Treachery

Luca

I’m an idiot. Either that or I’m cursed.

Not always.

Not my childhood.

But since graduating high school and attending Yale, I’ve had the kind of luck that any person would want to sidestep.

It’s like a pool, really, or a deep pothole. One minute you’re cruising right along on a path you believe you own, and in the next you’ve fallen into a dark chasm and are left struggling not to drown.

Sitting down on the side of my bed, I slide on a pair of cheap, plastic flip flops to go with my old, worn jeans and a t-shirt I pulled from the dirty clothes hamper, my head throbbing with thoughts of all the stupid mistakes I’ve made that led me to this moment.

I want to think it isn’t my fault I ended up getting divorced at twenty-six and am now facing being pe

Maybe it isn’t my crappy choices that led to this night. Maybe it’s simply that there is only so much charm that can exist in a person’s life before it runs out completely, the tap turning off, and all that’s left to experience is darkness.

My childhood had been magical.

It had been charmed.

Filled with laughter and love, the years before college had been the happiest in my life.

With my wonderful parents who could afford to give me whatever I needed in the world, I’d lived my entire young existence believing nothing bad could ever happen to me.

But then the hammer fell when my father’s business took a nosedive while my mother was sick. So attentive to her, he’d left management of the business to one of his partners. The entire thing fell apart quickly within a year. They’d already spent most of their savings on my education and the rest on my mother’s medical bills, and were left with nothing once the business collapsed.

He died a little over a year after my mother passed.

During that time, I’d rushed my life, so to say, in an effort to give my mother the chance to see my wedding. It had always been a dream of hers to watch my father walk me down the aisle.

Desperate to make it happen before she passed, and also so out of my mind that I clung to the mirage of a hero I’d fashioned from Clayton in my head, I jumped at the chance to be his wife, inwardly knowing it was a stupid decision.

Although, it was ridiculous. I was pla

On the day I married Clayton, I’d put one foot in front of the other, believing if our marriage didn’t work, I could always fall back on my dad while putting my life back together.

Then the business collapsed.

My mother died.

And my father retreated into himself until the day he eventually joined her.

It was six months after our second-year a

Left with no place to turn, I continued ignoring my husband’s cheating with the hope that I could make our marriage work.

And now here I am, intentionally dressing like a bag lady in the hopes that it will turn off Ta

If cheating on me hadn’t been bad enough, Clayton landed the final punch by dragging a nightmare back into my life.

I don’t bother to brush my hair or my teeth. And makeup is entirely out of the question. If Ta

While driving to his house, I try to remember the members of his group as my navigation system barks directions at me.

Shortly after I left Yale, Clayton confessed to me everything there was to know about the Inferno, including his involvement with it. He even admitted that he’d originally dated me as a payment to Ta

Ta

Still, I learned many of the details I know of Ta

For as stupid as the girl had been who originally dubbed them the Inferno, (apparently, she was chased out of high school for daring to spill their secrets) her moniker stuck with the group, and also helps jog my memory of every face and name.

First Circle: Limbo, a circle owned by Mason Strom. The man earns more interest on his trust fund balance than most corporations can claim as profits for a year, but he is bound to an agreement to marry a woman he doesn’t love. The entire time I’d known of him, he kept another woman hanging in the balance, and I wonder what happened with all that. From what Clayton told me, Mason has to get married by thirty to claim his inheritance, which means he has two more years to decide.

Second Circle: Lust, that space is occupied by none other than Jase Kesson, a playboy with a charming smile and dangerous strut. He’d dated my best friend, Everly, for over a year before she ran off. Everly is the reason I had the misfortune of meeting Ta

The Third Circle is Gluttony, ruled by Sawyer Be

Tapping my finger against the steering wheel, I make a left while trying to remember the others.

Fourth Circle is Greed, a realm occupied by Taylor Marks. A genius with numbers, Taylor makes a killing on gambling. He’s a genius when it comes to computers as well, which makes it dangerous to get on his bad side.

Fifth Circle: Anger, is Damon Cross, a fitting name for a man I’d attempted to avoid as much as possible. He always had a bone to pick with someone and instigated many of the bar brawls their group was famous for.

Making a right, I continue thinking, my mind drifting back to those years as a nervous flutter tears at my stomach.

Sixth Circle:  Heresy. I laugh about him. Always one to go against the grain, Shane Carter had his own sense of style, his own way of thinking, and being an instigator, he loved to cause arguments wherever he went. He’s an artist in everything he does, but a bad boy nonetheless. He leaves a trail of broken-hearted women and broken-nosed men, mostly because he loves to see how far he can push a person before they snap. I didn’t mind being around him, but that doesn’t mean I was stupid enough to piss him off. Shane was creative when it came to getting even.

At the next intersection, take a left onto Stone Street...

A massive stone entrance sign, complete with miniature waterfall and dramatic lights appears, the gated entrance of Highland Hills, a secured community of multi-million dollar mansions occupied by the most powerful players in politics and old money. I’m not shocked to find that Ta