The Promise

By Anna Edwards and Claire Marta

From USA Today Bestselling authors, Anna Edwards and Claire Marta comes a dark secret society romance where forbidden love and duty clash.

 

Tobias has a secret, he's part of The Elites. He'll devote his life to them just like his father before, he do whatever it take to support the society. Even marry a girl he's only ever met once. What he doesn't count on is her not falling instantly at his feet.

 

Harper has her own mind, her own life full of happiness. She doesn't want to marry someone she doesn't know, even if he's hot. So why does one look from Tobias have her whole resolve weaking. 

 

Challenges and catastrophe are thrown in Harper and Tobias' direction. Will the secret world ever allow them to find out who they really are and what they can achieve together?

 

The Promise was originally part of The Elites: Year One. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anna Edwards
• Release date: Aug 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201576738

Book preview

Two

Tobias

Jonathan Stonewall stands over my right shoulder as we all stare at the computer in front of me. Several of the other elder members of the elite Scorpio Society my family belongs to are in the room also, including my beloved father, who took his initiation test many years ago. Jonathan is in charge, though—he’s our leader. My father told me exactly what will happen today, but I’m only nineteen and still nervous as hell. If I mess this up, then my life is over, and today will be my last on this earth. That is the strict nature of the Society.

My hand reaches up to the small gray stone threaded through a piece of string at my neck. I can afford to have the highest value gold chain around my neck, but this stone is sentimental to me and always will be, even if the papers my parents signed a number of years ago don’t come to fruition. I remember the wild red hair of my future wife and her piercing blue eyes, which matched my own color. Even though I was only a child, I fell in love with Harper Stonewall that day. I’m doing this for her. I made a promise, and I won’t break it.

I squeeze the stone for luck and return my attention to the computer.

We’ve been having a lot of trouble with the Senator from New York. He wants to ensure that he be involved in everything going on here in Albany, Jonathan informs me. I want him ruined financially, so he disappears. Your skills, Tobias Richardson, lie in the field of computer technology and finance. You have an hour to take as much of his money out of his bank accounts as you can and give it to someone in need. Do you accept the challenge?

My lip curls up into a little smirk. I know the Senator who Jonathan refers to. My father has had a long-running battle with Senator Winston, and I’ll be glad to make sure I destroy the interfering idiot.

I most certainly do accept, I reply confidently.

Jonathan pulls up the sleeve of his tailored jacket and checks the time on his Rolex.

Your time starts now.

The people around me fade into nothingness as I focus squarely on the screen in front of me. My fingers fly over the keyboards as I use algorithms and hacks I’ve known since I was ten years old to find the Senator’s bank accounts within a few minutes. I’ve always been fascinated with computers, spending hours as a toddler bashing away merrily on the keys of one of my father’s old computers, but it was when I started to delve into the world of the internet that I discovered a niche for being able to get into places I shouldn’t go. My father wasn’t impressed with the fact I hacked a computer store and had myself sent a top-of-the-line laptop when I was thirteen. He seemed to soften a bit with his anger when a state-of-the-art Bentley arrived the next day. My mother also enjoyed the two-week vacation on a tropical island—all at the expense of people who deserved to pay for it because they were corrupt as hell.

The Senator is a rich man, no doubt from bribes, and it doesn’t take me long to redistribute his wealth between a few of the local children’s homes. Senator Winston isn’t a lover of having poor children in his state. He keeps his views to himself, but I happen to know via the dark web that he would rather ship them elsewhere so he can concentrate on lining the pockets of his rich associates. I love the irony here—the children and their caretakers will eat well tonight with the donation. I quickly type up some documentation to prove the donation on the Senator’s letterhead, and after hacking into his emails, I send it out to the children’s homes. There will be no way he’ll be able to get the money back now without looking like a complete fool.

I look at the time on the screen. Can I just check how long I have left?

Half an hour, Jonathan announces with a glance at his watch, the only light in the dim room bouncing off the gold at his wrist.

I won’t need all the time, but I want to do one more thing, I reply, my fingers already working hard on the keyboard. I know I seem arrogant, but I really am that damn good at what I do. Not that I’ll ever call myself a computer nerd. I don’t hide away in basements for endless hours at a computer screen. I like to work out and have swapped toy collecting for designer suits instead.

I bring up the U.S. realty website and discover the properties Senator Winston owns. Another hacking trick I learned when I transferred a mansion on the Miami coast into my parents’ names allows me to assign the Senator's main residence in Albany over to the state for redesignation as a children’s home.

I let out a laugh, wishing I could see the bastard’s face when he finds out. He’s a cunt of a man and deserves everything happening to him right now.

I’m done. I sit back in my chair five minutes after I asked Jonathan for a time check.

Really? There’s a collective gasp from most of the people in the room.

You don’t need more time? Jonathan questions.

I look toward my father, and he knows I’m finished. He understands my skills better than anyone.

I’ve taken every penny he had in the bank, which interestingly enough was well over seven million. The man likes to take bribes. I’ve given the money to several of the children’s homes in the area and sent a note to them to support the donation from the Senator’s department. He’ll look like a complete buffoon if he tries to take it back. There will also be a new children’s home-opening at the Senator’s main residence in Albany. I’ve transferred ownership of this house to the state.

Well done, that is a nice touch, Jonathan chuckles before nodding at the man next to him to check my work. I step away from the computer and allow him to do so.

