Blaine
“Bly, wait up,” Arch calls as I chuck my hold all into the trunk of my car. Anyone who sees me would think I’ve just packed a few things for a few days away, but actually the bag is full of guns.
I’m not leaving Chicago without Azira. Those fuckers think they can steal her away from school early and force us apart, well they’re wrong.
“What is it, Archer?” I slam the trunk shut.
“Where are you going?”
I sigh heavily, as I don’t have time for this. “Chicago.”
“Oh, so you know already?”
My brow furrows. “Know what?”
“About Azira’s wedding.”
It feels like my friend just took a knife and slammed it into my gut as my entire body turns ice cold. “Wedding?”
“Yeah, Adrianna told me that her brother just called and he’s in Chicago because Massimo arranged for her to marry Alejandro De Leon.”
It feels like my world tilts on its axis and the need to get to Chicago becomes even more pressing. “When?”
“Two days from now.”
I scramble for the driver’s side door and open it. “Fuck.”
“So you didn’t know? Why were you going to Chicago?”
I shake my head. “Because I knew she was back home, and that Massimo pulled her from school two weeks early, but I didn’t know about the wedding.” A wedding that I will stop no matter the cost.
If I have to murder her entire family, I’d do it. And the De Leon family along with them.
Azira may be the balance to my scales, but losing her will tip me over the edge.
I’m about to slam the car door shut when Archer grabs it and stops me. “What are you going to do?”
“Stop the wedding at any cost.”
“Bly, these people are dangerous, you-”
“I’m more dangerous. I won’t let her go. I’ll die before I do that.”
“It’s self-destruction to go all guns blazing into a city you don’t fucking know.”
I shrug. “So be it.”
“Let me go with you as backup.”
I laugh. “Do I strike you as the kind of guy that goes anywhere with backup?”
He glares at me, and I know it’s all out of concern. He wants to be by my side to try to pull me back from the cliff edge, but there’s no pulling me back.
Hell, I’d end up a danger to him if he tries to stop me. “Chill out. I know what I’m doing.”
With an irritated exhale of breath, he releases my car door and takes a step back. “I hope you do.”
I slam the door shut and turn the key in the ignition, knowing that I can’t get to Chicago fast enough.
It’s about an eighteen hour drive, but I will not be stopping.
Time is of the essence if I’m going to stop the wedding. I put the car into drive and speed down the irritatingly long driveway to the academy without a glance backward. Depending on how this goes, it might be the last time I see it and Archer, but I don’t let my mind linger on that.
————-
Azira
Massimo paces the floor of our father’s study. It’s ten o’clock at night and I’m exhausted from everything, but he had me dragged in here the moment I arrived.
It’s so odd seeing him here in father’s position, but Father is still in hospital, fighting cancer. The doctors had given him a grim prognosis, but he seems to defy them at the moment. And it turns out he’s due to go into surgery in six days. He’s already clarified that if he makes a full recovery, he has no intention of reclaiming his position as the don.
“I’m tired, can we-”
“Silence,” he growls, stopping pacing and glaring at me. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I don’t know what the big deal is.”
His jaw clenches. “You’ve been fucking a professor at your school. If you can’t see how that’s a big deal, then there’s something wrong with you.”
I swallow hard. “I’m on the pill. Let’s be honest here, it’s not like you were a virgin when you met Paisley, is it?” It’s so fucking ridiculous the way the men of our family hold the women to completely different rules. They can fuck around as much as they want, but we have to remain pure, innocent virgins ready to be auctioned off.
He crosses his arms over his chest. “You know why you’re not supposed to sleep around. How are we supposed to find you a husband when you’re no longer a virgin?”
I scoff at that. “Who the fuck is a virgin at eighteen nowadays, anyway?”
His eyes narrow. “Mafia princesses.”
“Just tell people I am. How will they know?” The thought of ever sleeping with a man other than Bly makes my skin crawl. I’d rather die than ever be with another man. He is the man for me, no matter whether he wants me.
