LOGINThe ride was quiet, almost awkward, for all of ten minutes before the man caved - a record, he was sure.“Are you okay?” Blaze finally asked, turning her way after what felt like an eternity’s worth of silence.When Livi offered a simple hum in response, nothing more, he sighed.“Are you sure?” he went on, fingers tapping nervously on his legs, drumming the tune of some distant song. “You’re not... upset with me?” He lowered his voice with the question, as if he were scared to ask, scared to know what she would say.She swallowed hard, eyes slowly tearing themselves away from the scenery outside, forcing them to meet his eyes. “I-“ she started, the word ‘yes’ on the tip of her tongue.But one look at his face, all hopeful and heartbroken and beautifully torn, and she couldn’t bring herself to do it.“No,” she answered after a second thought, voice softening as she took the time to take him in. Her eyes trailed over the blood, the bruises, the shame that brewed in his eyes with somethi
“You really don’t know what happened?”“No,” Leona answered, voice flat as she stared down at her phone screen.“You’re sure they didn’t mention anything?” Violet continued, practically interrogating the woman, who couldn’t be less interested. “Anything at all?”“Nope. Nothing.”“Really?” Violet pressed her. “Nothing?”Leo sighed, confirming again that no, they didn’t tell her a damn thing. “If they had, I would’ve told you by now,” she swore.The disbelief is written across Violet’s face and evident in the way she rolled her eyes. “Sure, you would,” she muttered, turning away from the woman with another heavy sigh, knowing that their history said otherwise.Leona scoffed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”The blonde shook her head, answering, “Nothing...”“No, what was that?” Leona demanded. “You don’t believe me?”“I never said that.”“But you implied it,” Leo shot back, lifting a brow as she asked, “Why? Do you not trust me anymore?”Another sigh. “Leo, please. Don’t start.”The woma
“Can we help you with something?”The sound of Armani’s voice, sharp and straight to the point, cut in from his left, and Blaze sighed at the sound.“Mani-“ he tried to step in, tried to tell him not to bother, that it wasn’t worth it, but he wouldn’t listen.“No,” Armani held his hand up to silence him, his eyes trained on the temperamental man behind them. He took quick notice of the white powder dusted across the side of his nostril, but didn’t let it deter him. “The man obviously has a problem with us, and I want to know what it is.”Blaze scoffed and shoved his hand away. “Well, I don’t, so-““So go,” Armani waved him off. “I want to hear what he has to say. What’s the problem?” He turned in his seat, leaning back onto the bar as he took the man in, and the small group that lingered behind him. The sight had him laughing before he could think better of it. “Aw, and he even brought his emotional support friends!” he joked, nudging his brother before he paused, sighed, and added, “
The time flew by inside the pub, with drinks and music and endless rounds of pool to help the Castelli brothers pass the time. And once they started, once they stepped back into their dangerous little routine that had the drinks pouring and their minds racing, they couldn’t stop. They drank more, played more, and cared even less about the consequences than they had before.Blaze didn’t bother to track his drinks and dropped his brother’s tally too, trading in his old worries for new ones. He lost himself somewhere around his third or fourth drink when he got louder, sloppier, reckless in the way he spoke and carried himself.And maybe he didn’t realize that or maybe he didn’t care, but it only got worse as time went on, and by midnight Blaze would have half the bars attention on him, flicking over every so often to check in or glare when he’d make too much noise.Blaze paid them no mind and kept his attention glued to himself, his brother, and their evening. He completely missed how o
“Are you sure about this?”Liviana swallowed whatever hesitation remained. “Uh-huh.” She lied - rather poorly, she had to admit.Next to her, in the passenger seat, Violet cocked a brow and asked, “Really? You’re sure?”Her jaw tightened, as did her fingers around the steering wheel. “Mhm,” she hummed, eyes glued to the road ahead of them. She tried to ignore the weight of Violet’s heavy stare, and the way her eyes seemed to burn through her, all thoughtful and knowing at once.It was overwhelming, and it took everything she had not to cave under the pressure. She tried to avoid her eyes, as if that would help.“Really?” Violet repeated the question, utterly unconvinced, even when Liviana nodded and insisted that yes, she was really sure. She wanted to go out. She needed to.Livi was desperate for an escape.For a long second, Violet only stared. She watched her, considered her, played with her words while carefully choosing her own. “Okay, then...” She chewed on the question for a m
The house was quiet, and the air felt still around them, almost as if the house was holding its breath with the women, who snuck through it without so much as another word. They tiptoed through the halls hand-in-hand, nervous as birds as they snuck past her parents’ room and the guests that still lingered downstairs.Like the Rivera’s, who returned to the kitchen for a second serving of dessert, and promptly called for Luka and Tino to come downstairs to join them.“Boys, hurry!” Cressida called out from the kitchen. “Luka?!”Liviana and Violet froze at the sound of her voice, sharing a wide-eyed, helpless stare.Was this it? The moment they were caught and their whole plan went to hell?“Oh, Lord,” the woman huffed, quieter when she asked, “Did you message him?”Mr. Rivera hummed. “I did.”“Good,” she breathed with a light sigh, setting something down a little harder, a little louder, than necessary while she complained about her son and his bad habits - which she didn’t know the hal
The Castelli family was a masterpiece. A piece of art held at the highest standards, while everyone stood around admiring them. In every detail, they were the ideal. Every stitch, every shot, every stroke of their brush was all done with such craft that it was nothing less than a picture of perfecti
A smile that wavers is a smile of false of promise.The wise words of Drusilla Santora. Her version of never let them see you weak, though a much more shallow take, Liviana had to admit.Her mother's version of the uplifting saying, was one almost as superficial as the person who says never let them s
Liviana’s head was a mess, her thoughts running wild through the jungle of her chaotic mind.As she sat there, on the bed of Leona Castelli, the words of another Castelli rung through her head like the tune of an old song. And to her, it was.It wouldn’t be the first time someone had turned on Liviana
The interaction she had with Blaze that night hadn’t left Liviana’s mind once. In the week that it had been since, the memory had just been floating around in the back of her mind, glowing in the midst of all her dark thoughts. And with this difficult time in her life, that little ray of hope that t







