I hesitated. Was it a good idea to go to a party when I had to be on a plane tomorrow, going fuck knew where? Anger at my situation bubbled up inside of me and before I could think about it, I was saying: “Hell yes, we’re goin’ to this party. I need to release some tension.”

The sweet as fuck Bugatti ride had helped, but it wasn’t enough. I needed to be the one who snapped her up through the gears, who drove her to top speed. The world slowed when I was driving, like all I could feel was the engine, and all I could think about was freedom.

Nothing else mattered. It all faded away.

“I’ll be over in twenty to help you get ready,” Eddy squealed, and I realized I’d tuned some of what she’d said out. My mind stuck on that car and its driver.

“Okay, great—” I started to say, but she’d already hung up.

Deciding I would call Dante later, I rushed up the stairs and into my room. After a quick shower I was standing there in just a towel when Stewart let Eddy into my room.

She rushed over to me, and like the first time I’d met her, she was back to her punk rock chick perfection in a tight black mini, torn up white shirt that showcased her flat stomach, and enough jewelry to sink a ship. “You look gorgeous,” I exclaimed, hugging her tightly. “Now can you work your magic on me?”

She snorted. “Right, like that would be hard. You’re standing there in a towel with wet hair and I want to bang you. And I’m not even into chicks.”

Flipping her off, I hurried back into the bathroom and pulled out the hair dryer. It took us twenty minutes to tame my hair, leaving it in long silky strands that fell halfway down my back. Eddy insisted on doing my makeup, and I wondered if she’d ever had this sort of girl time before. It was rare in my world, and it kind of felt like it was in hers too.

“They don’t really let me have friends,” she said softly, and I blinked, wondering how she had read my mind. “Or … it’s not so much that they don’t let me, more that I don’t see the point in getting close to anyone when I can’t really share my world with them. I can never have anyone over to our house. My family is scary as hell, and my brother is tied up in Delta business all the time. He’s owned by our parents, all the duties and company rules. “

“I can’t believe Militant Delta is you guys. I mean, legit the most well-known name in business.” Dante used to talk about them all the time. No wonder he’d had Catherine’s number, he was half a fanboy over their rise to power.

Eddy grabbed an eyeliner, talking again as she lined my bottom lid. “Yeah, that’s us. Company Delta. Team Delta. Control the fucking world and turn all humans into mindless drones.”

“So, it’s just the five families? All of the ones that live in this compound?”

She nodded. “Oh yeah, it’s old school around here. They started this together, and there are all these rules to follow so that it remains a family business.”

And they had been secretly controlling the world ever since.

I couldn’t see her face now, because I had my eyes shut for her to finish lining them, but I sensed her irritation. “You’ll never take over any part of the business?”

She snorted. “No way. I’m here to look pretty and probably make an alliance marriage with another company they deal with.”

“If girls are such shit in this Delta group, then how is Catherine one of the five?”

A light touch on my eyes, and then she moved to the next. “She’s not really. Your dad—” I coughed, and she paused. “I mean, Richard, took Oscar’s death really hard. I haven’t even seen him since then. Think he’s been in New York, at the main offices there. Catherine steps in for him.”

I could understand that. The pain of my own family’s death was still too raw for me to really face, but I would have loved the luxury of hiding myself away to deal with my grief. Catherine had taken that away from me.

“What was he like?” I asked Eddy, obeying her murmured instructions to open or close my eyes while she worked.

“Oscar?” she replied, and I nodded. “He was different from the rest of them.” Her voice was soft as she spoke of the brother I’d never met. “Oscar was kind. That’s why they were always so hard on him. Why he was always getting singled out.” She shuddered. “Let’s just say when he turned up dead, I was devastated—but not surprised.”

“Who? Beck and his crew? You think they hurt Oscar?” I sat up sharply, pulling away from the strip of fake lashes Eddy was about to position on my lash line.

