Page 86 of Soulless Rivalry

Lorenzo’s gaze shut down a little, his shoulders tensing. I could tell from his demeanor that he didn’t want to tell me about it because he knew I would disapprove.

“Lo’?”

“The guys, they’re planning on making a move on the Korolovs. Retaliation for what they did to us that day in the dining hall.”

“W–what?” I sputtered. “That’s insane, we’ve only just came back and?—”

“That’s the point. They won’t be expecting us. Luca has someone in the kitchen that will spike their food and we’ll attack them in the Church. They won’t know what hit them.”

I stopped dead in my tracks, my mind reeling with all the information he’d fed me in such a short amount of time.

“Us? I didn’t realize you were a part of this.”

“Lyssa, they killed my sister.” He flinched, like admitting it aloud physically hurt.

“They did not and you know it!” I hissed so as to not gather attention on us.

“Even if they didn’t put that nuzzle around her neck, my sister still died heartbroken, Lyssa!” he snarled at me, forcing me to take a step back. For a second there, it was his father I saw. “She died of heartbreak because that fucking Korolov led her on.”

“No, she—” I took a deep breath, needing to calm down. “Look I found something. I think Mia didn’t kill herself, Lo, I think she was a victim of something much darker.”

He frowned. “What?”

“There’s a secret society in school. They make sacrifices; I think Mia was one of them.” Seeing how he looked at me, I continued. “I found this book, it’s in my room right now but it explains pretty much everything. If we help each other, we can uncover what truly happened to her and bring justice to hername. You could talk to our grandfather, he listens to you. We need to restore Mia’s memory, she was not?—”

“Lyssa, you’re talking nonsense right now,” he said, jaw clenched. “My sister killed herself because of heartbreak and drugs. My parents saw her body. You need to accept it.”

I wanted to scream at him that it didn’t mean anything, that just because she had been hanged instead of having her throat slit didn’t mean she hadn’t been murdered. I wanted to remind him that she was raped, that somebody, or several somebodies, used her and discarded her just like the other victims, but I knew he wasn’t ready to hear me out. So I went the safest route instead.

“You think Mia would approve of that? Of you ambushing the Korolovs or whatever? Do you think Luca-fucking-Benetti is doing it for her? He’s doing it for himself! To salvage what’s left of his honor after Konstantin wiped the floor with him.”

“I don’t care why Luca’s doing it. The fact is that he’s Cosa Nostra, just like us. Maybe you should remind yourself of that.”

“What does that mean?” I sputtered, affronted.

“It means that your behavior has me wondering where your loyalty lies these days,cousin.”

With one last glare, he marched angrily towards the castle, leaving me speechless.

The factthat classes started back on the day we arrived was downright cruel. I was severely jet-lagged, bone-tired, and fucking sad. I hadn’t seen any of my friends yet and couldn’t go anywhere without people staring at me in pity.

I also hadn’t seen Konstantin all day, which sucked because I had to warn him about tonight. I didn’t want to do it over text,not after spending three weeks ignoring him, but I was ready to if need be.

I turned the corner to my dorm to get more comfortable before dinner when a body slammed into mine and arms circled my neck. The scent of flowers and vanilla wafted to my nostrils and I recognized Sinem instantly. She hugged me tight and, after a beat, I hugged her back.

“I am so happy to see you,” she whispered against my neck.

“Me too.”

Pulling away from me, she gave me a small reassuring smile before taking a step to the side. Briar was right behind her. She’d got rid of the wheelchair but still had to use crutches and couldn’t put weight on her foot. She stared at me for a few seconds, probably angry at me for ignoring her during break, but ultimately engulfed me in a big hug too, rubbing my back as I started crying in her arms.

“I’m sorry, Elyssa. So, so, so sorry.”

Being backon campus after three weeks of only seeing the confines of my bedroom felt weird. Everything was so much bigger than at home, so much more magnificent too.

I made my way to the dining hall where the girls were waiting for me at our usual table. My mind was reeling with how to tell Konstantin about my cousins’ plans without it being obvious that I warned him, but I came up short. Once my cousins’ plan failed, it would become obvious to them where my loyalty lay, as Lorenzo so eloquently put it.

Still, it was something I was ready to face. I didn’t care anymore, my life was in shambles and the only person I really,deeply cared about was Konstantin. I couldn’t let him get drugged and at the mercy of people like Luca or Batista.

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