Page 89 of Outcast’s Vow

You stupidly let that slip, Sylvie.

Baptiste doesn’t blink.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You make so much money in your cybersecurity business. You’re the boss of that world, and yet you’re involved with this Order full of ancient rules and customs. You could just stay where you are and make your money and avoid all the drama and politics of the Castaways, so why do it?”

“I can’t just stay where I am,” he replies. “That’s my issue. I’m an ambitious man. Too much so for my own good.”

“Oh, I can tell.”

Baptiste nods.

“It’s what got me out of poverty. And it’s what keeps me out of it.”

“So you want to be in the Castaways because nothing will ever satisfy you?”

“One thing will satisfy me. And it’s not money, and it’s not even power.”

“What is it?”

He pauses for a heartbeat.

“Respect.”

It comes out as a whisper.

“Respect?”

“I want to be made an Elder,” Baptiste mutters. “I’ve come from nothing, so imagine me as the leader of the most elite secret society in this world. No one will question me then.”

“No one’s questioning you now.”

He looks away.

“You don’t know what it’s like, Sylvie.”

My finger continues stroking the curve of his thumb.

“I think I do,” I reply.

“I can tell you about the rooms I’ve been in. Rooms full of men with last names that go back generations. I could tell you how someone like me shouldn’t even be in those rooms. I could tell you how those men look at me with the full understanding that I shouldn’t be in there. But if I stay in the Castaways and do what they expect of me, then someday I might be made an Elder, and then those same men will have to bow to me. That’s why I joined the Castaways. That’s why they mean success to me.”

“Believe me, Baptiste,” I say. “I grew up among those men. Jolie did as well. They may be powerful, but they’re not special. To us, it all appears like a load of rich men playing games. You don’t need them to be the man you are.”

“Rich men playing games is what runs the world.”

“And you want to be one of them? Really?”

“I want to run the world. I want their respect.”

“And if the Castaways told you to jump off this penthouse balcony right now, would you do it?” I ask him.

“Don’t joke, girl.”

I tilt my head back and laugh.

“Are you really that loyal to them?”