OUTCAST'S CLAIM - PROLOGUE

AN ELITE SECRET SOCIETY ROMANCE

SINS OF THE ORDER BOOK I

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CLEMENT

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The envelope is thrust into my hand as I’m about to walk out of the gym in the heart of New York City and, in an instant, the entire course of my life changes.

I take a step back. My reaction speed is fast, but even as I turn to my messenger, he’s gone.

I look down. The envelope bears a crimson seal embellished with a single letter. C.

I know who it’s for.

Me.

This isn’t just a letter. It’s an invitation. A summons. This letter means only one thing.

I have been chosen.

My fingers rip open the envelope. There are only four words written in the dead center of the page, but they are enough to make my heart stop.

 

We are watching you.

 

I scan the gym, with its sleek marble floors and precise atmospheric lighting, in one last futile search for the messenger. Opulence may sell itself as a citadel for the elite, but the four words on this paper? These words belong to the true elite. These four words form part of the Code of a secret society that silences kings and owns the very shadows our world is built on. The banks. The shipping lanes. The intelligence services. The corporate monoliths.

Everything.

The people around me at this gym have no idea what I hold in my hand. Men have murdered to receive this letter. Sacrificed their own families, even. Betrayed everyone in their lives for even a chance to be noticed by the Castaways.

And they are watching me.

I know what comes next. The Castaways will test my physical prowess, my mental acuity, my aptitude for power before they even let me think I’m worthy, and I would do anything to get there. Blackmail. Bleed. Burn. Whatever it takes to pass their trials.

Fail, and I would suffer the worst fate imaginable.

I would be like everyone else.

A nobody.

With the letter trembling in my fingers, I allow a smile to pass my lips. Because I can already taste my future.

And as I smile, I feel eyes watching me. Eyes that burn into the back of my skull.

I turn around.

And then I see her. The receptionist behind the front desk at Opulence. A receptionist with rich chestnut-brown hair, worn half-up and half-down. Milky smooth skin. Cute button nose.

Oh. Hello.

I recognize her from past visits here, but she’s never looked at me like this. Like she knows me. Her emerald-green eyes are assessing my face. She shouldn’t be looking at me like that, because if she truly knew who I am, and what I’m capable of, and what I am holding in my hand, then she wouldn’t be inviting me in like this.

I could go over and introduce myself, but I force myself to pull back.

What am I doing? Not here. Not now.

Not with them watching.

But naturally, I can’t leave without knowing who she is. I home in on her nametag, reading it like a commandment.

Elise.

It’s a name to remember.

They’re watching... she’s watching...

It seems everyone’s watching me today.

Elise notices my stare, holds it for a beat too long, and then breaks it. My fingers tighten around the envelope, but my hunger must remain unsated.

Another time, Clement.

And so I ignore the temptation, turn my back on her, and walk out of Opulence.

Into my future.

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