The Misters Series (Mister #1-7)

by J. A. Huss

  “Why can’t I just get it myself?” I ask. “How is that different than—”

  “Sure,” Frank says, cutting me off and walking up to me. He also places a hand on my shoulder and gives it a squeeze. Not as tight as the officer’s, but it’s not reassuring, either.

  I fume. Silently, because I’m trying my best not to explode.

  When Frank returns he hands me my phone. And it’s still locked.

  “Do you mind showing me your text stream with Tera Middleton, Miss Shrike?”

  “Actually,” I say to the officer, “I know my rights.” This is probably not a great way forward, but there’s no way in hell I’m opening up my locked phone for this corrupt asshole. Who knows what he’ll do. “If you’d like to confiscate it, be my guest. But I will not open it and my dad’s lawyers will be here in a matter of hours filing complaints if you do that.”

  I get a stupid raised eyebrow from both these jerks. And I raise one right back. I dare you, that eyebrow says. I double-fucking-dare you to mess with us.

  “No,” the officer says, smiling at me. “Not necessary. We have Miss Middleton’s text stream.”

  Right.

  I turn to look at Frank and say, “I’m not staying in your room. I’m getting a hotel. Goodnight.”

  I spin on my heel and force myself to walk, not run, out of Palladium House.

  I’m about halfway to my car in the parking lot when I hear footsteps behind me. I whirl around, expecting to cuss out Frank for following me, but it’s not Frank. It’s Mia.

  “Rory!” she whisper-yells. “Wait up. Where are you going?”

  Jesus. These people never give up. “To a hotel,” I say. “In case you haven’t noticed, our floor has been taped off for evidence.”

  “I know,” Mia says, looking over her shoulder. When she turns back, she’s biting her lip. “I want to call my parents so bad right now. But if Kallie finds out, she’ll—”

  Mia stops.

  “She’ll what?” I ask, so annoyed. I just want time to think about everything that’s happened and I want to do that alone. Can’t these assholes just leave me be?

  “Look,” Mia says, glancing over her shoulder. “I don’t know where you stand on all this… this weird shit going down at Palladium, but I lied back there. Kallie said I had to. I know Tera wasn’t depressed. And I knew she was thinking about leaving, so I believe you. I think someone… did that to her.”

  “Did that? They fucking killed her, Mia.”

  “Shhh,” Mia says, looking every bit as scared and paranoid as Tera did last weekend at the pairing. “Keep your voice down. Can I come with you? To a hotel? I don’t want to stay here and if I go back inside to get my car keys, Kallie and Jeremy will know I’m leaving.”

  I don’t trust her. Not one bit.

  “Please,” Mia whispers. “I just need to talk to someone and you’re the only person I can trust.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Then you can just listen,” she says. “Because whatever you think you know, I know a lot more, Rory.”

  “How much more?” I ask. Because more information would be very helpful right now. Especially with what Five and I have planned for tomorrow night.

  “Everything,” she whispers. “I know everything and I’ll tell you all of it.”

  I consider that offer for a moment. My best friend is dead. D-E-A-D. I will never see her again. I will never talk to her again. But maybe, just maybe, I can get revenge for what they did to her.

  So I say, “Get in.”

  We check into a motel near the university. Mia wanted to go somewhere fancy and nice, but I don’t trust the people who run the nice, fancy hotels here in Princeton. So we’re in the cheapest, most disgusting motel I could find. There’s no way whoever owns this place is one of the upper echelon.

  When we get inside the room, and after I pull the blackout curtains closed, I turn to Mia and point to the small table and chairs in the corner and say, “Sit. And you’d better be serious about telling me everything. Because I’m not in the mood for bullshit tonight.”

  She sits. And she talks. For hours. She confirms all of Tera’s suspicions. And mine. And Five’s. Everything we thought about Palladium House is true and it all came straight from Kallie.

