as the guy who followed Michelle and the guy who came to the lab.”

“What about Admiral Blake, Jared, Adam, and Damien?” Vivienne asks.

“We have enough to take them all down,” Aiden assures her. “We just need to tie up the loose ends and pull together the evidence.”

“I can work on that,” Vivienne says as she heads into the guest room and comes out with a whiteboard. She writes their names down one by one. We’re going to have a long night ahead of us. Conner groans.

“Viv, now is not the time,” Conner grumbles.

“You three need to go deal with…” She trails off and gives them all a sympathetic look.

“No,” Conner says as he walks over to her and gives her a possessive kiss. I feel myself blushing as I look away. Aiden’s eyes meet mine, and suddenly it’s not the blush making me feel hot. How can he look at me at a time like this? Adrenaline. I chalk it all up to adrenaline.

When Conner finally pulls back, Vivienne places a hand on his chest. “I’m serious. I have everything here. I can easily write an article that incriminates both the dead and the living if that’s what we want. We can make it seem like a crime amongst powerful friends and leave it at that if you want. I won’t get into the brotherhood or TOD.” I can see Aiden and Sebastian glance at Conner, but his face tells it all. He trusts Vivienne with his life, and so should we.

“OK,” Aiden agrees. Sebastian nods.

“Then, go, and let us women sort out the details. We’re all good at research, this shouldn’t be rocket science. Plus, it’s all here. We just have to put it together,” Vivienne explains.

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