"Is it just me, or have you grown a lot shorter?" "The doctor says that's what happens when you have a sister who can't keep her mouth shut." "Is that your way of saying you miss me? With all this affection, maybe I don’t need a boyfriend." "You're fourteen. I'm killing all your dates until you hit sixty." "You're such an ass, Tris." We were in front of the pool out back. When she wasn’t chuckling into my face, we watched sunlight dance across the blue water. I sat beside her, her small, soft palm resting in my large one as I counted her fingers over and over again. For a moment, I forgot what waited for me outside those gates. My smoothie lay abandoned nearby. "Well, you're late," she said, raising her chin defiantly. "I got myself a lovely boyfriend. Even a kiss on the cheek." I squinted, trying to tell if she was joking. The slight worry in her eyes as she searched my face told me she wasn’t. My stomach twisted as I rose to my feet, standing in front of her to get
MYLES Only when I got home did the weight of my decision hit me like a punch to the gut. I’d just walked away from what was supposed to be a life-changing opportunity. What had I expected? Not to work for it?There was no longer a chance to get back on the team, no fast track to success. Instead, I had to take the longer route—a college degree in medicine. It felt impossibly far away, a path filled with uncertainty and challenges.Mum wasn't home when Leo dropped me off, so plopping onto my bed, I stared up at the ceiling, letting the enormity of it all wash over me. It seemed far, yes—but not unreachable. I just had to focus.And focus I did.By evening, as the shadows crept in and darkness swallowed the streets, I found myself at Jake’s door. I hesitated, my breath fogging in the chilly air. My hand hovered mid-air before finally rapping against the wood. Part of me hoped he wouldn’t answer.Seconds later, the door flew open, and there he was—Jake, his eyes sparkling with relief as
**VICTORIA** If anyone had told her that the spoiled nephew of the Italian Mafia would ever step into an underground cage fight for her freedom, she'd have laughed at their stupidity while setting them on fire. But there he was, in the ring, wrapping his bandaged knuckles with a strip of soft black cloth. He’d taken off his shirt showing of tattoos and scars and now stood before a man twice his size who seemed rather insulted by the person before him.This was it. Victoria clutched her soulmate’s shirt, her head resting on the comfort of her shoulders. They were never going to make it. "You shouldn’t have come," she whispered into Mel’s clothes, tears filling her eyes. "It would’ve been only me, but now..." "Hey..." "Mel," her voice trembled, "you should leave. At least one of us has to get out of here..." "Mistress." The soft, choked voice made her raise her head. Mel’s dark brown eyes, filled with hopeless concern, met hers. Yet, she smiled. "I told you I’d follow you
**TRISTAN** For a Monday, El Refugio was packed to the brim. The bass from the speakers vibrated through the room, shaking the floor beneath my shoes. I sat on the couch opposite my uncle, watching him converse with Connor. He kept stealing glances at me. I couldn’t hear everything they were saying, even though they were close, but the few words I caught were my uncle defending his decision to put me in the ring. “...He needed it.” My uncle chuckled. “Just look at him—he came alive in that ring.” Maybe I did. In my rage, striking the brute’s neck and crushing a nerve, I felt like myself again—the familiar anger, the person I was before I had a taste of *him*. That’s why I didn’t stop, even after the man collapsed. The rage was comfortable, and I wanted to cling to it, even though I could still hear his voice in my head... *"The deal is off..."* My fists clenched tighter. I was always the one who called the shots. I was the one who decided when it was over. But he had j
"Each and every one of you will be paired in groups of three. One of the three will be from different departments," the science teacher, a grim-looking man in his fifties, boomed in the hall, glaring at each of us as murmurs of protest filled the room. "I demand that you all keep your reluctance to yourselves." But the grumbles grew louder. We were in the event hall, every eye on the smallish man in the lab coat. Although his booming voice made up for his size, every time he spoke, there was silence. I leaned my back against the wall, sighing and looking around. Annoyingly, my gaze caught him at the far end of the room, hands stuffed in his pockets, staring ahead with his chin tilted forward. How many days had it been since that night? Surprisingly, he had given in to my demands, ignoring my entire existence even when we ended up in the same room—which was more than a few times, if I were honest. Maybe it was because Tristan was so easy to spot. No one else walked into schoo
TRISTAN"How was it?" Al asked as I carefully yanked off the nose mask. The cap went next."I guess not good."I turned to him, a tight frown owning my lips. "Why?"He nodded to my chest. "Your jacket needs a new zipper."I looked at the metal in my hands, severed from the jacket, and grimaced. What the fuck. What the actual fuck was up with me?Running into him every day didn't make it easy when all I wanted was to grab at him and... And what? I wasn’t even sure anymore.And the mistake on the group pairing? He had waited behind, not moving an inch. In that moment, I could sense it—his readiness to damn all consequences just to avoid being on the same team as me.Also, what was that little stunt in the chemistry lab? It was so fucking obvious he’d always had a thing for Nat. Damn the "friend talk." There was nothing stopping them from getting down to it in the damn chemistry lab.I began to walk away. I needed the pills. The scars hidden beneath thick locks of dark hair had begun to
