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Laurence couldn’t have gifted me a better game.
“Pick out the one truth, Carrick. I have eight legs like a spider. I can turn water into wine. My father was imprisoned because ofyourmoney laundering scheme.”
Carrick glares. I grin back.
Abruptly, he rises from his seat. “I’m not playing this stupid game.”
I push him back down. The audience begins to murmur.
“Pick the truth, Carrick.”
He rolls his eyes, smiling at the audience as if to brush off his answer as a joke. “Your father was imprisoned because of me. Ha-ha. As if he’s the first pawn in any of our games,” he says to the audience, as if looking for support.
“Okay. Second one. I was raised by a pack of wolves. I attended a wizarding school as a kid. You recruited me so that you could imprison me here like the rest of your Players who were accessories to your money laundering so that you wouldn’t get caught by the federal bureau for your crimes.”
More murmurings rise up, and Carrick starts to sweat. “Oh please. There’s no way you can connect those two things. And I wouldn’t doubt if youwereraised by a pack of wolves.”
“Is that your answer? I’m happy to have someone fetch Aurelia to tell us all about it.”
Carrick pales. “Eve, come-come on. Why are you singling me out when everyone else here has either redirected revenue, used tax write offs, or a million other things to get more money!”
“What’s your answer?”
“You’re a whore! You’ve taken my money plenty of times and what? Now you’re too good for it?”
I cross my arms. The spotlight burns the top of my head. It casts shadows across Carrick’s face, making him even uglier than I remember.
“Is this true, Carrick?” Vaughn’s voice comes from the crowd. I notice Laurence behind him.
“Are you pretending like you’ve never blurred the lines of the law for your business?” Carrick attempts to look smug, but I can see through his sweaty mask.
“Most of us here act in integrity with our businesses. We come here to blur the lines of morality. But I see you are too young, too immature, to realize this, and to disrespect what has been built here. I’m afraid you don’t belong.”
Carrick shoots up from his seat. “You can’t do this. I’ve been a part of these games since I was a teenager. My father brought me in. I’ve given so much money to the Echelon Society, and now you’re telling me I can’t be a part of it? My father will hear about this, and he will sueallof you!” he roars at the audience.
“Your father who is facing bankruptcy?” Vaughn approaches him. “We don’t favor rule breakers outside of the Echelon Society for one reason, Carrick.”
“What’s that?”
“Because it can trace our one enemy back to us.”
The doors suddenly burst open, and the room erupts in chaos as men clad in black raid the room. Before I can gather my wits over what’s going on, or get sight of Lily or Laurence, I’m swept up within the people running from the wave of FBI agents swarming the room. A hand wraps around mine, large and warm, dragging me into the dark behind the stage as we run down the hall to escape the downfall of the Echelon Society so that we don’t fall with it.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Eve
The Escape
I run the events of our escape over and over in my head despite it being long past, and after residing on another private island with Laurence for the last week.
The games are over. For all intents and purposes, we won.
At least, Laurence and I won our game.
Though my thoughts stray to Lily, as they did while Laurence led me through the jungle to a private hangar where he started up a helicopter.
“You can fly?” I’d shouted at him over the revving roar of the propellers.
He nodded at me with a grin. “I can do a lot of things, Blue.” With deft hands, he buckles me in, placing a headset on my head.