It’s crazy that he’s pulled me out of school early, considering we only had two weeks left. It’s not like what Bly and I have was going to continue after I graduate. A fact that has been haunting me the longer the school year progresses.
I know no amount of time spent with him would have been enough, but to have it cut short like this really twists the knife in. I never intended to lose my heart to a monster, but that’s exactly what happened. Hell, I think I lost it to him before we’d even slept together. Blaine Luigi has been my schoolgirl crush for years.
Massimo grunts. “True, but, if word gets out.” He shakes his head. “I mean, Luca saw the two of you kissing.”
Heat flares in my cheeks as I feel so damn thankful that’s all he saw. The things he could have seen are far fucking worse.
“Not to mention, Luigi is renowned for being a sadistic son of a bitch.” Massimo looks at me for a few beats before shaking his head. “It’s hard to believe my baby sister is even sleeping with anyone, let alone a sadist.”
I keep my eyes focused on the coffee table in front of me as my cheeks heat. This is so not a conversation I want to have with Massimo. “Can we not-”
“Not what?” He snaps, the rage clear in his voice. “Have a frank and honest conversation about what you’ve been doing? If you are sleeping with someone, then you have to be adult enough to talk about it.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I don’t need to talk about it with my brother. Do you want to discuss your sex life with Paisley?”
He folds his arms over his chest and leans back against the edge of the large mahogany desk. “This isn’t about me, Azira. You are eighteen years old. I’m thirty. I can do what I want as the head of this family, but you-”
“Yeah, I get it. I’m just a puppet for this family to use as they want. I have to marry whoever will bring you more power, money, or some bullshit like that.”
His eyes soften as he stops pacing and approaches me. “I’m sorry, that’s just how it’s always been.”
“Just because that’s how it’s always been, doesn’t mean it’s how it should be.” It’s unfair that women in this world get treated like garbage, but it’s something I’ve accepted since I was little.
Massimo surprises me by nodding. “That is true, but I’m not sure I can be the one to change years of tradition.”
“And what about Mia?”
His jaw clenches. “What about her?”
“She got to marry Killian, a man you didn’t select.”
“Are you suggesting you are in love with the professor?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m merely saying-”
“That was different. It benefited our family more than any choice I or Father could have made.” He loosens the tie around his neck. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but I’ve found a suitable husband for you. Before news gets out, you are to marry him at the end of next week.”
I gape at Massimo. “You are kidding, right?”
He shakes his head. “No, we had to soften the blow for the De Leon family after what happened with Mia.”
“Oh great, so I’m the sloppy seconds for Alejandro De Leon?”
Massimo looks frustrated. “You will marry Alejandro in one week’s time, yes.”
“I’d rather claw my eyes out with a blunt butter knife.”
“Don’t be so melodramatic, Azira.”
I stand then, unable to listen to this anymore. “You’re a judgemental asshole. Did you know that?”
His nostrils flare and I see true rage ignite in his eyes. “You won’t speak to me like that.” He grabs my wrist and yanks me forcefully toward him. “You’re my sister, but I’m the don of this family. What I say goes, got it?”
I yank my hand free and turn away from him without a word, storming out of his office.
“Azira, don’t walk away from me!” he yells.
There’s no way I’m staying in that fucking office listening to this bullshit. It’s clear that I have no control over my own life.
Breaking into a sprint, I rush up the stairs to my room. Once I get there, I unlock it and slam the door behind me, locking it to ensure Massimo can’t follow me. The events of today have been exhausting. It feels like I have whiplash, as I was so happy after Blaine made love to me-at least, that’s how it felt. And now I feel empty and cold, as if my future is bleaker than a gray fall day.
Tears spill out of my eyes as I dive onto my queen size bed, and I bury my face into the soft silk of my bedsheets. It feels like I’m drenched in a pain so acute it might kill me.
Can a broken heart kill you? As it sure as hell feels like it can.
I’m isolated. Shut off from my friends and the man I still held hope could learn to love me, even more so after the way he made love to me so tenderly.
That was only earlier this afternoon, but it feels like it was an eternity ago. I’ll never forgive my brothers for tearing my heart out and stomping on it the way he has.