  But Mia doesn’t say anything new. No new names, just the ones I already know. No new connections. Just things I already know…

  “We have to go to Eat Meet tomorrow night,” she finally says after I’m silent for a while.

  “Why’s that?” I ask. “It would seem monumentally stupid for us to show up and let ourselves be victims.”

  “Because,” Mia says, “that blonde woman we met at the pairing is gonna be there.”

  “Hmmm,” I say. “We didn’t really meet her. Never even got a name.”

  “No, no one knows her name,” Mia says. “We’re not allowed to know her name.”

  But that’s not true. Cliff Middleton does. And he told Tera when she showed him that picture she took last weekend.

  “We have to go,” Mia repeats. “Because she’s the one with all the power. She’s the one we have to watch out for. And I’ve heard that if you promise to keep your mouth shut, she lets people walk away.”

  Not likely, I think to myself. But I’m betting that blonde bitch is the whole reason my best friend is dead. “Yeah,” I say, more to myself than Mia. “We’re going all right.”

  I stay awake long after Mia passes out on one of the old, sagging beds. But sometime just before daybreak, I fall asleep too. And I dream of what I’m going to do to get justice for my best friend.

  It’s a pretty awesome dream.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine - Five

  I watch from the safety of a Princeton rooftop more than five hundred yards away through a rifle scope. “We need to get closer.”

  “We stick to the plan,” Chen says. “And that means we do not get closer until we’re called in. Rory’s life depends on you trusting her to do what she was told. We’ve rearranged everything according to that plan you made with her, even though you almost got her killed by not listening to me.”

  Every one of the Palladium seniors is out in front of the house, taking a group picture. Just step one in the plan to take over their young lives and twist their good intentions into evil. I want to feel sorry for them, but I can’t. All the men know what’s happening. And all the girls, as well, though to a lesser degree. And Rory is the only one—aside from her dead best friend—who thinks this is a bad idea. I’m basing that on the smiles on their pretty faces. Their best dresses, with their best jewelry to make them sparkle.

  It’s used as a recruiting tool, I realize. They show themselves off in front of the house for Eat Meet, knowing full well all the freshmen are wandering up and down the Street looking at which house they will join as upperclassmen.

  Of course, getting into Palladium isn’t that easy. They invite you, not the other way around. And they know who will get an invite the second they get the list of incoming freshmen each summer. It’s well planned out, well ahead of time.

  Upper. Echelon.

  The future leaders of the world all start in a secret club much like this. Every prime university on the planet has one, even Oxford. The one I was invited into—and shunned—just had a different name. The Young and Mobile Society.

  My father told me a story when I met him at the jet last week. About how he got into MIT. And his friend, the killer I call Uncle Merc, got in too. And they both knew, even before those invitations came in, that nothing good was coming out of joining that particular team.

  “There she is,” Chen says, looking through his own scope.

  I watch Rory, all dressed up in silver—looking like all the rest, and yet nothing like them at all—as she takes her place, ready to commemorate her first night as a newly inducted Silver Society member.

  Chen whispers into the mic attached to his ear. “She’s in place.”

  It gives me the chills. Rory is bait fo
r us and a target for all those people out in front of the house with her.

  Helpless is the only word that comes to mind right now. I feel helpless.

  Because all I can do now is wait for everyone to make their move.

  Chapter Thirty - Rory

  “You,” Frank purrs into my ear as we go back into the house after the group photo, “look beautiful. I cannot wait for tonight.”

  “Me too,” I say, meaning it. “Me too, Frank.”

  “Are you feeling better now?” he asks.

  “Much,” I say, holding in my incredulous laugh. I always get over the death of my best friend in twenty-four hours. “I’m glad we had that talk this morning. But where’s Mia?”

  “Inside already. With Jeremy. She wanted to go first tonight. Look, there she is.”

  And yes indeed, when we enter the main dining hall, we’re among the last there. Mia is up front with Kallie, laughing like these people didn’t kill Tera Middleton last night. Pretty fucking happy. And that happiness isn’t fake.

