He swept his arm around the room. The walls were covered in the paintings. There was no empty space.

“No, we’re not some cult group or anything. It’s not blood in and blood out. It’s just…blackmail and IOUs. That’s what it is, and my family holds all the keys. My great-great-great grandfather started everything, so that’s how I’m in the unique position of knowing what the hell is going to happen after each class graduates.”

“So…” I frowned. “My mother…”

“No, no.” Sebastian shook his head. “Your mother is the mistake. She was considered to be inducted. She was initiated, so she knew of the connections. That’s what you’re told in the beginning. You and Summer would’ve gotten the same speech. We’re all here for each other. Everyone will support you. If you need money, we’ll give it to you. If you need a house, here’s a mansion. If you need a mistress, we’ll get you two who will do anything you want. The speech is custom-made. You and Summer are both girls, so you probably would’ve been promised success in whatever career you chose. If you wanted to be famous, they would’ve made you both famous. If you wanted a business, they would’ve had one ready and waiting for you once you graduated. Hell, if you wanted a husband, they would’ve introduced you to other members of The Network. And all of it would’ve been sold with the statement that we’re all family. We all love each other. We all take care of each other—along with our mistakes, too. We take care of those, so don’t hesitate to reach out if something happens. No matter how horrible the crime is, they’ll take care of it.”

As he kept talking, Sebastian was going from one painting to the next. A full glow radiated from him, while he was laughing. The effect had my insides turning into ice. I backed all the way to the door and reached behind me for the door handle. If I had to, I’d make a run for it. The nightmare he was promising wasn’t going to be given to me. But what else did he have in store then? I knew, without a doubt, that it would be much worse.

He kept on, “Families who started in are automatically chosen to be inducted, but we can choose others, too. My grandfather chose your grandfather to be inducted, so that meant that Garrett was inducted as well. He was an automatic, but your mother wasn’t. Garrett chose to induct her, and my guess is that was when they were screwing.”

“And Sharon? Her portrait is up there.”

“She was inducted later because Garrett broke it off with Analise. He went back to Sharon and eventually married her. After that year, a rule was made. No girlfriends. Only wives.”

“But you said my mother was the mistake somehow?”

“Yeah. She was initiated, but she skipped town. She never graduated. When you showed up two years ago, they all realized why. She was pregnant, and Garrett had already gone back to Sharon. Who the hell knows why your mother didn’t come clean? She knew she’d be taken care of, but she was a mess. They let her go. She’s up on the wall, but she hasn’t gotten any of the benefits. Then again,” his head moved forward, “she’s never shown up to claim any of the benefits either. If she did…I cringe at just wondering what the board would do to her. She’s considered a disgrace. All of these people help build The Network. They’ve all toed the line and used their power to help the others.”

“Where’s the other foot? When does that drop?”

He laughed again, pointing at me in the air. “It drops when, and if, you deem that you don’t need The Network. If you refuse to do something, you find out really quick that, fine, if you choose to go alone, whatever mistakes you’ve committed from college and onward are yours, too. Information gets released. Testimonies are taken back. You’re hung out to dry, and all because you might not have wanted to help a brother get his sister to be roommates with a certain Samantha Strattan at Cain University.”

He was staring at me hard now.

“That’s how you did that.” And that was the blackmail material Garrett said we must’ve had. That was what was on the flash drive. My fingers wrapped around the handle. I was ready to go at any second.

“What’s the plan? You’re going to upload all these photographs and e-mail them to the cops or something?”

Nate asked the question, but I was thinking it, too.

Logan added, “Not to be a dick, but if we did that, we would be dicks. We can’t narc on these assholes.”

Mason countered with, “Even if those assholes are going to hurt us someday?”

Nate nodded. “Mason’s right. We’re going to go against someone in this organization at some point in our lives. We should let ’em get away with this?”

“Get away with what?” Logan argued. “We don’t know what they’ve done.”

“Because jumping all three of us at three different times isn’t enough? Or setting up his sister as a spy on Sam?” Nate gestured to me. His disgust was evident. “All of those are good enough reasons for us to go to the authorities with this.”

Mason shook his head. Logan was right. They didn’t narc to the authorities. It’d been their code for so long, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t narc at all.

“What about if we let them know?” I said.

“Let them know what?” Logan started to lean forward again, resting his elbows on his knees.

I frowned. “Are you completely forgetting the brace on your chest? Stop moving around so much.”

Logan shot me a grin. “Stop looking for ways to undress me, woman. You’re my brother’s mate.”

Mason covered my hand with his and said in a warning, “Logan.”

“Okay, okay.” Logan shot him a look. “We hear you loud and clear. Mason,” he indicated his brother, “what’s the plan?”

Mason held up the box with all the information we had with his free hand. “We’re going to upload all this information and e-mail it to them.”

That was the plan.

Logan snorted. “Genius.” He didn’t hold back his sarcasm.

Sebastian was staring at me, long and hard. He just revealed how he got Summer to be my roommate, and he echoed softly, “That’s how I did that.”

I took a breath. My nerves were stretched tight. I needed to stall him so Mason could upload the flash drive. It had to be from a computer as close to Sebastian as we could get. Once he was done, he’d be coming through that door. I looked at it now, wondering how long he would be.