Hollow Hearts (The Harkwright Trilogy)

P.S.

I know you have no craving to become more than a Thirty-Four, but you should attempt to rise above the rest. You could have everything you ever wanted if you simply opened your eyes and realized that yo

u could use this place to fulfill your desires. Rise through the numbers, claim a higher spot and when your time is up, you will have everything you ever wanted and things you never even knew you craved, desired, needed.

E. H. The dark to your light.

I don’t know what possesses me to get changed again or why I choose the dress that Tucker got for me. The navy blue button up, but it isn’t against the rules and I feel more comfortable in this than I did the skirt and blouse.

Daria isn’t talking and neither am I as we head to the assembly, knowing that Sir Harkwright himself will be up on the stage is more than enough to put anyone in a somber mood.

We file in and we give each other a weak smile before claiming our seats. I don’t know any of the other girls in the thirty rank and I can feel how alienated I have become. I can’t help but look over them all and most turn their faces to the front and ignore me, but there are a few who look at me with what I can only assume is curiosity.

“Hey, I’m Elena,” says a brunette with a southern twang and I smile in reply, but I don’t speak.

“Speaking for myself only, but I’m sorry that your experience so far hasn’t been great. A few of us are still waiting for the bad to begin.”

“I hope it doesn’t,” I reply softly and a few more stare our way before the lights on the stage start up and Ms. Vanderbilt steps out onto the stage.

“Good afternoon, it will be a few moments before Sir Harkwright comes out. You are not to speak, fidget or even breathe loud enough for us to hear you from this spot and I will be watching and listening for it. This is your only warning. Secondly, in two months the men of the Academy will be leaving and will each be taking one girl with them. If you do not receive word by the end of day on Friday, then you will not be attending. The choices could change so do not become overly hopeful or excited if you’re chosen this early on. And finally the numbers will change today, if we move you into the top ten then you will relocate, otherwise only the door number will change. I do not want to hear any complaining if Twelve is put into the forty wing, if I do then you will either be pushed lower on the list or dismissed entirely,” she glances to her left before giving a quick jerk of her head and returning her narrowed gaze to us. “That’s everything, remember what I said, best behavior girls,” she strolls off and we all wait with bated breath for Sir to come out, and to let us know what the fuck is going on.

At least I am, I can’t really talk for the other girls but I’d be surprised if they were as carefree as they like to act the majority of the time. The ever looming presence of the man himself sucks all the oxygen from the room, and I’m struck again by how unfair the gene pool really is. No family should be this powerful and good looking, I know it’s their hearts and souls that truly count. Because from what I’ve seen, most of them are sporting black souls and truly hollowed out hearts that no amount of money, power or girls will ever be able to fill.

“King of the hollow hearts himself,” I hear it pass through the girl next to me, until every girl in the row is repeating it as softly as they can. I can see their lips moving but no one is reacting, is this normal? Because it seems hella strange to me right now. It isn’t until he takes his place in front of the microphone that everything else stops and there aren’t a set of eyes that are not riveted on him.

“Ladies of the Academy, it is not often where I find myself in a predicament without a clear cut solution. As many of you are aware, a girl was recently attacked within our walls by one of you,” no one dares look at me or even whisper but there’s a new tension that wasn’t there before, and my body has never felt as stiff as it does right now. “The perpetrator has since been removed from the Academy and that should have been the end of the matter, however sometimes things cannot be as simple or straightforward as I would like. That being said, I did not feel the need to interject until one of you had the audacity to contact me directly. Not only did she dare to take a phone from one of the boys (oh, so he doesn’t have to call them the men) she used it to contact me. Offering me something that would be extremely hard to ignore. So I listened to what she wanted and had to offer, and I managed to secure a deal I never thought possible. Ms. Vanderbilt, please send Four out.”

He doesn’t bother to look towards Vanderbilt, instead his eyes stay trained on the far end of the wall, as a set of doors behind us open up. I want to look, of course I do but I’m not stupid enough to act on the urge. I watch as Four marches out onto the stage, looking smug until she stands beside Harkwright and bows her head reverently. She doesn’t even stand behind him, she is level to him in every way and even Bradley didn’t dare stand like that, and he’s related to the king of the devils.

“My girl, when you called me I was ready to have you removed faster than you could blink, but you made me see the error of my ways. Thanks to you, I now control your Father’s previous hotel chain. So now, it’s time for your reward,” she’s practically preening like a peacock and it’s sickening. But power does rule this world, what more is there to say.

“Vanderbilt, what number is the girl who got attacked,” if I thought my spine was stiff before, well it’s got nothing on how I feel now.

“Thirty-Four, I made her higher after she saved Maddox from an idiotic girl who did not bother to read the dossier,” Ms. Vanderbilt supplies and I’m surprised she’d even add any of that.

“Thirty-Four, stage now,” he orders, his tone never changes, I can’t tell if he sounds bored, entitled, professional or a culmination of all three. The last one, has to be the last one.

I stand up on shaky legs and sidestep the other girls sitting between me and the aisle, I feel like I’m about to walk the plank as I walk down it and head towards the side of the stage, opposite to where Four is standing. The downside, I have to walk past the guys to get to Sir Harkwright and my stomach is already twisted up in a thousand knots.

I don’t know how I make it without falling or even tripping once, but unlike Four I make sure to position myself so I am behind him and it only adds more glee to her pointless face. Come on Luna, you can do better than calling her face pointless.

“Where was I?” He says out loud, stroking his chin in contemplation, but he’s faking it and I can’t understand why until Four says, “my reward.” He turns to her with the coldest smile I have ever seen, if it could birth evil I think we’d have hundreds of screaming demon babies lying at his feet right now.

He snaps his fingers before nodding slowly, sweeping his gaze across the entire room, even the men are included and I feel his eyes linger on me before he returns to the front.

“That’s right, but I’m afraid you misunderstand me,” her eyes widen and her lips part as he turns to face her fully, and I watch as her face turns ashen. She isn’t gleeful or smug now. “The reward isn’t yours to claim, it’s hers,” he looks at me fully and I can’t avoid his stare but I don’t react. I can feel the dread pool in my stomach, and I know something is about to happen that I will have zero control over.

“B-b-but my f-father,” I guess I should feel sorry for her, but I don’t. I have no idea what that says about me as a person, but I’ll dwell on that later.

“My business with your father has concluded, the hotels are mine and you played your part perfectly. However, you called out from the Academy, you came to me before going to anyone else and you organized a calculated attack on a fellow student. You are no longer my problem, now Thirty-Four here is going to make you pay. She can unleash all her pent up aggression on you and then we can move on and we’ll ensure you’re delivered back to your Father, relatively intact,” this man is fucking insane.

He turns back to me, before waving his hand to indicate for me to what? Attack her?

“Come along Thirty-Four, show us what you would have done if they had allowed you to hit her back. Strike the pathetic bitch who would sell her father out to be able to open her legs to a Harkwright man,” he isn’t shouting but I can feel his anger as though it’s a palpable thing.

&n

bsp; I look at him one last time, before releasing a deep breath and stepping over to Four. She’s shaking until she takes me in, and instead of apologizing or trying to better her lot, she’s fucking sneering at me.