For the first time today, my hands feel a little clammy. What I’ve just done is the easy part of my initiation into the Society. It’s the next part that terrifies me.

He’s done well, the man who checked my work eventually announces.

Good. Jonathan slaps me on the back to congratulate me. It’s time for the next part then.

I wait as the elders proceed out of the small computer room we were all congregated in on the campus of Stonewall University. Eventually, I follow them as we move away from where the students are learning and down into the depths of the murky underground passages of the school. Nobody comes here unless they’re insane, or like me, about to have my future decided.

Jonathan takes a key from a bunch attached to his trousers. We stop at a door marked ‘Do Not Enter.’ He unlocks the door, and in silence, we all file into the room. The leader of the Society presses a switch on the wall, and in the middle of the room, a dull wattage bulb flickers to life. It illuminates my future in the center of the room, a transparent box containing the highly venomous red scorpion. I swallow deeply, nerves starting to flood through my body.

I give you one final chance to back out. Jonathan stands before me.

No, I reply instantly. If I back out now, I’ll be shot before I’m allowed to leave this room. I’m not stupid.

Good. He steps aside and presents the scorpion to me. When you’re ready?

I know what I have to do. My father has told me and prepared me. I’ve known I’d do this one day, just as I was told one day I’ll marry Harper Stonewall, Jonathan’s illegitimate niece. In the Society, you do what you are told. It’s how it functions. No arguments.

I find my father’s position in the room, his face a little pale as he gives me a smile. It must be hard for him as an elder— watching his son going through this. I wonder if he knows whether I’ll survive or not. I wonder if he can give me any clues, but he keeps his face a stalwart of emotions as much as he can.

I step up to the cage and tentatively open the top. After another deep breath to compose myself, I place my hand fully into the cage. The scorpion rears up at the intrusion into his peace and quiet. He instantly attacks, and I hold my hand as still as possible as he pushes the stinger at the end of his tail into it. The pain cascades around my body instantly. I know my time is dwindling already. The venom will be mixing with my blood and traveling toward my heart at a rapid rate.

I finally pull my hand free, and Jonathan steps up to my side with two vials of antivenom. One will work, one won’t. I have to choose correctly or throw myself on the mercy of the Society for the good deed I’ve just performed for them.

The hand which has just been stung feels heavy, but I reach up to the stone at my neck again and grip it tightly.

Left or right.

Life or death.

I promise I’ll never hurt you.

I make my choice, and with the hand not holding the stone, reach out for the vial in Jonathan’s left hand. I bring it to my mouth and swallow the foul-tasting liquid just as the palpitations start in my body. My heart rate quickens, and then almost as quickly as the fear of death starts, it subsides.

I choose correctly.

Thank fuck for that.

The room erupts into cheers and shouts of triumph.

Jonathan slaps me a lot harder on the back this time. Welcome to the Society, Tobias. You are going to be a phenomenal acquisition. Your skills are amazing. Taking his house as well was genius. I will make sure I get feedback for you on how Senator Winston takes it all.

Thank you. I shake his hand when he holds it out, my own hand still a bit sore from the scorpion sting.

Let’s go and celebrate, Jonathan calls, and the elders start to file out of the room. I wait behind, just as my father does.

Well done, he congratulates me. You did well.

A lucky choice, I chuckle, knowing that is all it was because I didn’t know what vial was which.

A knowing smile crosses my father’s face.

What is it? I question, intrigued.

Let’s just say you were always destined to get the correct vial the moment you walked into this room. We both start to leave, following the others.

I don’t understand?

It’s a well-kept secret. You passed the first test, your characteristics were already deemed suitable to be in the Society. The bit with the scorpion is just an initiation. If you’ve failed previously, then neither vial will contain the antidote, but if you’ve already passed, then both will. I’m so proud of you, son. My father stops and pulls me into his embrace as I digest what he’s just told me. I’ve got a pain in my hand for no bloody reason other than entertainment for the elders. If this is how the Society works, I think I’m going to have a wonderful time being a member.

What happens now? I don’t need to have any other wild animal bite or sting me, do I?

No, you’re safe. We celebrate tonight, and tomorrow, the next chapter of your life starts. My father reaches for the stone at my neck. He knows I’ve worn it since my mother made it into a necklace for me. Harper Stonewall turned eighteen today. Tomorrow, she’ll arrive to live with us in preparation for your marriage.

I’m stopped in my tracks as my father walks off. I’ve known all my life this moment would happen, but now it's here, I’m suddenly nervous. A relationship is not something I can control with the press of a few computer keys.

I actually have to be a normal person for once and step away from the keyboard.

Three

Harper

T his is it, Trip. End of the road, Viper announces as we draw up to a pair of impressive-looking gates.

Sitting sullenly in the back of the van packed with all my stuff, I glare out at the walls of my soon-to-be prison. It’s my eighteenth birthday, and it sucks. I’ve known this day was coming for a long time, as it’s been drilled into me that it would, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Cheer up. Slater gives me a smile. The only reason he’s sitting beside me is to make sure I don’t try and escape out the door. You’re going to live like a princess.

I don’t want to marry some rich boy, I seethe, flashing him a scowl. I don’t understand why I have to stay here with them when I could live in the University dorms just fine.

Stonewall University.

Somewhere I can build myself a future. One where I can be independent enough to find my own path. All I need is four walls, a bed, a desk, a