Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
M y hands run down the sides of my body, over my hips. I’m wearing a pair of black leather shorts with a see-through corset top that laces up at my back. Paired with my favorite red-bottomed pumps. My hair hangs in loose curls down my back and my lips are painted the brightest of reds.
“Your father is never letting you out of the house dressed like that,” Mabilia says from where she’s perched on my bed.
“Which is why he won’t know I’m wearing this,” I tell her, picking up a long black dress and sliding it over my head. “This isn’t my first rodeo, coz.”
“Oh, I’m aware,” she says. “At least tonight you won’t be crawling into my bed smelling like sex.”
“Nope, I plan on staying the night with Charming,” I say. I’m careful never to utter Connor’s name in this house. You can’t be too safe.
“Sure, well, I’ll be at Tommy’s if you need me,” she says.
“All I need is for you to be my alibi. If anyone asks, I’m having dinner with you guys.”
“You know Dante and Orlando will more than likely be at that party.”
“Dante will be too busy with Josie to notice me. And Orlando, well, I’m sure he’ll be otherwise occupied too.”
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.” Mabilia shakes her head. “Okay, you ready?”
“How do I look?” I ask her.
“Like a nun.” She grins. “Your Papa will approve.”
We both laugh as we make our way downstairs. “You know, if your boyfriend’s cooking kills me, I’m going to haunt you until your dying day,” I tell Mabilia when we hit the landing.
“Girls, where are you two off to?” Enzo walks through the front door, standing in the entryway and blocking our exit.
“Tommy is cooking us dinner,” Mabilia says with pride.
“He still alive? Thought the Pakhan would have put an end to him by now.” My brother flicks an invisible piece of fluff from his coat.
“Don’t be an ass. It doesn’t suit you,” I tell him.
“If the girls in this family had better taste in men, I wouldn’t have to be an ass,” he replies.
“Really, and who would be a better option?” I ask him.
“Girls, females. If you want to date, find a girl. Way better than any scumbag.” He smirks.
“Aw, well, if and when I find someone worth dating, I will make sure you never find out.” Pushing up on my tiptoes, I kiss my brother’s cheek.
“See you later. Don’t wait up,” I tell him.
“Oh, and try to get a life sometime between now and tomorrow. It’s sad how much you’re all up in ours. ” I shove him out of the doorway.
“Aurora, if you ever start dating, do me a favor and don’t fall in love,” Enzo says.
“Why?”
“Because I’d hate to be the reason your heart gets broken when I tear the head off the fucker dumb enough to touch you.” He smiles as if he’s picturing doing just that.
“Yeah, guess I’ll have fun cutting the heart out of whatever poor woman ends up falling for your… lack of charm.”
“What the hell are you arguing about now?” My father’s voice booms down the hallway as he approaches us.
“Nothing, Papa. Enzo was just telling Mabilia and me how much he wants us to be lesbians.” I smirk.
“What the fuck? Nuns, you both can become nuns,” my dad says.
“Yeah, too late for that,” Mabilia mutters, shaking her head.
“For you, maybe. Not for my princess. Right, Aurora?” Papa looks right at me.
I swallow. “Of course, Papa. We gotta run. Tommy is cooking us dinner.” Taking hold of Mabilia’s hand, I drag her out the front door before closing it behind us. Then I turn my glare on her. “What the hell was that?”
“What was what?”
“You basically just told my father I wasn’t a virgin.”
“You’re not,” she says like she doesn’t see the problem. “Besides, you’re the one who told him your hymen wasn’t intact, remember?”
“That was different. It was coming from me, and he doesn’t take what I say seriously half the time. When it comes from someone else, it’s more believable.”
She shrugs. “I still don’t see the big deal.”
“Oh, okay, let me call Zio Mikhail and let him know what you’re up to tonight, then.” I dig my phone out of my clutch.
“Okay, stop. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Besides, your father is blind when it comes to you. No way is he going to think you’re not his innocent little princess.” She laughs.
“It’s not that I care if he knows I had sex. It’s the questions that will come with it. Like the who type of questions.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t date the enemy then,” she tells me.
Have I mentioned how much I hate parties? I’ve messaged Connor five times to find out where he is, and he hasn’t responded yet. So here I am, making my way through the crowds, looking for him.
I don’t even see his cousin, and Kenny is usually one of the loudest people at these parties. I can’t exactly ask anyone if they’ve seen either of them because I’m not supposed to be looking for them. It’d help if Connor would answer my damn texts.
“Hey, you look like you could use a drink,” Krystal says, handing me a red Solo cup.
“Hey.” I take the cup but don’t drink from it, because I’m not a fucking idiot. “I didn’t know you would be here?”
My and Krystal’s friendship has been strained ever since I poisoned her at lunch a few months back. She deserved it, though. I don’t remember what she said to Dante, but she wasn’t nice. And nobody is an ass to my family.
“Yeah, well, here I am.” She smiles. “Why are you here? You hate these things.”
“Change of scenery.” I shrug. “Thanks for the drink. I need to go find my cousin,” I lie before walking off.
I don’t see Connor anywhere, so I head upstairs.
I might as well secure a room, because as soon as he does make an appearance, we’re going to need one.
When I find an empty bedroom, I walk over and close the door behind me.
Sitting on the bed as I mindlessly sip at the liquid in the cup I’m holding.
Beer. Gross. Even though I know I shouldn’t, I scull the contents and pull out my phone.
Me:
Where are you? Let me know when you get here, or just come find me. Upstairs, third door on your right.
