Page 4 of The Echo of Forever

Low lights flickered on as I stepped inside the empty corner office, automatic blinds lowered halfway on the floor-to-ceiling windows to the right of me.

I sniffed and caught a whiff of vanilla lingering in the air.

My gaze roved the expansive space, taking note of the wet bar and extensive liquor collection. Everything was neat and in place, telling a story about the man in question.

It was better to look and not touch. This one was a wild card; he allowed chaos around him, but his private domain reeked of control.

“When will you be back?” I whispered, taking one last look around before leaving. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll be waiting.”

CHAPTER 2

DEMETRIUS “ECHO” CANNON

THE KING OF REJECTORS

I hada love-hate relationship with my hometown.

But as of late, I wanted nothing more than to burn it to the fucking ground and watch the flames engulf everything and everybody. Then, maybe I could sleep peacefully for one night.

One night, it was all I needed.

My gaze shifted from watching my sister pace her corner office, from the building directly across mine, and to the text that’d come through on my encrypted line.

Two weeks.

“Fourteen days,” I muttered to myself, fingers itching to punch something as I returned my attention to Solei and found her watching me now. “Three hundred and thirty-six hours.”

She lifted both hands and flipped me off, but even from this distance, I knew she was smiling.

I chuckled and returned the sentiment.

Being part of this family wasn’t easy, but she and our brother Oliver made it worthwhile. If it weren’t for them and the promiseI broke after my father met his demise, Everwood would’ve swallowed me whole by now.

There was an unspoken rule in this city:Never go against the Collective.

It was easy enough when they owned you and everything you were, when they made you and could easily break you. Most families pledged their loyalty to the collective and lived a good life.

Me and mine didn’t like or want to be put into a box. For eight generations, we’d been sayingfuck the system, while building and perfecting our own.

My father had gotten greedy; he didn’t want to be the family that rejected anymore.

He wanted everything they were willing to offer and lost his life in the process. Even still, he made me promise to crossover.

The Collective came for you at eighteen. You either accepted and they initiated you into their ranks, or you rejected and were left to fend for yourself. Everwood was built on the backs of the not-so-secret society, at least to the people who lived in it.

We were as big as neighboring Philadelphia, but less accepting of outsiders.

“They’ll take everything if you don’t,” my father had said. “Look at all we have now and think about how much better it can get.”

At the time, I didn’t understand; all I knew was our family didn’t answer to the society. We’d separated ourselves from the pack.

“Don’t you want more for us, Demetrius?”

To me, we had it all.

His arms had been stretched wide as if to make a point. Around us were the buildings and businesses the family owned and rented out, the same buildings I stared at now. But right in what my great-great-grandfather had worked hard to makesolely ours, a neutral zone to all citizens looking for a safe haven. The Collective proved who had the real power and put him down in front of me.

Doing it was a warning I hadn’t and still didn’t take lightly.