Victoria raised her hands dramatically, palms out like I was holding her at gunpoint. "Whoa, easy there, hothead. I come in peace!"I scrambled upright, my head pounding, my shirt sticking to me like I’d been wrestling in a swamp. Steam practically hissed from my ears. “Didn’t I just say to get the hell out?”For a moment, she just stared at me, then placed her hands on her hips, her jaw dropping like a bad actress. “Wow. Rude much?”I blinked hard. Was this real? A nightmare? Was she seriously this stupid? Instead of walking out like a sane person, she reached for the half-empty bottle of whiskey, inspecting it like it was a fine artifact. Grinning, she tilted it towards me. “Ah, that explains it. Someone’s running low on happy juice.”Somehow, the fight drained out of me. Maybe it was her complete lack of self-preservation instincts, or maybe it was the way she stared around my messy room like she’d stepped into some magical realm. Her wide eyes landed on the couch and cracked walls
MYLES“Cariño,” Mum called me from the kitchen entrance.From the sitting room, where I had my face buried in Leo’s borrowed system, I muttered, “Hmm.”“I was just thinking... what about your friend? Tristan, right? The gentleman who came by when you were recovering?”My fingers froze mid-click, and I slowly looked up. Mum was standing there, wiping her hands with a kitchen towel, her gaze fixed on me like she was trying to read my mind.Of all the topics she could bring up, it had to be him—and today, of all days. A weekend where I was finally, finally starting to forget he even existed.I forced my focus back onto the screen and replied as casually as I could manage, “Oh, I see him around at school. He says hi.”It wasn’t even remotely true. These days, Tristan was rarer than a dodo bird. Between our combined efforts to avoid each other, it was like he’d vanished entirely.I did my part—steering clear of the rink, the shared labs, and basically any space where we might cross paths.
I dashed into the hospital, unsure where I was going, ignoring the nurses calling after me with warnings and Jake throwing them apologies as he hurried to get me."Calm down, Myles," he said after snatching me by the shoulders. "You won't find your mum if you lose control. Calm down."So I did, reining in my panic and following behind him as he led me past numerous white doors. According to what he told me, she’d collapsed on the terrace and was just fortunate he was passing by, so he’d taken her to the hospital.Collapsed. Mum never collapsed—she wouldn’t. Mum was strong, but maybe, just maybe, she’d been strong for too long.Five minutes later, I quietly turned a knob and silently walked into a ward, just in case she was asleep, but I was relieved to find her talking to a nurse.When she saw me, a tired smile broke across her lips, and despite my damn self, tears began to brush my lids.I stopped, staring down at her bed, scared that if I spoke, I’d break down completely—in front of
MYLES."...And he threw a tantrum. Can… you imagine that…" Natalie's voice trailed, her eyes darting hesitantly between Jade and Leo, then back at me.I shrugged."Uhh, are you two alright?"Obviously not, because at that question, Leo narrowed his gaze toward me, and Jade to Natalie. Did they get into a fight? Swallowing a mouthful of Coke, I glared. "You're dampening the table. What's going on?""Dampening the table?" Leo scoffed bitterly. "Jade looks quite happy, don’t you think?"I turned to Jade, whose gaze was just as fiery as Leo's. Muttering something unintelligible, she dropped her eyes to the table, pretending to study her fingers.Since middle school, when we became friends, Leo and Jade had never been so openly mad at each other. What exactly happened in the space of yesterday?Natalie gave a slow shrug, picked up her can of soft drink, and continued, “…so I told him I had someone I liked, so I didn’t want anything serious with anyone else, and he got mad.”Jade forced a l
**MYLES** I should’ve kept my mouth shut. Sticking my nose where it didn’t belong, trying to defend someone who, for all I knew, got himself into this mess to begin with. If there weren’t traces of him being a cold-hearted, manipulative jerk, maybe his uncle wouldn’t have singled him out of seven billion people on Earth. What did I care if he was being used? I glanced at the bathroom door, listening to the shower still running. It’d been almost an hour since he went in. Was he... I squared my shoulders and sank back against the sofa. The question was: *was he being used?* With how easily he got into people’s heads... I rolled up my sleeves, staring at the red dent around my wrist, and grimaced. *Fucking Asher.* If this wasn’t karma, I had no idea what was. In the shadows, he’d pinned me against the wall, his eyes fixed on the hickeys on my neck. Smirking, he’d said, “He’s a big fish. I don’t even blame you.” His face twisted into mock hurt as his grip on my wrist tightened.