  She set me up, I realize. To get me here? Well, joke’s on her. Because there was no fucking way in hell I wasn’t showing up here tonight.

  “Are we having dinner?” I ask Frank, looking round at the empty room, save for the people.

  “Nah.” Frank laughs. “We’re just here to seal the deal, Princess.”

  And something about the way he says the word ‘princess’ makes my stomach turn.

  “But we have snacks. Don’t worry. Would you like me to get you some champagne for our group toast?” he asks.

  “Sure,” I say, still off guard about that princess remark. What if they have Five? What if that was Frank’s way of showing his hand? Of letting me know that all our plans are for nothing? And that by the end of the night, I’ll be married to him, no matter how much I protest?

  “Rory?” Frank asks.

  “Huh?” I look up from my thoughts. Frank is holding a glass of champagne and a waiter is patiently standing next to him, offering me his tray. There’s only one crystal flute of champagne on it.

  “We’re going to toast,” he says, nodding his head at the front of the hall, where Kallie, Edward, Mia, Jeremy, and the mysterious blonde woman are all tapping their glasses with small silver spoons to get our attention.

  “Right,” I say, taking my glass and holding it close.

  Did I make a mistake coming here?

  “Please raise your glasses,” the blonde woman says, beginning her toast to us, the newest members of the Silver Society.

  I space out after that, still thinking about Five. I cut a hole in my dress and sewed up a hidden pocket so I could keep my phone close. And I want nothing more right now than to escape to the bathroom and text him. I need reassurance. I need to know he’s standing by, just like we planned over the summer. That he didn’t get caught. That all the people plotting against him didn’t finally get their wish and kill him to take over his grandfather’s Triad.

  “Cheers!” everyone yells.

  “Cheers, Rory,” Frank says, bringing his glass to touch mine. They make the most perfect sweet note as they tink together.

  “Cheers,” I say. “To our future.” I take a drink of my champagne and watch Frank smile at me. Like I’m doing right.

  That’s when it hits me. And I look at the glass in abject horror.

  I just fucking drank something… and it wasn’t champagne.

  My face contorts and I throw the glass down on the floor.

  “Rory?” Frank asks. “Are you OK?”

  But I’m getting sick as he talks. Whatever was in that drink, it has an immediate effect on my stomach. “I feel sick,” I say.

  “Come on,” he says, taking my elbow and pulling me through the crowd. “Watch out,” he says to the people crowding around us. “Move back, Rory’s not feeling well.”

  “I’m gonna puke,” I say. And it’s true. I’m about to—

  I puke all over the shiny, polished floor.

  People gasp and then they do get the fuck out of the way.

  Frank takes me into the women’s bathroom and pushes me into a stall. I drop to my knees and hurl again. And again. And again. “What the hell is wrong with me?” I manage between episodes.

  “Well,” Frank says. I look over my shoulder and watch him as he considers his words. How he’s got his arms crossed over his chest. The relaxed way he’s leaning against the sink. The smirk on his face. “You had to learn who’s boss eventually, Aurora. So I figured we might as well get that out of the way right now. Before you go and fuck everything up.”

  “You… you did this me?” I ask. “You poisoned me?”

  “Why not?” he asks. “I did, after all, kill Tera last night. And you know what?”

  I’m gonna get him back for this. I repeat it over and over in my head.

  “It’s all your fault she’s dead. Your disappearance over the summer. Your distance. That’s what triggered her into being paranoid.”

  My hand goes inside my dress and flicks my phone screen to life. I took the lock off. There’s no way punching in a code to activate your phone is a good idea when timing is everything. I know where that little icon is, because I rearranged the icons on purpose, just in case.

  “What are you doing?” Franks asks. I’m still looking at him as I press the Love Notes icon.

  “Calling for backup.” I laugh. And then I puke again. Frank gets my phone, smashes it on the hard tile of the bathroom floor, and then pulls me to my feet as I’m wiping my mouth.

