7. Ava
AVA
“ I t’s not a competition,” I called weakly after Ty and Ciaran as they wedged themselves in the doorway of my new dorm, each one stubbornly trying to exit first.
Their shoulders collided, and the resulting glare-off would have been comical if it wasn’t so exhausting. They broke free, nearly taking the doorframe with them, and thundered down the narrow staircase toward the moving van parked below.
I sighed and sank back against the mattress of my four-poster bed, staring up at the soaring cathedral ceilings.
The top “attic” level of Rochester House, one of Darkmoor’s oldest residence halls, exuded a gothic charm that bordered on the eerie.
The slanted walls seemed to lean inward, creating a sense of intimacy—or perhaps quiet foreboding. Exposed wooden beams crossed the ceilings like the skeleton of the ancient structure, their dark grain polished smooth by time .
Dormer windows punctuated the walls, their glass panes warped slightly from age, letting in faint streams of afternoon light that dappled the wooden floors with a muted glow.
This top level contained three small bedrooms, each with its own quirks—crooked ceilings, uneven floors, and odd corners that seemed to belong to another time.
A shared living space sat at the center, where mismatched furniture and faded rugs gave the impression that generations of students had made their mark.
The kitchen, though compact, had a vintage charm with its antique fixtures and a window overlooking the sprawling campus grounds.
The bathroom was tucked away at the end of the hall, its claw-foot tub and tarnished mirror adding to the Victorian aesthetic.
It was beautiful in its imperfections, hauntingly lovely, and undeniably Darkmoor .
We’d all agreed that staying at the McKinsey manor was too dangerous now. The Society undoubtedly knew I was back, and the mansion was practically a beacon for trouble.
Moving into Darkmoor’s dorms, especially as the new school year started tomorrow, seemed like the best option.
The twins, however, had turned my relocation into a testosterone-filled competition.
I wanted to help. I really did. But the thought of navigating those creaking, narrow stairs alongside two competitive forces of nature was a recipe for getting crushed.
Besides, every time I so much as moved to help, they would scowl and shove me back, ordering me not to lift a finger .
It was the only thing they seemed to agree on.
“This needs to go by the window,” Ciaran said after they’d returned, his voice as cool and steady as ever, holding one side of my beloved leather tufted chair.
Ty, gripping the other side, yanked it sharply in the opposite direction, toward the cozy reading alcove where I’d placed the vintage lamp I found last summer with Lisa.
“Ava likes to study at night,” he shot back. “You’d know that if you’d spent any real time with her.”
They glared at each other, their tension crackling like electricity in the air. The chair wobbled dangerously between them, its weight amplifying the silent battle of wills.
Physically, they were identical. If not for Ty’s haunting illustrative black tattoos ghosting down his arms and Ciaran’s more traditional sleeve, it would have been impossible to tell them apart.
But their energies couldn’t have been more different.
Ty was composed, like the calm before a storm—cold, unflinching, and deliberate.
Ciaran, on the other hand, was wild, his emotions always on display. He was a storm that never let up, raw and rabid, a heartbeat away from losing control.
“Just put it there,” I said, pointing at a random stretch of slanted wall, halfway between the window and the lamp.
That location made absolutely no sense, but it was the quickest way to stop them from tearing the chair—and each other—apart.
At first, their bickering had been amusing.
It wasn’t every day two ridiculously gorgeous twins fought over who got to haul your antique makeup vanity up four flights of ancient stairs. They clashed over everything, from my chair to my books to which box should be unpacked first.
But now? Now the tension between them felt like a ticking time bomb, and I wasn’t sure I could defuse it.
But it wasn’t just today. I’d noticed the bruises on their knuckles, the split lips they tried to hide.
Something had happened the night Ebony interrupted our reunion. I’d demanded answers, but neither of them had offered a single word.
Whatever was festering between them, they’d silently agreed to keep me out of it. But I wasn’t na?ve enough to think their restraint would last forever.
“You two are going to kill each other over a chair,” I said, trying to sound exasperated, though my voice came out softer than I intended. “That’s not important. Put it wherever you want.”
