Page 99 of Mafie Trials

“We can forge our own path.” I take her hands in mine. “They may be blood, but family can mean many things in this world. You will always have a place at my side when this is over. If we can pull this off, just know you never have to go back to him if you don’t want to.”

Nessa pulls me into a hug, and I squeeze her back.

“I’m not sure if my father would ever let me go,” she says, stepping back. “But if we can pull this off, then I plan to stay the fuck away from him and the prick of a man he pawned me off to marry.”

It’s moments like these that remind me of why I created the program for The Shades. I wanted strong women who yearned to fight back. I wanted to empower them to raise their fist and fight for a world where women could do anything they set their minds to. As I see the resolve settle into Nessa, my heart grows, knowing we are one step closer to that world.

Chapter 38

We settle into the living room, and I pull up the screen we have been using to take notes of our plan and mark out each movement. We are finalizing everything today with everyone here. Arrow got the approval for our assignment. While I didn’t appreciate how he dismissed Evie in class, I have a feeling this setting will show him in a different light. If it doesn’t, then at least here I can punch him without having to worry about our image to the rest of the students.

So far, we haven’t planned any relaxing activities for the higher-ups in the ranks for this semester and people are talking. Our group decision to have weekly parties isn’t sustainable with the amount of planning required for the trials. So this morning, I sent out an email to the student body with our new reward system.

If you are in the top ten, below the group of us of course, at the end of the week your name will enter a raffle. At the end of the semester, we will each pick a name and owe them a favor so long as they pass the trials. Arrow will also offer a single second chance in the trials. Should anyone in the top ten at the end of the year not pass, they would get to try again.

The amount of planning in the past two weeks just to get the island under control has been exhausting. But I thrive on a well-ordered plan, and that alone is what has kept me going up until this point.

Well, that and the silver-haired beauty bending over the couch in search of her phone for the third time today. It always falls out of her pocket when she sits down, and Damien is now taking it as a challenge to see if he can find it to hide before she notices. He’s put it in the fridge and now the microwave, making her think she’s going crazy. But I think she’s starting to catch on to the game.

“Damien, I swear,” she yells over her shoulder as she continues to point her ass in my direction, tempting me to delay this meeting a little longer.

The trickster himself comes down the stairs with his hands raised. “Not me this time, Little Shadow.”

She looks at me, but she should really know better at this point. I don’t play games. Just then, her fingers brush against her treasure, hidden beneath the cushions before shooting daggers at Damien. “Not cool,” she says to him then points at me. “Don’t think you’re off the hook, Daddy.”

“What did I do?” I ask with a growl, pulling her close to me, loving every time she calls me that. It makes me feel like I own her. Like she’s mine. It’s intoxicating.

Her breasts push into my chest, and I have to breathe slowly through my nose to prevent a hard-on I won’t be able to control when everyone arrives in three and a half minutes.

“You knew what he was doing and made me think I was going crazy.” She huffs, pretending like she is actually mad at me.

“I will make it up to you later. How does that sound, Princess?”

She bites her lip playfully. “How exactly?”

I wrap my hand around her and grab her ass, hard enough to hurt. My Princess loves the pain because she knows I will always follow it up with pleasure. I bend her back and shove my tongue down her throat, showing her just how hard I’ll fuck her sweet pussy with it as soon as we get our work done.

She moans in my mouth as I deepen our kiss, lost to our surroundings for a moment.

“Ew, if you want us to all live together, we need to make some rules about common areas.” Laney walks into the room with her hand over her eyes. “I, for one, need to know I won’t walk into an orgy in our living room after a long day of class.”

Evie’s cheeks pinken before she responds. “Sorry, we can keep it to the bedrooms.”

“No chance in hell am I not fucking you on every single surface of this place before we leave,” Damien says casually before jumping over the couch and throwing an arm over Laney. He rarely touches any girls, so the fact that he’s sitting by Laney on the couch speaks volumes about the level of care he has for her.

“Damien,” Laney pushes away from him and Evie slides between them, looking oddly possessive over him. “Evie, please tell me he’s joking.”

Evie laughs as she settles into Damien's lap. “I can promise no orgies without proper warning first. That’s the best I can do with this bunch, I’m afraid.”

“Who’s having an orgy?” Lev asks as he walks into the room, his hair wet from freshly showering after his training session with Damien. I’m not sure how much actual training got done from the substances sticking to their clothes when they got back, but I didn’t care. I know they are taking their role seriously; I’m trying not to be the controlling asshole all the time. Just, some of the time.

Okay, most of the time.

“No one, we need to get this started,” I cut in, stopping their banter because yeah, control.

Nessa comes running in with Arrow on her heels. “Sorry, these two guys nearly killed each other on the track. Arrow and I had to help break things up before things got too heated.”

Laney jumps up and moves right to Arrow. “Are you okay?” she asks, looking him over. He scans the room before pulling her into his arms.

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