“Neither. You could’ve done the outside to perfection, but you still wouldn’t have fooled me. Your eyes are entirely wrong and extremely revolting.”
“Fuck you, asshole.”
“No, thanks. I much prefer your sister.”
She hikes a hand on her hip. “Of all the people who could’ve warranted your deranged attention, why did it have to be her?”
Because she makes me see sides of me I didn’t know existed before.
But I don’t tell Maya that since I don’t owe her shit, and she narrows her eyes. “Just so you know, I don’t approve.”
“Just so you know, I can’t find any fucks to give.” I pause. “Besides, shouldn’t you all learn how to respect her wishes? Ever thought that this excessive overprotection might be suffocating her?”
“We just want what’s best for her.”
“And she doesn’t?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“That’s what you mean. She’s old enough to make her own decisions without your or anyone else’s unwanted interference.”
She opens her mouth, but she looks behind me and her eyes turn into big pools of panic.
I stare back and catch a shadow of two men before they disappear into a side building.
“Maya?” I call her name and snap my fingers in her face.
She startles and the fear spreads to her shaking limbs. It’s similar to Mia’s state when she was scared shitless of the dark.
“I… I have to go.” She runs back to Mia’s car and has to try twice before she can open the door.
I continue staring at where the men disappeared to. Interesting.
I shelve that information for later as I text Mia.
Landon: Your sister just pretended to be you so she could break us apart. I figured her out the second I saw her pretentious eyes. Don’t I get a reward for that?
No answer.
I tap my finger against the back of the phone for a few beats, then type again.
Landon: In my modest opinion （I’m just playing—there’s nothing modest about me）， the forbidden love vibes are hitting so hard. But fuck that, am I right?
Again, she reads the text but doesn’t reply.
While Mia gets a kick out of playing the role of a medieval princess who’s into courting and talking about feelings, she hasn’t been ignoring me lately.
Or maybe she was the one who sent Maya over—
No, she’s not the type who shies away from confrontation. If she wanted to tell me something, she wouldn’t hesitate to invade my space and give me a piece of her mind.
My phone lights up in my hand and I stare at her name. Mia doesn’t call, for obvious reasons. She’s not a fan of FaceTime calls either, except for when her parents are involved.
Unless—
I answer it. “Is something the matter?”
“Everything is grand, minus your annoying interference. Mia and I are having a good time, so how about you piss off?”
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
I stare at the screen of my phone as that very familiar—soon very dead—voice rings in my ear.
Fucking Rory seems to have been praying for his funeral.
What am I if not an extremely good sport?
29
MIA
Today has been an epic proportion of completely random events.
First, Maya asked to take my car because hers broke down and she refuses to have her bodyguards drive her in their, and I quote, ‘super-old businessman Mercedes.’
Second, I walked in on Nikolai nearly falling off the balcony in his sleep and had to pull him inside with Gareth’s help.
He asked me if I’m still seeing Landon, and when I didn’t say anything, he walked away without a word.
Niko has always been my and Maya's champion. The brother who walked around school announcing that if a hair on either of our heads was touched, they’d have to start preparing for their lifetime vacation in hell.
He was also the one who hid our troublemaking habits from Mom and Dad, though he did give us an earful about it sometimes. Other times, he joined in.
Mostly, he gave us space to live outside the shackles of our mafia princess lives.
So the fact that he’s both mad and disappointed in me makes me feel like shit. Gareth said he’ll come around, but he didn’t sound like he believed his own words.
To make things even worse, I’m trapped by this asshole as soon as I’m finished with classes and walking down the street.
His name is Rory, if I remember correctly. I know him because I’ve often seen pictures of him with Landon at their tacky Elite parties. The reason I remember him so well is because he’s usually beside Nila, whom I personally researched after I heard her talking in Landon’s room.