They both glanced at me, their identical gazes softening briefly before snapping back to each other like magnets drawn to opposite poles.
It wasn’t about the chair. It was never about the chair.
And no matter how much I wished they would stop fighting, I knew this wasn’t a battle I could mediate.
Ciaran smirked, giving one last tug toward the alcove. Ty’s jaw tightened, his knuckles whitening around the leather. The chair wobbled again, and I sighed, falling back against the mattress.
This was going to be a long semester.
“Hello?”
The familiar voice of my best friend, Lisa, echoed through the apartment .
My heart leaped into my throat. I shot up from the bed and bolted to the living room, my bare feet skidding slightly on the wooden floor.
Standing there, framed by the doorway, was Lisa—radiant and effortlessly put together as always. She wore a flowy summer dress with puffy sleeves that gave her an almost ethereal glow, her arms loaded with a precarious stack of folders.
Fuck, I missed her.
Without thinking, I ran straight for her.
Lisa’s folders tumbled to the floor as we collided, throwing our arms around each other in a crushing hug that nearly took the breath out of me.
“Bish, where the hell have you been?” she hissed in my ear, her voice low and sharp with worry. “And don’t give me any of that shite about sailing around the Mediterranean.”
Her words hit me like a gut punch, squeezing my chest until it ached.
Lisa knew . She had known, somehow, that something was wrong. She’d seen through Ty’s carefully curated faceless posts about my glamorous summer trip.
And the thought of her worrying—of her pacing, overthinking, trying to call me and getting no real answers—it hurt in a way I wasn’t prepared for.
I pulled back slightly, my hands still gripping her shoulders.
Her eyes searched mine, her worry and frustration written all over her face.
“I’ll explain everything, I promise, but later,” I said, my voice tight, barely steady. It was the best I could offer her right now .
Lisa didn’t look convinced. Her eyes narrowed, her lips pressing into a hard line like she was gearing up to demand answers. But before she could speak, her gaze shifted to something—or someones —over my shoulder.
Her mouth fell open in surprise.
“Holy shit,” she whispered, her voice a mix of awe and disbelief. “There’s two of them.”
Ciaran appeared at my side, his grin devilish as ever.
“You must be Lisa,” he said smoothly, his tone dripping with honeyed charm. “Ava’s told me so much about you.”
Ty stepped in on my other side, his arms crossed and his expression dark.
“Who are you ?” he asked, his voice sharp and suspicious.
I smacked his arm lightly, shooting him a glare. “Down, boy. She’s my bestie. We can trust her.”
Ty didn’t look convinced, his icy eyes flicking over Lisa like she was a potential threat.
Meanwhile, Lisa stood frozen, her gaze darting between the twins with wide eyes, her mouth agape. She seemed too awestruck to be insulted.
Pointing a tentative finger at Ciaran, she said, “So, if you’re Ty, then—”
“He’s not Ty,” Ty snapped, his voice cutting through the moment like a whip.
Compared to Ciaran’s warm, playful tone, Ty’s words hit like a splash of cold water to the face.
Lisa’s eyes darted between me and Ciaran, her expression morphing from awe to bewilderment.
“So you must be… Ciaran?” she said hesitantly, almost like she wasn’t sure if naming him aloud would make him more real .
Ciaran wiggled his fingers at her playfully. “Present.”
“Wait.” I frowned, turning to Lisa. “How do you know Ciaran’s name?”
Lisa’s confidence wavered, and she bent down to gather the folders she’d dropped earlier, avoiding my gaze.
“Lisa,” I said sternly, my voice low as I folded my arms.
Clearing her throat and blushing faintly, Lisa gave me a sheepish look. “Well, um, apart from coming here to see you… I also came to do new student orientation.”
I tilted my head, still not understanding. “And?”
Lisa fidgeted with the packets, her fingers clumsy with nervous energy.
She hesitated, as if afraid to deliver the blow. “Meet your new roommates.”
My brain stalled. “What?”
I turned sharply, my fists clenching at my sides, as my gaze snapped from the twins to the two spare bedrooms flanking mine.
