As the daughter of a Mafia Boss, Camilia Caruso knows to keep a secret. After 3 years of flying under the radar at Dalton Preparatory Academy, Camilia Caruso's long kept secret of her family's business is discovered by the last person she'd expect;...
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Sebastian Howl woke up with his head pressed against his car window. The cold glass pricked his skin and he sighed. He wasn't sure if he had gotten any sleep. Like many of his nights, his sleep was dreamless and restless. Which was better than the alternative, waking up screaming drenched in his own sweat.
Jorge, his chauffeur, had put on a Stevie Nicks album. Jorge only did this when he thought Sebastian was sleeping. Most of the time Sebastian was pretending to just to make the car ride less awkward. He had just hired the man last year and Sebastian was still getting used to the idea of having someone drive him around. For someone out to prove he was independent, failing his driving test twice didn't help.
Sebastian pressed the skin beneath his palm until he felt the soft thump of his heartbeat. He released a breath, fogging up the sight of rushing New Yorkers early Monday morning.
He only had a year to become successful before graduation. His summer was spent interning at the Governor's office, where he dutifully scanned files and flirted with the receptionist 10 years his senior. Sometimes, he read the files and sometimes his phone would happen to be turned on and he would accidentally press the camera button. If he wanted to be left alone somedays, one of those pictures would leak to the press and everyone in the office would be too occupied to bother with an intern that wasn't there. That was the only eventful thing that had happened to him and that too passed by fast.
He was nowhere close to where he wanted to be.
"But still ahead of everyone else," his childhood friend, Pearl, would say. It wasn't enough. Sebastian had the privilege to buy his freedom but he wanted it to be with his own money. Sitting in the car, heading to his first day of his senior year, he felt anchored and troubled. He promised himself that he would carve his own path, follow his desires, only he didn't really know what his desires were yet. He decided becoming filthy rich would be the only thing that could buy his freedom. With wealth like that, he wouldn't need to answer to anyone. He just hadn't found a way yet.
Bored, he opened up the car's laptop. The home page of the browser flashed his name.
PROTESTS AT HOWL CORPORATION HEADQUARTERS
Sebastian furiously tapped his finger on the seat. This story was recycling through the news cycle the whole week with no end in sight. Sebastian watched an interview where a man in a bulging shirt that read "FUCK HOWL" was screaming about how greedy CEOs like Arthur Howl ruined his livelihood. Sebastian wondered where he got the shirt and if they delivered to his house.
One of Howl Corps. Subsidiaries, PlanCo., had bought a run down apartment complex and was in its beginning stages to create a luxury duplex instead. Construction had halted due to protesters who believed this complex was the start of gentrification in their neighborhood.
"We can't afford to live here anymore!" the man screamed. "This town had culture and these greedy companies are wiping the slate clean for their hippie coffee shops and fancy brunch bars!" A protester in the background mouthed 'hi mom' to the cameras.
