Page 238 of Knox Academy Omnibus
No, this girl makes me feel...happy? I’m not sure. Am I capable of that emotion? Fucking makes me feel good. Plotting too. Revenge, killing, torturing all make me feel sated. But happy? That’s a new one for me.
“Wait! What? Five hours?”
“At least.” I smirk, enjoying the clear discomfort on her face when she realises that she’ll be stuck here with me for a while yet. I’m pretty sure she planned to eat and run, but it gives me time to seduce her course by course. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I never understood that. I eat to keep my body functioning. But maybe the way to a woman’s heart is through food too? I have no idea. In the past it seemed to be through my name and bank balance but this girl doesn’t seem that way inclined.
“I’d rather have a steak and ice cream,” she blurts out, just as the servers enter to take away our plates. There’s a look of horror on everyone’s faces and my shoulders shake. Uh-oh, she’s in trouble now when the chef finds out.
When we’re alone again, we sit in silence. She seems uncomfortable, sighing and fidgeting. I don’t mind; every time she wiggles, her dress slides a little further up her thighs. I wonder what colour her underwear is.
“What do you do?” she breaks the silence.
“I’m about to graduate from university.” I appreciate the thoughtfulness of her question. Most people assume I don’t do anything, just sit around waiting for Grandfather to die so that I can start blowing his legacy on booze and breasts, or pills and pussy.
“Oh, how old are you then? I thought you were my age.” She looks at me with curiosity. Damn. I should have lied. This is going to lead to more questions.
“I’m older,” I reply flatly, hoping to shut her down.
“What do you read?” she digs. It’s like she can sense I don’t want to go down this line of questioning, and is trying to provoke me.
Is she stupid? I’ve killed guys for less. I level her with a hard look.
“Books.”
“Funny.”
“My degree’s in business management.” I sigh. Here we go...
“Oh, where from?”
“Knox Academy.” The fucking school of the bastard devil. It stole my soul in exchange for a tuition I never even asked for.
“I’ve never heard of it.” She pulls a face.
“You wouldn’t have.” Nice girl like her at a school for people like me? Ha. As if. Amelie barely fits in. She thinks she’s so badass but she didn’t even kill that guy. She’s too kind, her heart’s too big, she’s taking the rap for that twat back home. Wouldn’t mind spilling a little of his blood.
Actually though, looking more closely at the girl in front of me, I can see she has something about her. There’s mettle there. Knox would eat her alive, sure, but she’s clearly not some society bimbo like I first assumed.
“Ooooh is it like some super-secret posh school for the rich? Or is it a spy school?”
“Something like that,” I evade.
“Let me guess; you’re going to manage a business with that degree?”
“Wow, you’re so clever I can’t believe you’ve not graduated early…” I drawl back sarcastically. She’s touched a nerve. “Yes I’m going to run businesses, my grandfather’s for one.”
If I live that long. I’m still not sure how to get out of The Order. When Grandfather first collected me and word got back that I was ‘missing’, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to disappear, but my damn curiosity got the better of me and I called Frost. He has to be the reason Amelie found me, and if she knows I’m alive, the Knox brothers will know I’m alive, and so will The Order.
Which means I’m dead.
“Well, that’s stupid,” she says, pulling a face.
“Why?” I scowl.
“Because what idiot would be stupid enough to hand over the reins of their company to a kid fresh out of school with no practical business experience?” My jaw hangs in shock. I’m so astonished by the brazen way she speaks her mind, that I’m half tempted to spill my secrets just to shut her up. She wants experience? If only she knew what I’ve done.
“Why does a piece of paper that says you read a few books and wrote a few essays make you more qualified to run an actual business than say, people who have decades of experience?”
She swallows nervously at the look I give her – like I’d love nothing more than to cause her pain and fuck her senseless right now. I quickly try to school my expression, but I know she catches it because her eyes harden in defiance.
