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That was Jack’s mistake. Using my head for numbers against me, he tossed me at Stephen last summer. The moron was shit when it came to keeping the Order in the black. Within three months, I’d increased our portfolio by three hundred percent, and my ‘mentor’ became my subordinate as a seventeen-year-old kid became the head of the Order’s accounting department.

Jack slapped a fancy title on me: intern to the financial manager, knowing full well that I ran that shit while Stephen went down to the Court to get his cock sucked. And while he seemed pleased to be keeping it all in the family—me increasing our wealth, while Dallas will have to succeed him one day—my uncle should’ve known better than to get me riled up when I’ve got the key to the Order’s dough.

And that’s only the beginning of the shit I know about the society. When I learned from an early age that knowledge is power, I’ve racked up enough that I’ve got dirt on nearly every powerful player in Harmony Heights.

I don’t play fair. I never have, and I don’t see any reason to start now that I’m eighteen. So my tactics aren’t nice. So I’ve been called a bully and worse. I don’t give a shit.

I have a plan.

I know what I want in life, and nothing will stop me from achieving it.

Not my uncle. Not my parents. Not Desmond, who fucked up in the first place, thinking he could turn Loni into his girl after all the years I’ve spent isolating her, making it so that when I did finally let her in on the secret of my obsession, she was so grateful for the attention, she didn’t doubt that I had ulterior motives.

Of course I did. All I’ve ever wanted was her, and right when I thought that I’d done it… right when I thought that I’d Claim her at last in a month’s time… she showed up at my house, pretty hazel eyes glittering with tears, and told me that she would never be mine.

No.No.For a year, she was. I owned her, making her as addicted to me as I am of her. I got her to the point where she told me she loved me, and I only hoped that she’d get past the way I treated her—the way Itreather—in favor of our future together.

Fuck it, I had aplan.

The plan derailed when Demond got involved. I thought I fixed that when not even ‘dating’ that prick kept Loni from sleeping with me. I owned her, body and soul, and I had every intention of making it official during the Claiming ceremony.

Jack thinks I’m going to accept his hand-picked Offering as my future bride. That was never going to happen. It was AvalonDougherty or no one, and I decided that not even choosing to be a bachelor the rest of my life was an option when I could have Loni as mine forever.

But then it got out that she wasn’t as virginal as she was supposed to be. Of course not. I was greedy. I couldn’t wait until the Claiming ceremony to deflower her. I convinced her to sleep with me a whole year earlier, just another step in a plan that meant she couldn’t accept anybody else’s Claim.

That, and I just couldn’t wait to fuck her any longer.

She was my first. If I have it my way, she’ll be my only, just like I’ll be the only one for her. That’s all I’ve been working toward… and Desmond ruinedallof it

He found out about us; if not him, someone else who was at Bas’s party. They know what Loni did in that bedroom with me, and because the Order is so fucking hypocritical when it comes to the women in the society, nobody gave a shit who the guy she fucked was. Oh, no. It only mattered that she did what no Offering should do.

And now she was being demoted to one of the Used.

At least, that’s the rumor that sent me speeding right over to the Fortress, lighting up cig after cig until Jack called out that I could come into his office. Loni wouldn’t be promised to one of the Owed. Nope. She would be given to whichever members wanted her… and there’s no fucking way I’ll ever let that happen.

Kicking the door closed behind me, I march into Jack’s office. I’ve been in here countless times over my life. The expensive decorations are meant to impress his visitors. I barely notice them.

Why should I when my complete attention is on the surprised expression that seems way too damn false on my uncle’s perfect face.

He’d deny it, but he’s had more work done than my mom—and that’s saying something. He’s in his early forties, but you’dbe hard-pressed to think he was any older than thirty. His deep brown hair doesn’t have a single strand of grey in it (thank you, hair dye). His tanned complexion is the sort of waxy flawless you get from going under the knife. His lips are curved in a practiced smile, while his pale green eyes… his Collins eyes… tell me that I’m the last person he wants approaching his desk right now.

Too fucking bad.

“Adrian, my boy. What a surprise! I thought you’d be getting ready for the big day. Only a couple of weeks until the Claiming ceremony, you know.”

Oh, believe me. Iknow.

I swallow my rage, knowing that if I start this confrontation out with a temper, Jack will dismiss me as a silly little boy who can come back again after he’s been inducted into the Order and he wears the brand of the Owed on his palm.

Then, when I’m sure I won’t spit in his face, I tell him, “I heard a funny rumor at school this morning. Something about Loni Dougherty being changed from an Offering to one of the Used.”

The whole class was buzzing about it. After the way that Desmond called her a whore during lunch on Monday, and then her confrontation with me on Tuesday, by Wednesday, she didn’t bother going to school. Technically she doesn’t need to. With grades like hers, she could miss the rest of the semester and still graduate easily.

But I want her there. I like knowing where she is, and keeping her where she belongs: within my reach. It bothered me that his obnoxious display hurt Loni, especially since—as far as I’m concerned—her ‘relationship’ was just Order PR. They wanted her and Desmond to end up together, all while Loni was sneaking off to be with me.

That prick is lucky that I kept my mouth shut when he insulted her at school. Sure, I got back at him by using my pocketknife to slash three of four of his Mercedes’s tires, and I would’ve explained to Loni why I had to sit back as he degraded her… but she blocked me.

Sheblockedme.