Page 508 of Filthy Elites

A dry, brittle laugh bursts from me. “So you’re telling me that last night, when you told me what I wanted didn’t matter and I should just do as I’m told from the cage you created for me, has suddenly changed to, go be free? I’m sorry,” I scoff. “You’ll have to excuse me if I call bullshit.”

“We don’t want you to leave,” Evan says. “But we understand if you want to. There’s an open plane ticket on your bed that can be exchanged for a ticket to anywhere in the world. If you choose to go, none of us will stop you.”

“If I choose to leave?”

“You could stay,” Sebastian says hopefully.

“With you?”

“No.” His voice is sad, but resigned. “But Kingsacre is one of the best private universities in the country. Your tuition is covered, as is your room here and your meal plan.”

“What’s the catch? There’s always a catch with you. Let me guess, I can stay, but in your bed, or to be at your beck and call whenever you want your dick sucked? Or maybe you want to marry me, so you don’t have to allow your parents to arrange a political marriage for you?”

“No catch, no loopholes.”

“I don’t believe you. Why go to all the trouble of arranging to get me here and then less than a week after you capture me, let me go?”

“Because contrary to what you believe, I’m not a monster, or at least I don’t want to be.” He swallows thickly. “I don’t want you to think of me as nothing more than a monster.”

“So if I walk outside, the gate will open for me?” I ask dubiously.

“Yes.”

“And if I keep on walking, straight out the entrance gates and onto a bus, you won’t stop me?”

“I’d prefer it if you’d let one of us call you a cab, but no, no one will stop you.”

Getting up, I walk away from them, not believing what he’s saying and needing to see it for myself. Opening the front door, I stride outside, gasping when the gates start to swing open the moment I approach them. Cautiously I step forward, glancing over my shoulder, waiting for the moment that he chases me, but the door stays closed and no one comes.

What the hell is going on? This has to be a game, it’s the only thing that makes sense. Spinning around, I march back into the house and straight into the living room, where all four guys are still sitting. “The gate opened.”

Sebastian nods, his hands clenched together and rested on his knees, his head lowered.

“I don’t understand this game.”

“It’s not a game. I’m going to fix things between you and your mom. I’ll leave you alone, or I’ll try to. I can go. If you want to stay and you don’t want me here, I’ll leave.”

“Leave my mom alone,” I snap.

“I’m going to tell her everything, that it’s my fault.”

“No you won’t. My mom’s an adult, she could have believed me, like my dad did, but she chose not to. I’m not interested in her being sorry only after you tell her she should be.”

“Starling, she misses you,” Evan says, a pleading tone in his voice.

“I can’t help that.”

“All of your belongings are back in your room, as well as all the things I bought for you. You can keep them, sell them or give them away, they’re yours to do whatever you want with. If you decide to leave, let me know which school you want to attend and I’ll ensure you receive the acceptance you would have gotten had I not intervened and of course, I’ll cover your tuition.”

“Just like that? You pull all this shit to get me here and under your thumb and just like that you’re giving up and setting me free? Was this all just about sex? What, now you’ve had me I’ve lost the appeal?” My brows are knitted together and I can feel anger building in me, ready to explode.

“Little bird, if you tell me that you want me, this, that you think you can forgive all the shit I’ve done, that there’s even the faintest hope that you could love me the way I love you then I’ll lock the door and keep you tied to me for the rest of eternity. Is that the case? Do you want to be with me?”

“No,” I say a little too quick.

Nodding, he stands and starts to leave. Pausing beside me, he grabs my chin in gently shaking fingers and kisses me reverently. “I love you, little bird.” Then he strides quickly away, the sound of his heavy footsteps filling the silence until the crash of his bedroom door slamming shut ricochets through the house.

“We’re all sorry, Starling, we were all complicit in what’s happened to you, but I promise you we won’t mess with you or your life anymore. I know you don’t care but we’d like you to stay, this is a great school, better than the others you applied to. Use us and this opportunity, take back a little of what we took from you,” Evan says solemnly as one by one, the three remaining boys stand and exit the room, until I’m alone wondering what the fuck just happened.

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