Ciaran looked smug, grinning like a kid who’d just pulled off the prank of the century.
Ty, on the other hand, stood firm, his intense stare daring me to challenge him.
“ What ?!” I shouted louder this time, the word echoing through the penthouse.
Lisa glanced between the three of us and nodded. “Yup. They both are.”
“What?” Ciaran barked at Ty, his tone sharp with annoyance. “ You’re living here too?”
Ty raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I could ask you the same thing,” he said coolly, his voice edged with challenge .
“How?” I demanded Ciaran, my voice rising with frustration.
Ciaran slung an arm casually over my shoulders, his smile widening.
“You’re lucky to have an incredibly talented boyfriend ,” he said with exaggerated pride. “I hacked the Darkmoor system, enrolled in their very selective journalism program, and assigned myself to the room next to yours.”
I blinked at him, stunned but not entirely surprised. “Of course you did.”
Turning to Ty, I glared. “And you ?”
He shrugged. “I found some dirt on the administrator.”
I threw my hands in the air, exasperated beyond belief. “You two are impossible. ”
Ty’s gaze burned into mine, steady and unyielding. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
Before I could snap back, Ciaran pulled me tighter against his side, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “ I am not letting her out of my sight.”
Shaking off his arm, I slipped out of his grasp, marching across the room toward Lisa. I grabbed her arm in one hand and the folders in the other, dragging her toward my bedroom.
“Go orient yourselves,” I growled, chucking the folders at the twins before slamming the door shut in their faces and turning the lock.
Lisa’s wide eyes were still brimming with disbelief.
“Ava,” she said slowly, “what the hell is going on?”
Lisa sat on my mattress, her flowy dress crumpling beneath her as she crossed her legs, her sharp eyes already scanning my face for answers.
Taking a deep breath, I brought her up to speed on everything—everything I’d pieced together about Liath and the other missing girls we’d been investigating last term.
The connection to a shadowy secret organization. The systematic abuse they orchestrated. The horrifying lengths they went to, to silence their victims and cover their tracks.
I told Lisa everything—all the harrowing details I’d uncovered—except for the one truth I couldn’t bear to say aloud: that I was one of the orphaned girls they’d used.
Lisa was the closest thing I had to family outside of Ciaran and Ty, the one person who had always been my anchor.
But the thought of her knowing—of her piecing together the full extent of my past—made my stomach twist painfully. I couldn’t bear to see pity in her eyes, those deep, understanding wells of empathy that had always been her strength.
I didn’t want her to look at me differently. I didn’t want to become a victim in her eyes, someone fragile, someone broken.
So I kept that piece of myself locked away, even from her.
“They drugged their victims—their adopted daughters —to stop them from remembering what happened to them,” I explained, my voice tight with anger. “Including Liath.”
Lisa’s mouth tightened, and I could see the storm building behind her eyes .
“Liath’s father…” she began, her voice faltering. “It’s all over the news. Someone sent video evidence to the media—proof that he was the one abusing her.”
A chill ran through me. “What?” My voice came out barely above a whisper.
Lisa nodded, her expression a mix of fury and disbelief. “He disappeared right after the story broke. No one’s seen him since.”
I felt a strange flicker of relief at the news. It was wrong, maybe, but knowing Liath’s abuser had been outed—and knowing he was gone—gave me a grim sense of justice.
And yet, deep down, I had a sinking feeling that his disappearance wasn’t a coincidence. Ciaran’s name whispered in the back of my mind.
That sounds like something he’d do.
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to focus. “Dr. Vale was working with them to cover it up, giving the girls memory suppressors and convincing them they were crazy.”
Lisa gasped, her expression darkening further.
“His house burned down,” she said, her voice soft but heavy with meaning. “They found his body in the basement. Burned beyond recognition.”
The room seemed to tilt, and my stomach churned. I knew instantly who was behind that. Ciaran.
A bitter lump rose in my throat, but I pushed it down. I couldn’t let Lisa see how deep this ran, how far I’d been dragged into the darkness surrounding these men. I nodded mutely, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from saying too much.
