Page 85 of Soulless Rivalry

I punched him square in the eye before I could even think about it. “Enjoy your miserable life, moron. And congrats, now you have new people you need to hide from. You better pray our paths never cross again.”

Back in the car,driving far away from that hellhole, I checked my phone to see if there was anything from Elyssa.

Still nothing.

Letting my head fall back against the headrest, I sighed.

“She still ignoring you?” my brother asked, never taking his eyes off the road.

I grunted, still unwilling to talk to him about it. After Mia’s murder, or suicide, as the school deemed it, I was forced to tell him about her. He didn’t tell anyone else, because Dom was too loyal to break my trust. He knew I wouldn’t have spoken to him about Elyssa if I wasn’t serious about her.

Ever since she left for New York with her so-called family, she’d been ignoring me. No answer to my texts, no calls back, and she wasn’t active on social media either. It drove me mad knowing she was alone with those bastards and I couldn’t do anything about it.

“Maybe you need to lay off a little.”

I clenched my jaw, resisting the urge to tell him to fuck off.

“She just lost her cousin,brat. She needs time to process.”

“I know that,” I snarled. “I might be slow to process emotions but I’m not stupid. I just—” Cutting myself off, I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. “I just hate knowing she’s alone with them. They make our family look like saints.”

Dom was silent for a while as he drove us to the airport so we could catch our flight back home in time to be with our family tonight.

“Only one week left. You just have to be patient and trust her. She knows what she’s doing.”

ELYSSA

Christmas came and went and, as per usual, I spent it alone in my room. This year though, I didn’t mind. Mia wasn’t here anymore and her absence did not go unnoticed. I cried myself to sleep nearly every night, dreamt about her telling me how much she hated me, that it was all my fault.

I had been allowed to see Mamma twice, and during those times I also snuck in to check on Aunt Matilda. She tried acting strong in front of me, forcing herself to smile, but the truth was that she was destroyed inside. She lost a lot of weight and there were bags underneath her eyes. Those same eyes that used to shine in love and devotion for her children were now devoid of anything positive, filled with heartache and numbness.

By the time it was time to go back to the Academy, I was relieved. Even if it meant seeing the people I had been ghosting for the past three weeks again.

I still hadn’t turned on my phone; for some reason I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I wanted to, but every time I pushed the button, anguish ate at me. I didn’t know what I’d find once the screen was lit.

Angry texts? Pity? Or even worse, nothing at all.

So I left it turned off and even now as our car drove us straight to the castle, it was still off in the confines of my bag.

I’d spent the past three weeks missing my old life: my cousin, my friends and, of course, Konstantin.

I hadn’t realized I’d dozed off until a sentence reached my ears. Luca Benetti had decided to ride with us back to campus this morning, to my greatest despair. Between him, Batista, and Viola, there were more people I despised in this car than people I actually liked.

“... mysister.” Lorenzo frowned, looking at Benetti.

“They’ll pay for ever thinking they could make the Cosa Nostra look like fools.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to say that they didn’t need anyone for that and did a great job of it on their own but I chose not to, knowing I was outnumbered. Plus I didn’t know who they were talking about, since I’d only caught the last part of their sentence.

When the car stopped in front of the old building, Lorenzo and I were the last ones to come out of the vehicle.

“Hey,” I whispered, bumping my shoulder against his as we walked the path leading up to the castle, “how are you holding on?”

He tried smiling at me but it didn’t reach his eyes. I didn’t know if his smiles ever would again. I couldn’t imagine what losing your twin might feel like. Lorenzo and Mia had been best friends growing up, and even though their relationship changed over time and they weren’t as close as young adults as they had been as kids, they remained deeply connected.

“I’m hanging in there. You?”

“Same.” I looked at the ground as we advanced, students around us staring and whispering among themselves. It made me mad, but at the same time, I was too tired to do anything about it. “What was that in the car about making whoever pay?”

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