MasukIsla could still feel her father watching her long after the room had fallen silent, and it was that silence more than anything that made fear begin to creep its way under her skin, because Marvin did not need to shout to make a room unbearable, did not need to throw things or slam doors or raise his voice like lesser men did when they were angry, and somehow that made him worse, made him feel larger than the space he occupied, until the air itself seemed to belong to him.She had never wanted to leave a room so badly in her life.Her pulse thudded hard in her throat as she edged a step toward the side table where she had dropped her keys earlier, trying not to look hurried, trying not to give away how badly she needed to get out of the house, away from his eyes and the cold, controlled fury that had settled over him like another skin.She had almost reached them when his voice cut through the room.“Sit the fuck down.”The words stopped her in her tracks.She turned slowly, every ner
Elizabeth took one look at the scene. Isla stood far too close to Chad. Marvin stared at them both with that terrifying stillness that meant he already understood everything. Elizabeth's expression crumpled as if the ground beneath her had suddenly given way.“No,” she whispered, the word barely more than breath.Her hand flew to her mouth as disbelief washed across her face.“No… no, tell me I’m wrong.”The sound of her voice finally broke the frozen tension that had been pressing down on the room like a physical weight.“Elizabeth,” Marvin said quietly, though his tone carried no comfort.But she was already shaking her head, her gaze darting helplessly between Isla and Chad as the realization settled in.“You two were raised as brother and sister,” she said, her voice cracking as the words forced themselves out.The accusation hung in the air.Chad stepped forward immediately, as if he had been waiting for the moment.“But we’re not.”Elizabeth stared at him as if he had struck her
By the time we stumbled upstairs, I was properly drunk.Not falling over drunk, but the kind of warm, slow drunk where the world feels softer and the edges of everything blur.Ethan paused outside the spare room and pushed the door open.“Here you go,” he said. “Same room you used to crash in.”I stepped inside and laughed softly.“Jesus. It really is.”The room looked almost exactly the same as it had years ago, back when Lila and Ethan had first gotten married, and I would occasionally stay the night after too many drinks at the bar.Back then, I had hated Ethan, absolutely detested him.Now here I was again, years later, drunk in the same spare room and somehow feeling safer than I had in days.Ethan leaned against the doorway.“If you need something to wear in the morning,” he said casually, “Lila’s clothes are still in the closet.”I blinked at him.“You never got rid of them?”He shook his head slowly.“I couldn’t.”There was no hesitation in his voice.“I loved her.”Something
I didn’t realize I was about to fall apart until it was already happening.One minute I was standing there in Ethan’s office, staring at the photograph of Lila wearing that mask; the next, my chest felt like it was collapsing in on itself, and the room blurred around the edges.All the anger I had carried for years suddenly cracked open, and something much heavier poured out behind it.“Hey,” Ethan said quietly.His voice sounded different now. He wasn’t being defensive or sarcastic, just concerned.I shook my head and tried to breathe, but the sob broke free before I could stop it. The sound surprised both of us.“Jesus,” I whispered. “I didn’t think… I thought I had dealt with all of this already.”Ethan stepped closer, and before I had time to object, his arms wrapped around me.For a moment, my walls went up, then I softened, and the dam broke completely.I buried my face against his chest and cried as the last few years had finally caught up with me all at once.Ethan didn’t say
Elizabeth arriving home made me feel like absolute shit.Not because she had done anything wrong, quite the opposite. She walked through the doors of the mansion warm, elegant, and perfectly put together, carrying the kind of calm authority that made the rest of us look like unruly teenagers caught doing something we shouldn’t.Which, if we were being honest, we were.I didn’t even stay long enough for the inevitable family discussion to begin. The air inside that house felt too tight, too heavy with secrets and accusations that hadn’t quite been spoken out loud yet.“I’m heading to Dirty Angels,” I said, grabbing my bag. “You guys can figure out your family shit without me.”I was already halfway out the door when Isla’s voice stopped me.“Mari.”I sighed quietly and turned.She was standing there in the hallway, looking like she hadn’t slept in days.“You didn’t answer my question,” she said.Of course, she would come after me.I tried to keep my face neutral, but my mind scrambled
Marvin’s voice cut through the night like a whip crack.“What the fuck is happening here?”Nobody answered him.Nobody even tried.The pool lights threw cold blue over everything: Isla’s pale face, Chad’s bare shoulders, the wet shine on both their bodies as they scrambled apart. I just stood there beside Marvin, still in the dress I had thrown on after we landed back in the city. It felt like I had walked straight from one disaster into another.Isla snatched the towel hanging off the lounger and wrapped it around herself with shaking hands. Chad moved more slowly, not because he wasn’t rattled, but because pride had kicked in before common sense, and even half-naked with pool water running down him, he still managed to look defiant.Marvin, on the other hand, looked lethal.I had seen him angry before. I had seen him cold. I had seen him controlling enough to make a room go still with a single look.This was something else.This was personal.“What,” Marvin said again, his voice low
The city lights streaked past, but she refused to look at them, or at Lorenzo. He drove with one hand on the wheel, the other resting on the gearshift. Stillness between them was a living thing.She had been challenging Ethan in his office when Lorenzo had interfered.“We’re leaving,” he’d said, vo
The black mask pressed to Marvin's face like a second skin, the edges cool to his temples, the eye slits narrowing the world to slits of shadow and candlelight.’Waylon stood at a heavy table, a silver tray laden with assorted chemicals, to enhance tonight's events. All designed to help him keep up
The drums had long since faded into a low, persistent throb that lived in the marrow now, indistinguishable from the wet slap of flesh on flesh, the guttural groans that rose and fell like surf.The grand hall of the ancient mansion had become a writhing sea of bodies, limbs tangled, mouths open in
Marvin and Waylon arrived at the late night meeting just before nine. This mansion screamed old money and power.Upon entering, they surrendered their devices. They were then led down a long corridor lined with portraits no museum would ever see: men in powdered wigs, men in frock coats, men in mod