  “He won’t save you, Aurora—”

  But I’m already on my feet, my shoes kicked off, and my bare foot hits him smack in the balls. He doubles over, clutching at his groin. I grab his hair with both hands, swallow down the next episode of vomit that so desperately wants to come up, and bring his face down on my knee.

  His nose and mouth spurt blood, all over my pretty dress that is already ruined from leaning over the toilet.

  I do it again, and again, and again, until he falls off to the side, moaning in pain. Curled up in a fetal position like the weak fuck that he is.

  “That’s for killing my friend,” I say. And then I spit on him. “And I warned you, asshole. My name is Rory.”

  A slow clap erupts behind me.

  I whirl and find the blonde woman smiling at me. “Well done, Aurora. Well done.”

  “Who the fuck are you?” I seethe.

  “Doesn’t matter,” she says, snapping her fingers. A big man—and I’m talking big man—appears behind her. “Take her downstairs. She’s going first.”

  Chapter Thirty-One - Five

  I’m still looking through the scope, my gaze trained on the front door of Palladium House, when my phone dings in my pocket.

  “What the fuck is that?” Chen growls.

  I ignore him and look at the screen. “Love Notes,” I say. I’m on my feet and running across the roof before Chen even knows what’s happening, the rifle forgotten.

  “Five!” he yells. “Five! Get back here!”

  I don’t even bother looking back at him. Just jump down to the balcony we used to get up here and disappear into the classroom.

  Two minutes later I’m making my way around the back of Palladium House. Chen was good for one thing—house plans. So I know there’s a small basement window on the west side of the house, and that’s my access point.

  I kick it in, not even caring that people are yelling and telling me to stop. The only thing I care about is that my princess just sent me an SOS signal and nothing and no one will stop me from reaching her inside this fucked-up fun house.

  I scramble in, rush towards the utility room door, and collide with Cliff Middleton when he opens it just before I reach for the knob.

  We both go down like a fucking couple of stooges. Someone shoots through the window behind me. I caught their guards by surprise, but that didn’t last long.

  “You got it?” I ask Cliff.

  “Yeah,” he says, both of us dropping to the ground and t
aking cover behind a water heater. A bullet hits the heater and boiling water starts spurting out and filling the room up with steam.

  “Give it to me,” I say.

  Cliff reaches into his pocket as another barrage of bullets hits the tank. Water burns my arms and legs, even through my clothes, and makes me wince. But then… there it is. The flash drive I need to make all this bullshit go away. I reach for it, but Cliff’s body goes flying backwards as the bullets hit him instead of the tank. Blood comes pouring out as he gasps for breath on the floor.

  I grab the drive, stuff it into my pocket, and then Cliff groans out a word.

  God, he’s not gonna make it. “Rory,” he croaks. “Basement,” he manages.

  And then his eyes go blank as death comes to take him.

  Chapter Thirty-Two - Rory

  I’m man-handled into a dark hallway, through a set of double doors, then another door that thunks closed so loud it sounds like it’s made of steel. My stomach is still screaming at me, but thankfully, I have not hurled again. Whatever they gave me must’ve been fast-acting, but short-lasting.

  The bodyguard—because that’s totally what he is—practically throws me down into a chair. My head hits the metal table and everything spins for a few minutes.

  When I look up, Blondie is sitting across from me, hands folded in front of her, resting on the table, like she hasn’t got a care in the world.

  We’re in a dark room with a single spotlight shining down on a single table with two chairs, and two people, and only one reason to be here.

  They are going to kill me.

  “You have no idea who you’re messing with, little girl.”

  No. I refuse to give them that satisfaction.

  “Fair enough,” I manage to spit back at Blondie. “But neither do you.”

  “Oh, I know all about you, Aurora.”

  I scowl at the name and that makes her smile bigger.

  “I know that the man you love thinks he can get away from us.”

  “What?”