“Not them.” She shook her head. “The successors are all in the same shit filled boat, and are beyond loyal to each other. Brothers … more than brothers. No, I mean the elders.”

My brows shot up. “You mean their parents? What exactly are we talking about here? Beatings?” My mind flashed back to the smack Catherine had delivered on my first day. She was definitely not above beating her children.

Eddy let out a low, sad laugh and grabbed my chin between her fingers to hold me still while she finished my makeup. For the longest time, she just worked in silence, then stepped back and surveyed her work.

“Perfect,” she commented. “You look so much like Oscar it’s crazy. Except, you know, less dick and way more tits and vag.” Illustrating her point, she squeezed one of my above average sized breasts and I slapped her hand away with a laugh. Her expression sobered then. “Beatings were the least of it, Riles. When I say you need to be careful, I mean it. I have no idea what goes on behind the closed doors of Delta, but they are big on control. I’m a girl, and second born, so have never been in the inner circle—but I’m all too familiar with the haunted look in my brother’s eyes when he comes back from meetings. Not to mention the toll it took on Oscar...” She trailed off with a shiver and quickly turned her back on me. Not quick enough to hide the water welling up in her eyes though.

“So, what are you wearing?” She changed the subject with a bright voice, and I let her. She was grieving just as badly as I was, and I could hardly believe it’d taken me this long to recognize it.

“Uh, I have no idea,” I murmured, following Eddy through to my massive walk-in wardrobe.

Eddy seemed suitably impressed as she ran her hand over the hanging garments, even letting out a low whistle when she spotted the wall of red soled shoes.

“Damn, girl,” she breathed, turning to face me with bright eyes. “Louboutins. Catherine may be a psychotic bitch, but she has taste. Where do we even begin?”

Grinning at her enthusiasm, I pulled open one of the drawers and took out a pair of black jeans. “Uh, I’m not really a dress sort of girl so...” I waggled the jeans at her and snorted a laugh at her horrified expression.

“Thank God I’m here to help,” she whispered, shaking her head slowly and creeping closer to the hanging dresses. “You’ll wear what I choose and you’ll rock it so hard that Beck will be cleaning up a puddle of drool when you walk in.”

I coughed a laugh and tried to ignore the fact that my cheeks were heating. Damn fair skin made blushing impossible to hide. “I thought you said Beck was off limits?”

“He is. But that doesn’t mean you can’t knock him down a few pegs.” She winked at me then produced a tight, black bandage dress. “Valentino. Perfect.”

Rolling my eyes, I took the hanger from her. I wasn’t even going to pretend I didn’t like the idea of seeing Sebastian Beckett drooling.

It took a bit of wiggling and a lot of sucking in, but when I was finally outfitted in the little black dress and had sky high metal studded stilettos to complete the look, I had to admit Eddy knew what she was doing. I looked sexy and dangerous all at the same time, and somehow my black wrist brace wasn’t even out of place. It almost looked like a fashionable accessory, especially after Eddy decked it out with a ton of thick gold bracelets.

“I’m going to freeze in this,” I said, even though I was definitely not taking it off.

Eddy laughed. “No way, alcohol is a warm friend.”

She wasn’t wrong about that. I studied my reflection again. “My first Ducis Academy party,” I murmured. “This ought to be fun.”

9

The party was hosted by none other than Jimmy—ball cap wearing, race organizer Jimmy. When he saw me walk through the door to his impressive home, he let out a low whistle and shook his head.

“Damn, new girl.” He grinned a greasy grin at me. “You clean up well.”

“Back off, Jimmy,” Eddy snapped, shoving him in the chest. “She’s a Delta successor now.”

Our host visibly paled under the brim of his ball cap and swallowed a couple of times before just nodding and walking away. Eddy snatched my hand and dragged me through the rabbit warren mansion until we reached the back of the house, where the main party was set up. We stopped in front of a full bar that was decked out with what looked like every type of alcohol in the world. Plus a bartender.

Rich kids really knew how to throw a party, I could admit it.