Anthony jolts back, shouts, but my eyes remain locked on the group below.

Beretta and Arsen step forward, and through the smoke, Ransom appears.

He walks backward until he’s standing in the middle of the boys, all three staring in our direction.

My body aches, a sense of betrayal wrapping around my ribs, squeezing, but I hide it, slowly spinning on my heels.

“So much for not driving.” I wait until Anthony’s enraged eyes meet mine and add, “I wonder what else about him you’ve underestimated?”

I leave him standing there and go back to the tower he stuffed me in, his blood smeared on my arm, his brother’s cum spreading along my inner thighs.

I understand my mother more than ever now, why she continues to feel nothing. It’s because, at the end of the day, burying your weakness does nothing but manifest it, and then the universe gives you what you fear, so the answer is to feel nothing.

A cruel fate at its finest.

Chapter 31

I wake up to the bedroom door opening and look over to find Monti standing there, Nana at her side.

Nana offers a small smile, and I nod, letting her know it’s fine.

Monti’s shoulders visibly relax, and she wrings her hands together. “Um, she offered to make us lattes...”

“You can make me a latte, Nana.” I stare at my sister, and she drops her eyes to the floor. “My sister prefers a cappuccino.”

Monti’s head darts up, and tears brim within them.

Nana nods, slowly backing from the room, and Monti steps in farther.

Her eyes roam the space, but she doesn’t comment.

“I came home from classes to find your bedroom pretty close to bare, and I thought for sure I lost my sister again.” She sits on the edge of my bed, her eyes moving to mine. “But then I realized I never really had her, because I’m a mega fuckup and she’s... perfection.”

“Fuck off, Monti.”

She nods. “You don’t see it, you never have and you hate the idea of perfection, but it’s just who you are. You are envy at its finest.”

“Yeah,” I mock myself. “Dozens of girls are sitting around wishing they could swap places with me.” I roll my eyes.

Monti sighs.

“I had to threaten Tanner to get the GPS coordinates to find you. Mom wouldn’t tell me shit.” Her eyes shift between mine. “Will you?”

“What’s there to tell? You failed to do what Mom asked of you, and here I am, picking up your slack.” Slowly dying inside.

Monti nods, thanking Nana when she slips in, passing off our drinks.

I know I’m being unfair, and I know had Monti done what our mother asked, I would simply have been passed off to the next man she plunked from the pack. But still.

I can’t seem to let it go, not yet.