LOGIN“Can we help you with something?”The sound of Armani’s voice, sharp and straight to the point, cut in from his left, and Blaze sighed at the sound.“Mani-“ he tried to step in, tried to tell him not to bother, that it wasn’t worth it, but he wouldn’t listen.“No,” Armani held his hand up to silence him, his eyes trained on the temperamental man behind them. He took quick notice of the white powder dusted across the side of his nostril, but didn’t let it deter him. “The man obviously has a problem with us, and I want to know what it is.”Blaze scoffed and shoved his hand away. “Well, I don’t, so-““So go,” Armani waved him off. “I want to hear what he has to say. What’s the problem?” He turned in his seat, leaning back onto the bar as he took the man in, and the small group that lingered behind him. The sight had him laughing before he could think better of it. “Aw, and he even brought his emotional support friends!” he joked, nudging his brother before he paused, sighed, and added, “
The time flew by inside the pub, with drinks and music and endless rounds of pool to help the Castelli brothers pass the time. And once they started, once they stepped back into their dangerous little routine that had the drinks pouring and their minds racing, they couldn’t stop. They drank more, played more, and cared even less about the consequences than they had before.Blaze didn’t bother to track his drinks and dropped his brother’s tally too, trading in his old worries for new ones. He lost himself somewhere around his third or fourth drink when he got louder, sloppier, reckless in the way he spoke and carried himself.And maybe he didn’t realize that or maybe he didn’t care, but it only got worse as time went on, and by midnight Blaze would have half the bars attention on him, flicking over every so often to check in or glare when he’d make too much noise.Blaze paid them no mind and kept his attention glued to himself, his brother, and their evening. He completely missed how o
“Are you sure about this?”Liviana swallowed whatever hesitation remained. “Uh-huh.” She lied - rather poorly, she had to admit.Next to her, in the passenger seat, Violet cocked a brow and asked, “Really? You’re sure?”Her jaw tightened, as did her fingers around the steering wheel. “Mhm,” she hummed, eyes glued to the road ahead of them. She tried to ignore the weight of Violet’s heavy stare, and the way her eyes seemed to burn through her, all thoughtful and knowing at once.It was overwhelming, and it took everything she had not to cave under the pressure. She tried to avoid her eyes, as if that would help.“Really?” Violet repeated the question, utterly unconvinced, even when Liviana nodded and insisted that yes, she was really sure. She wanted to go out. She needed to.Livi was desperate for an escape.For a long second, Violet only stared. She watched her, considered her, played with her words while carefully choosing her own. “Okay, then...” She chewed on the question for a m
The house was quiet, and the air felt still around them, almost as if the house was holding its breath with the women, who snuck through it without so much as another word. They tiptoed through the halls hand-in-hand, nervous as birds as they snuck past her parents’ room and the guests that still lingered downstairs.Like the Rivera’s, who returned to the kitchen for a second serving of dessert, and promptly called for Luka and Tino to come downstairs to join them.“Boys, hurry!” Cressida called out from the kitchen. “Luka?!”Liviana and Violet froze at the sound of her voice, sharing a wide-eyed, helpless stare.Was this it? The moment they were caught and their whole plan went to hell?“Oh, Lord,” the woman huffed, quieter when she asked, “Did you message him?”Mr. Rivera hummed. “I did.”“Good,” she breathed with a light sigh, setting something down a little harder, a little louder, than necessary while she complained about her son and his bad habits - which she didn’t know the hal
“Liviana?”The raven froze at the sound of her name being called, sucking in a sharp breath when the world seemed to stop with it.She watched as Violet faltered in front of her, stopping with a heavy sigh. Her shoulders tensed, and her grip tightened around the phone as she muttered quietly, “Leo, I’ll have to call you back,” as if she already knew how this was going to go. As if she were expecting it, and she was ready.Slowly, she turned around, meeting Liviana’s eye for a mere moment before looking past her to meet her brother’s.“Hey, Tino,” Violet greeted the man, offering him a tight-lipped smile.“Hey.” He nodded in return, eyes glued to the back of Liviana’s head.She could feel his gaze burning through her, but she didn’t dare to look at him. She didn’t even dare to breathe, too scared to make the wrong move, say the wrong thing, and make everything worse. So she avoided it - him - and kept her eyes on Violet.“What’s going on?”“Nothing,” Violet replied quickly with a shrug
Liviana stepped out of the bathroom with one goal: to forget everything.Forget her husband, and their marital problems, and that one broken promise that seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, though she had no idea why.Why did today feel so different? So detrimental? So disappointing it could’ve felt like the end of the world? Maybe the end of her marriage?It was one broken promise, one letdown out of many, and she couldn’t fathom why it felt the way it did. Why it hurt so badly, worse than all the other heartbreaks she’d faced throughout their relationship before. Why it felt more like a warning sign than anything else. A promise of what was to come - that ending she knew all too well. The one where they argued, fought, said something unforgivable, and found themselves right back where they started. Back to living their own separate lives beside each other, as if there were some sort of invisible line they couldn’t - shouldn’t - cross. Not again. Not after what happen
The car ride continued in a suffocating silence that neither of those two stubborn souls would break, no matter how badly they might’ve wanted to. Eventually, it gets to both of them, and after a while, they’re left with nothing but a dreadful pit of regret digging itself deep into their stomachs,
Blaze and Liviana left without so much as another word, fleeing the penthouse hand in hand and in a silence that spoke volumes. They were both utterly exhausted, and although they were relieved to find themselves safely tucked into the solitude of his car after such a long, demeaning day, there was
Liviana wasn't sure why she was so nervous to see her husband again - it had only been two hours since she'd left him at the family manor, after all. It hadn't been long at all, but for some reason, it felt like an eternity. It felt like she could be walking into the arms of a totally new person, a
It didn’t take the two women more than an hour for them to collect themselves. They showered, cleansed themselves of both blood and bad energy, and changed their clothes, taking no more than a second or two more than they had to in an excuse to gather their bearings before they were meeting back up