“And Cormac?” Lisa continued, her gaze cutting into me. “He’s missing too. ”
My blood turned cold, and an image flashed unbidden in my mind: Ty, his face blank and unflinching as he slashed Cormac’s throat. The memory made me feel sick, and it took everything I had not to flinch.
“I—I didn’t know that,” I lied, my voice barely steady. The words tasted bitter on my tongue, but I couldn’t tell her the truth. Not about Ty. Not about what happened that night.
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Lisa. I did. With my life.
But trusting her and protecting her were two very different things.
And if Lisa knew too much—if she got caught in the crosshairs of everything that was happening—she would become a target. Just like I had.
When I finished talking, a heavy silence settled over the room, broken only by the muffled sound of arguing from outside the door.
“They’re still going at it,” Lisa said, rolling her eyes toward the door. She jumped up and pressed her ear to it, her face scrunching in concentration. “Arguing… about you.”
I let out a tired sigh and sank back against the mattress. Of course they were.
Lisa raised a perfectly arched eyebrow as she flopped back beside me, her red hair spilling over the pillow. “If you’re having kinky three-way sex with those two dark gods,” she said with absolute seriousness, “and you don’t give me every explicit detail, you’re dead to me, bish.”
Before I could protest, she jabbed a finger into my side boob, hard enough to make me wince. “Do you hear me? ”
“No three ways,” I groaned, shoving her hand away. “I’m with Ciaran.”
Lisa blinked in surprise, then tilted her head. “I thought you were with Ty?”
“I was never with—” I started, but the words died as memories surged forward unbidden.
Ty’s tongue tracing every inch of my skin, the heat of his mouth, the way his cock felt splitting me open.
My thighs clenched involuntarily, and my face flamed as I tucked a damp strand of hair behind my ear.
“I was never in a relationship with Ty,” I said, my voice quieter.
Lisa narrowed her eyes, studying me with a blunt judgmental look that only a best friend could get away with.
“You know he’s in love with you, right?” she said.
I flushed harder.
“He loves me like a friend,” I lied, my voice cracking under the weight of the words. “He’s my childhood best friend.”
Lisa snorted, loud and disbelieving. “Girl, have you seen the way he looks at you? Like you hung the moon and stars. Like no other woman even exists. His body turns toward you as you move around the room. Even when you’re not paying attention.”
My chest tightened. Lisa’s words struck deeper than I wanted to admit.
“I don’t want to hurt either of them,” I said softly, almost to myself.
“You’re going to hurt one of them the second you choose,” Lisa said, her voice gentler now. “That’s how this works. ”
“I have chosen,” I said, the words coming out more defensive than I meant. “I chose Ciaran.”
Lisa raised an eyebrow, her silence stretching until it felt like she could see straight through me. “Have you, though? Really?”
“Yes,” I insisted, forcing myself to meet her gaze.
My heart echoed the truth in my words, but deep in my soul, a tiny traitorous seed of doubt sprouted.
“Well…” Lisa sighed, leaning back against the pillows. “If those secret society bastards don’t kill you for threatening to expose their asses, I can tell you this much; walking around with those two is going to do it. The girls on campus would gladly dig out your windpipe with their Louboutins just to get close to either of them.”
I barely heard her. Something had distracted me—a distant noise I wasn’t even fully conscious of registering until it sharpened into focus.
Lisa smacked my arm. “Bish, are you even listening to me?”
“Shhh,” I hissed, grabbing her wrist before she could hit me again. “Listen.”
I strained, trying to make sense of what had drawn my attention, but the room was filled with nothing but the muffled sound of Ty and Ciaran’s arguing outside, the creak of the old house settling beneath us, and the faint noise of students returning to campus.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, shaking my head. “I must be getting para—”
The balcony door rattled, the faint scrape of movement shattering the illusion of safety. My breath caught as my eyes darted toward the curtains .
Beyond them, I saw the shadow of a figure, crouched low, their dark clothing blending with the dusk as they bent over the lock.
Someone was trying to break in.