We stayed in silence, eyes locked, and every time his hardened, I felt my rage soar. He got it all wrong. He thought—that I... and Tristan... He got it all fucking wrong.His eyes lit up—snarky, intrusive, amused—as he raised his glass, swirling the deep crimson liquid with a dark kind of menace. The silence grew heavier, and for just a flicker of a moment, I swore I saw something cross his face. Regret? No. That couldn’t be it.Or maybe the terror was finally making me lose my damn mind."You’re ruining everything I’ve built." His voice came soft, dangerous, a murmur threaded with warning, like he was talking more to himself than me. I froze."Tristan isn’t just anyone," Domenico continued, his eyes flicking up to mine, sharper than a knife. "He’s my sweat, my blood, and my empire."I stopped, narrowing my eyes.He said it like that meant something. Like Tristan wasn’t flesh and bone, wasn’t someone who laughed, who smirked, who... cared. No—Domenico didn’t see Tristan as a person at
TRISTANThroughout the ride to the Manor, Myles doesn’t look at me. His eyes stay fixed on the windshield, watching the lights spill onto his ashen face. His fingers tighten around the strap of his bag.The vans continued to follow behind us, their bright lights illuminating the road. Each time they beeped, Myles flinched.What was going through his mind? I wanted to know. If only I could read his eyes, but he didn’t spare me a glance.“Questions you want to ask?” I broke the silence as I parked in the center of the Manor's compound, questionable-looking men surrounding us, surrounding him. Waiting for us to get out.Myles finally looked at me, his eyes hard and accusing. “Something tells me I’m about to have them answered anyway.”It stung.I shut my eyes and exhaled. “You’ll be out of here in no time. He’s my uncle; he’s not going to hurt you.”But Myles, a bitter smile crossing his face, glanced around the compound and muttered, “Your uncle. Well,” his hand reached for the door, wh
EROSThe chase had stopped, ever since the night they spotted him scaling Jade's window. He hadn’t seen them again.Perhaps the Godfather decided Myles wasn’t worth the fuss now that he was no longer seeing his most priceless possession. But the real question was—would Tristan keep it that way?Eros had known the bastard since they were eleven, the grey-eyed boy whose gaze was just as soulless as the Boss’s—maybe worse. The only human who could make the Boss’s demeanor shift.They became friends, more out of necessity than connection, but as days passed and chaos surrounded Eros at every turn, he realized maybe the grey-eyed monster wasn’t so bad. Eros knew bad—his father, his stepbrother—but Tristan? Tristan had looked out for him.So, they became best friends. Even though Tristan was always one step away from plunging him into his grave, he had also always found a way to get him out of it.It was over, right? His father didn’t want him dead anymore, right? So why was he squatting by
‘Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep…’ The sound grated against my nerves, cutting through the quiet of the afternoon. Standing at my window, I resisted the urge to grab my hockey stick and chuck it at the smug bastard below.Tristan sat casually in the driver’s seat of his sleek black car, his head tilted back like he had all the time in the world. He didn’t look impatient—no, that would require some level of normal human behavior. Instead, his gaze was locked on me, sharp and unyielding, as if daring me to ignore him.I cursed again, clutching the strap of my practice bag. He said four. Four! Not three, not three-thirty—four. And yet here he was, honking like a madman an hour early, as though time itself bent to his whims.I glanced at the clock again. 3:01.He’d been here for one minute and already made it feel like an eternity.Taking a deep breath, I swung the window open and leaned out. "Tristan, what the hell are you doing?"He grinned up at me, that infuriatingly perfect smi
JADE "What the hell is he doing?" Natalie sneered, her eyes—along with hundreds of others—fixed on the figure at the center of the school wielding a water pipe. "That's nudity! How do they allow it?" Leo cleared his throat loudly, flipping a page of his book. "Apparently, you're the only one not into him. Right, Myles?" Myles frowned at Leo. "What does that mean?" Leo said nothing, returning his gaze to the show before us. At the center of the school compound, watering the flowers lined along the walls, was Tristan. But somehow, it seemed the pipe had gone out of control, drenching the thin white shirt he wore. The material clung to his skin, leaving little to the imagination. From the second floor, we had a perfect view, close enough to make out every swell of his muscles—and by God, was this Greek god built. Girls oohed and ahhed, swooning each time he moved, each time he looked up squinting, and every damn time he "accidentally" flexed. But I saw it. None of this was a clums
**TRISTAN**After the brawl in my house days ago, I drove back to the condo, three pairs of eyes digging into my face, waiting for me to spill. I walked past them, striding to my room and turning in the key.In the darkness, I lay, watching the wall, my phone beside me, waiting for the call, yearning for the ring. His rage etched on his face replayed in my head. For an addict desperate for a taste of him, I really continued to fumble things up.He was going to call. He had to call.Two days later, he did. "Can you pick me up?"He didn’t need to ask twice. I just didn’t expect to see him there—in the parking lot of a hidden bar. Stopping right in front of him, Myles dove into the front seat, eyes pinned out of the windshield, hands still stuck in his pockets.Without another word, I drove down the road to the condo, waiting for his protest, but it never came. I kept the silence, my thoughts filling with questions I needed to ask.But it was as though Myles was hell-bent on making me su