Page 475 of Filthy Elites

“Because you’re mine,” he roars angrily.

Every single one of my muscles tenses in response to his anger. I don’t think he’d physically hurt me, despite his manipulating and coercing, he’s never used his physicality to get me to do what he wants. Adrian crawling through the halls of GAA is enough of a reminder that Sebastian and the other Elites are ruthless rulers, and submitting to them is the only way.

“Sebastian,” I say calmly.

“I don’t want you to go,” he admits, his voice softening.

“It’s only for two weeks. Some downtime will be good for us both, and you can spend time with your friends and your family over the holidays. I’ll be back before you know it.”

PARTII

The Beginning of the End

TEN

Starling

TWO AND A HALF YEARS LATER

“Are you sure about this, honey?”Dad asks me for the hundredth time this morning as I pull the zip closed on my case.

“It’s my only option, Dad, you know that,” I reply with a sigh. I’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve had this conversation in the last five months. “Not only is it the only school I got accepted to, but I got a full scholarship too.”

“I just worry about you, honey.”

Exhaling softly, I turn and look at my dad. “I know you do, Dad, but Sebastian isn’t going to be there and Evan and I can tolerate each other from a distance. It’s a big campus and I doubt we’ll even see each other. I’m going to be a freshman and he’s a junior, there’s literally no reason for our paths to cross.”

Dad nods, but from the furrow in his brow I can tell he doesn’t believe the bullshit coming out of my mouth any more than I do.

A little over two and a half years ago when I boarded the plane to Maine to visit Dad, everyone—including me—assumed I’d be back in Green Acres after New Year’s. But then I stepped off the plane in a different state and breathed in the first full breath I’d taken since the first day of school when Sebastian told me I was his.

For the first time in months, I kept my own schedule and relaxed. The more I relaxed the less I wanted to go home. The first few days, Sebastian rang and video called me relentlessly but the cell phone signal here is awful when the weather gets bad and suddenly I was completely out of his reach and it was awesome.

Spending time with my dad was great, Christmas was a chilled-out day spent in our pj’s watching Christmas movies and eating a turkey dinner off trays on our laps. It wasn’t until a couple of days before I was due to fly home that I realized I didn’t want to leave, I didn’t want to go home. The first panic attack took both me and my dad by surprise. When he took me to the emergency room and the doctor suggested he thought I was suffering with anxiety, I used it as an excuse to extend my trip by a couple of days. My plane tickets were transferable and school didn’t start for a couple of days anyway.

The second panic attack came when Dad asked me if I was looking forward to seeing my boyfriend. That was the day I told him everything about Sebastian, about my mom and Courtney. When he suggested I could move to Maine permanently and live with him, I cried happy tears.

Mom lost her shit. She flew out to Maine, screaming and shouting, yelling at me, yelling at Dad, it was a mess. When I sat her down and told her I didn’t want to live with her anymore, she told me I was behaving like a child and that until I learned to grow up, I shouldn’t bother to call her. It was over a year before we spoke again.

Sebastian came to see me several times, he told me if I refused to come back he’d take away everything I loved. I believed him, but what he didn’t realize was that he’d done that already when he stole my mom and my best friend from me. After six months and several changes of cell phone numbers, he gave up. But he did what he said he would, my relationship with my mom is broken beyond repair and no matter how many times I reach out to Courtney she’s never called or texted even once.

To make matters worse, six months ago, my mom got remarried, to Evan’s dad, so now one of Sebastian’s best friends is my stepbrother. Harry, Evan’s dad flew him, Mom and Evan out here for a visit so they could let me know about the engagement and I managed to be cordial to all of them, but the ghost of Sebastian has tainted any kind of relationship I could have with my new stepfather and stepbrother. I went to the wedding, so did Sebastian, he brought Courtney as his date. I managed to avoid speaking to both of them, by only flying in an hour before the ceremony and leaving right after the meal.

When it came time for me to apply to colleges, I planned to stay near home in Maine, but Mom begged me to apply to a couple of schools in Florida and because I’m a sucker, and because I genuinely hate the fact that I only speak to her on my birthday and Christmas, I did.

What I wasn’t expecting was to be rejected by every school I applied to, even my safety schools. The only school that did accept me was Kingsacre college, a private school about an hour from Green Acres, and the one Evan has been attending for the last two years. Not only did they offer me a place at the school, but they also offered me a full scholarship.

I’m pretty sure me sort of being a Morris—even if it’s only by marriage—is the reason I got in, and the scholarship is probably being entirely funded by Harry, considering there was nothing spectacular about the solid B grades across the board on my high school transcripts. But when my only choice is Kingsacre or community college, Kingsacre won out.

“There’s nothing wrong with community college, you could stay home for the next year, go to school here, take some classes and then transfer to a four-year school next year,” Dad says, desperately.

“I’m not a sixteen-year-old girl anymore, Dad. I’m going to be nineteen soon, and I’m not going to be forced into close proximity or have to have anything to do with Sebastian. He was in a unique position of power at GAA so I had no way of sidestepping him and honestly, maybe it wasn’t as bad as I remember. Sure he was controlling, but he never hurt me or pressured me into doing anything I wasn’t comfortable with.” Except that one time where we bartered over him seeing me naked, I think, but don’t say aloud. Dad and I are insanely close now, but there was no way I was going to tell him about Sebastian giving me orgasms. In the most uncomfortable conversation in the world he asked me if Sebastian had raped me and I told him nothing like that had happened, that was the one and only time we discussed it.

“What school did your mother say Sebastian was at?”

“Harvard, I think,” I tell him, then clear my throat. My mom is still firmly team Sebastian, and on the rare occasion I speak to her, she makes sure to always talk about him. I usually wind the conversation up at that point, but she takes pleasure in telling me all about how well he’s doing and reminding me that I missed my chance with him. He really did take her from me, just like he said he would.

“That’s good,” Dad nods, and I nod back at him. “And your mom is meeting you at the airport to drive you to school?”

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