White Lies (Book 1)

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

I stared dumbly at what was in front of me.

A conference table commanded the center of the room. Men and women with stern faces and expensive clothing were all seated elegantly among the chairs. They looked up and let their chatter die down as we entered.

Angelica closed the heavy doors behind her. A loud thud echoed its way across the open space.

She cleared her throat. "Take a seat, Jesabel." She motioned to the tall chair on my right. I pulled the chair out and winced at the grating sound it made, feeling their eyes on me and becoming highly aware of my jeans and sweater look.

I noticed that my sneakers had left a muddy trail on the expensive carpet, too. Great.

Eight sets of beady eyes fixed themselves upon me, making me feel extremely self-conscious. It was Angelica who broke the painful silence. "Thank you all for coming. I apologize for keeping you waiting." She turned to me. "Jesabel, why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Um..." I was completely at loss. Who the hell were these people? What was I doing here?

She let out a small chuckle. "Maybe we should have introduced ourselves to you first," she considered.

"In Alistair, there are ten families that are at the heart of the town's establishment, planning, economic growth and stability. Every month, we each take a day off from our busy schedules and hold a general meeting. Each person at this table represents a member of those families." She turned her head to gesture to her crony of elitists.

"This is Amelia Johnson. The Johnsons have been around since this town was founded, and were fundamental in establishing its hospitals and various non-profit programs," she nodded towards a very tall, very elegant woman.

Amelia's sharp cheekbones and amber eyes made me very uncomfortable. I recognized her name, though.

"Liz Johnson's an Alistair High student, right? Your daughter and I have been classmates since junior year."

Her face grimaced in indignation. "My daughter? She's my sister."

Oops.

Angelica did her best to continue from there. "This is Peter Stephanotis, the father of Jeremiah and Carlos Stephanotis. I'm sure you're familiar with his sons, too?" she asked. An intimidating, broad-looking man stared me down through his square-rimmed glasses. He gave me a small nod in greeting, but the disinterest in his eyes told me not to read too much into it.

The Stephanotis were major snobs. Jeremy had been the junior and senior class president. He was ruthless, cold, and would never even think of lowering himself by mingling with the 'filth' of the town. Which unfortunately entailed myself.

And there I was, seated at the source of their arrogance and authority. The elitist holy grail. The eternal fountain from which the Jennifers and Jeremys of Alistair drew their sense of power and entitlement.

"The gentleman here is David Moss, owner and CEO of Moss International. His daughter is London Moss, a very influential social media model you might be familiar with," she nodded towards a balding man in his mid-fifties. He pointedly ignored me, typing away on his phone.

"This is James Ericson, son of Alfred Ericson. The Ericsons control and operate a multi-national oil and trade conglomerate. In a few years, Alfred plans to step down and James will take over as CFO." My eyes widened at the sight of Nathan's older brother.

If James were any indication of what Nathan will look like in his late twenties, then holy hell.

His blue eyes acknowledged me warmly, and for reasons I had trouble explaining, I flushed under his gaze. It felt like those very blue eyes had seen me... naked before. He seemed well attuned to this reaction, made known by the barely noticeable smirk on his lips. I quickly averted my eyes.