He still doesn’t message me back. I push up from the bed and start pacing. I have no idea how much time has passed but the room starts spinning. My vision blurs and my mind races with all sorts of images of Connor.
His lifeless body. Covered in blood on the floor…
Oh my god! What if he’s not here because he’s dead? Fuck. I need to find him.
I go to walk out the door but the floor spins and I end up on the ground. My hands move to my head and grab at my hair. Something isn’t right. Something is wrong. I can hear screaming. And then I hear someone calling my name.
“Aurora, what’s wrong?” A hand reaches out and touches my shoulder.
Oh god, they’ve killed Connor and now they’re coming for me.
I should let them. If Connor’s gone, I don’t want to be here anyway.
I need to let them kill me. I want to let them kill me, but then my fight instinct kicks in.
And I don’t know I’m doing it until it’s too late.
My hand is holding a knife to his neck and then I’m slicing.
I shove at the figure in front of me and he falls to the floor. Dead eyes stare up at me.
Oh god, what have I done?
“Fuck.” My hands pull at my hair again. I scoot away until my back hits the wall. I find my phone. I can’t call Connor.
I dial Dante. “Hey what’s up?” he answers.
“Dante… I…” I sob. My vision is still blurred. I don’t know what I did. Why would I do this? What is happening?
“Where are you?” he asks.
“Party,” I tell him.
“Aurora, where?”
“Upstairs.” The phone drops to the floor, my eyes on the figure that fills the doorway. Connor.
He’s not dead. He’s here.
Rushing in, he falls to his knees in front of me. He takes my hands in his and inspects every part of my body. “What happened?”
“I don’t know… He grabbed me… I don’t know,” I repeat.
“You…” Connor looks at his cousin’s lifeless corpse. “Fuck.” He moves over to Kenny. “You did this?”
I nod my head, and the whole room spins. “Something is wrong,” I say, my voice hoarse.
“No shit. You just fucking killed my cousin, Aurora. What the fuck were you thinking?” Connor yells.
I cover my ears with my hands. “I didn’t know,” I tell him. “I don’t know what’s happening.”
“You didn’t know.” Connor looks at me in a way he’s never looked at me before. “You didn’t know?” he repeats. “You fucking like this shit!”
“No.” I shake my head. I didn’t like this. “No.”
“Liar.” He stands and takes two steps back over to me. “You like killing. You told me, remember?”
“No, I love you. I wouldn’t do this to you.”
“This isn’t love, Aurora. You just killed my family,” he says. “My blood.” His lips tilt in disdain, his eyes empty. “Your crazy fucking ass killed my cousin.”
“No, don’t say that.”
“Why not? It’s the truth. We both know it. You’re fucking insane. You’re going to continue going around killing people because you like it. Because you’re fucking psychopath!” he yells at me.
“What the fuck?” Dante rushes in and shoves Connor aside.
“No. Connor, no, you don’t mean that. You love me. I love you. You don’t mean that.” I don’t care who knows anymore. He has to believe me. He has to.
“Love you? I will never forgive you for this. I don’t want to see your face ever again,” he says before adding the last nail to my coffin. “I hate you.”
“No!” I scream. Dante’s arms wrap around me as I try to get up and go after Connor. He doesn’t mean it. He’s just in shock.
“What the fuck happened in here?” Dante asks.
“Your psychotic cousin just killed mine. That’s what happened. She just started a damn war,” Connor tells him.
Dante looks from Connor to me. “What the fuck happened, Aurora?”
“I don’t know. Something is wrong. I don’t know.” I keep repeating the same words over and over.
“She needs to be locked away. Get her the fuck out of here.” Connor kneels down and pulls the knife out of Kenny’s neck. “Take this.”
“She can’t even walk. What did you give her?” Dante lets me go and pushes at Connor’s chest.
“She’s probably drunk on the fucking high she gets from killing. Go on, ask her. Ask her how much she loves the kill.” Connor looks down at me.
I shake my head. This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening. I must be dreaming. It’s a nightmare. This isn’t real.
“What are you talking about?” Dante asks.
“I’m telling you to get her the fuck out. She can’t be here,” Connor hisses. “I can’t see her right now.”
“Okay.” Dante reaches down and pulls me to my feet.
“No, don’t take me. He needs me. I need to stay. I need to help,” I plead with them.
“Help? You can’t help. You’re a fucking mess, Aurora. You need to stay the fuck away from me. I mean it,” Connor says.
Tears fall down my cheeks.
“You talk to her like that again and you’ll be the next Irish fuck to meet the devil,” Dante says, and I grab on to his shirt to steady myself.
“Take me home,” I whisper.
The whole world is spinning as Dante guides me out of the house and onto the passenger seat of his car.
“What happened?” Josie asks from where she’s sitting in the back.
“I ruined everything,” I tell her. “I had it and I lost it.”
“Seriously, Aurora, you’ve been seeing that fucker?” Dante growls, the tires of his car screeching as he pulls out of the driveway.
“Why is everything spinning?” I groan.
“Josie, call the doc. We’re going to need him.”
“Where are we taking her? We can’t take her home like this,” she says.
“We’ll go to the pool house,” Dante says. “Just tell the doc to meet us there.”
“I don’t know why I did that,” I say. “Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know.” Dante sighs. “But it’s going to be okay.”
“No, it’s not. He hates me.” More tears fall down my cheeks.
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” Dante grunts.
“No, you can’t touch him. I love him.” It feels good to say it aloud to someone. It would be better if it wasn’t because it’s the end of our story.