LOGIN"So, what's this all about?" Liviana's startled by the sudden, loud sound of her brother's voice as he dropped into the chair opposite her, huffing out a deep breath from the impact. "Tino-" "No, no, no. None of that," he interrupted her with a sharp look. "No beating around the bush, alright? Just tell me what this is about. What did you wanna talk to me for so badly?" Beside her, Blaze had to bite his tongue, his jaw clenching and his hand, which rested on the table in front of him, curling into a fist in a show of his restraint. God, he hated Tino.He hated the way he treated Liviana, his wife - the man's own sister, for crying out loud - and how she just let him. How Liviana shut up and took it - took it all, nodded and played into the dynamic, playing nice despite herself, and the bruise tainting the delicate skin of her neck, once perfect and untouched.It was all so bizarre, like some dramatic scene out of a dark book, and he almost couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe hi
"You guys go ahead. I'll meet you there." "What?" Liviana hardly had a chance to process his words, let alone argue, before her brother turned on his heel and marched off in the opposite direction. "What are you- wait!" she called, dropping her husband's hand to chase after him. "Tino, where are you going?!" "Don't worry about it!" He shouted, already sliding into the driver's seat of his car. "I'll meet you there!" Came the same promise, louder this time, and just as unbelievable."Tino!" She called after him, taking a single step in his direction before pausing, sighing, and realizing it was pointless; he was already gone - starting his car to pull down the long driveway and through the gates, disappearing down the road before she could get a real word in, left behind without so much as a second thought. After everything, she hated to think she expected better than this from him. She expected more. Another apology, maybe, or an explanation. Anything other than this - nothing. Li
Liviana was frozen for all of ten secondwasn'te her feet started moving, carrying her faster than she could process, faster than she could think better of chasing after her brother, who stormed through the halls of her packed house with his head down and a guilty sense of determination written across his face. He wasn't slowing down for anything or anyone - not even her, as she yelled and begged for him to stop, wait, hear her out. "Tino, please! Wait!"He kept moving, kept running, and just when she started losing hope, just when she lost sight of him around the corner, she heard it - them, her parents. She couldn't help but be strangely relieved at the sound of their voices, freezing around the corner and just out of view, hoping they might have a better chance at stopping him than she had.She hardly noticed Blaze trailing behind her - didn't hear or see him until he crept up closer to her and placed a soft hand on her shoulder, giving it a silent, apologetic squeeze when she flin
"I'm still not sure how I feel about this." Liviana sighed at the confession of the man trailing behind her. "Blaze, come on. We've been over this a hundred times now!" He nodded along. "I know, but-" "A hundred times, and it's only been an hour!" She cut him off with her complaints, shooting him a pointed look from over her shoulder, refusing to slow down or wait and waste any more of their precious time. "What else is there to talk about? I already told you, I'd be fine. He won't hurt me." "He already has!" Blaze argued. "He had his hand around your neck an hour ago, Liviana, and now what? Now you want to treat him to lunch? To a little friendly conversation?" He scoffed, shaking his head like he couldn't believe it - her, and her easy forgiveness. "Yes," she answered quickly, stubborn in the way she turned just to scoff in his face. "Why? What's so hard to understand about that?""Nothing! It just..." He trailed off with a sigh, deeper and heavier, filled with a special kind o
The two sat in silence, side by side on their messy bed, the tension getting the best of them and trapping them inside their own heads. Liviana couldn't catch her breath, couldn't calm herself down with the memory of Tino fresh in her mind, and the pain of his handprint seared into her skin as blossoming bruises.It was too much, too awful, and she couldn't take it. She couldn't breathe. "Livi," Blaze cupped her face in his hands, thumb running over her cheek in a silent plea to try, to breathe, to speak. "Come on, love, you've got to relax. You've got to breathe through it." She tried. She really did, but it felt impossible with the weight of the world sitting on her chest, crushing her, killing her slowly. "Love," Blaze called, pulling her eyes up to his. "Look at me. Focus on me, okay? Not him. Not... whatever happened. Let it go, and breathe."She shook her head, pulling at his wrists in a weak attempt at pulling away from him, but he persisted. "No, no, no. Focus," he said,
"Liviana?" The Raven flinched at the sudden call of her name, shooting up from the sheets where she'd been left to rot away and ruminate for the day - or however long Blaze planned to disappear for this time - as her eyes snapped toward the door. Her brother stood in the doorway, rubbing at his tired eyes, his face twisted into a deep, irritated frown. "What's with all the noise?" "Tino! Hey!" She greeted the man through a clumsy smile, breathless and apologetic. "Good morning!" He paused at her suspiciously cheery tone and squinted his eyes, not bothering to return the pleasantries. "The noise?" He grumbled out, begging the question again. "What was it? Who's here?" "Oh, um- sorry," she started with a quick shake of her head, snapping herself back into reality. "Sorry about that. Leona stopped by, and, well, you know how she is. Y'know how excited she can get." "Excited?" He echoed, huffing out a quiet laugh through his nose. "That's a nice way of putting it." Livi merely humm
“Are you sure about this?” Blaze asks, lips pulled into a thin line of disapproval while he stares up at the building - some breakfast place where he and his brother agreed to meet. Though he was now coming to regret that decision. “It’s never too late to change your mind, y’know? We could still ca
Liviana didn't know what to do with herself. She didn't know what to say, where to sit or where to look - didn't even know where to put her own hands.Her head was empty, mind blank, wiped clean by the anxiety that leaves her with nothing but that sinking feeling in her gut.She tries to ignore it.
She freezes at the sound, heart sinking into her stomach as she realizes that, fuck - the time has come sooner rather than later, after all. He caught her.Her eyes flit up to catch a glimpse of Gio's face, his eyes wide as he stares off into the distance in horror, totally wrecked with the severit
The voice is unlike any of her usual saviors, but Liviana breathes a sigh of relief at the sound of his voice, nonetheless, and despite the tight, almost bruising hold her father keeps on her cotton clad biceps, she relaxes and turns to greet the new man with a smile.He stands at the end of the ha







