Page 75 of The Deceptions

"No." He doesn't have to elaborate anymore.

I blink several times, looking around the bustling campus. There are many things we can’t discuss in the open with ears, cameras, and everything else around. Contrary to what people like to believe about us, we’re just pawns in a ruthless game with no clear winners.

Well, except for Franco. He sits at the top of the food chain here in Greenwood. The puppetmaster behind so many things people can’t comprehend.

I simply nod, following down the winding sidewalks toward the back of campus.

My least favorite spot.

A heaviness presses hard on my chest. Oxygen becomes thick and difficult to drag in between my lips. I almost stumble over my feet.

My heart aches when we skirt around the cemetery, following the iron fence that lays out the perimeter of the dead. They're in there rotting beneath the world, and we're out here. Alive and barely breathing. Some passed naturally. Others passed suddenly without rhyme or reason.

And some passed too soon at the hands of someone else.

My gaze scans the multitude of headstones bursting from the freshly mowed grass. Instantly, I spot the one that always has my attention.

She's in there.Ourgirl. Resting in a wooden casket, filled with silk lining and what remains of her. Olivia. Like she has been for the last five years. Killed way too young and taken from her destiny.

From us.

So cruelly ended without a proper goodbye.

We all had dreams of leaving this place. Together. For always. The four of us as a unit.

Our dreams never included staying here. Not in the family business. Not fulfilling our duties that were so graciously bestowed upon us. We were going to run. Leave to the other part of the country with new identities.

But we never made it.

Hux, Mack, and I are all cogs in Franco's well-oiled machine. Come this time next year, we'll officially step up to our destined roles given to us by him. For now, we're watching over the college and recruiting people under the guise of our fraternity house.

I stand with my garbage bag at my side, filled with the only things that belong to me. The world remains quiet, engulfing me in the nothingness I’ve become accustomed to. And has been since the moment our tires squealed and our car crashed. That one incident ruined my entire life, taking out my parents and my sister.

That was years ago.

I’ve been to two foster homes on the opposite sides of California. Two separate and different families, unable to handle me and my lack of hearing.He’s too much trouble, one foster mom said with a sneer, breaking my little heart into pieces. She didn’t think I could understand her as she talked on the phone with my caseworker. But I could read every word on her lips. I may be deaf, but I’m not inadequate.

So, here I am. Third time is the charm, right? My caseworker stands beside me, gently squeezing my shoulder and staring down at me with hope in her eyes.

“You’ll love it here, Jasper,” she says slowly for me to comprehend and read her lips.

I nod, letting her know I understand.

Then, a man walks in. He looks larger than life. Striding in with a fancy suit, matching the fancy house. I can’t understand what the two of them are saying as they face away from me. But I’m sure she’s warning him about me. I’m a lot of trouble. I’m a lot of work.

I’m not.

I’m just a sad ten-year-old boy, begging for stability after my family was taken from me. I just want them back. I want to go home. I hate being the new me.

My eyes flick up when two boys who look my age approach me. The taller one with brown hair holds out a notebook with words written on a page.

Hey, I’m Hux, and this is my friend Mack. I heard you can’t hear.

I lick my lips and nod, waving in greeting.

Hux nods again, writing something in the notebook.

Jasper, right?