13. Arianna
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ARIANNA
“ W hen you suggested we crash a party, I didn’t think you meant literally ,” I whispered as we trudged through the woods on the outskirts of campus. “Why are we here? We weren’t invited, so it’s obvious we won’t be welcome. The Legacies don’t let outsiders witness whatever the fuck they’re doing at their events.”
The Legacies were known for their events and for keeping it all hush-hush among themselves. Yet, here we were, walking through the forest about to barge in.
“It’s a party, not an event,” Penelope argued.
“Definitely not a party,” I muttered.
“Y’all are going to get us killed, aren’t you?” Francesca retorted wryly as she stepped over a fallen branch. “And if you don’t get us killed, my brother surely will.”
Goose bumps broke over my skin. I hadn’t been fond of the woods since Gianna’s kidnapping. I kept my steps silent, peeking around, almost expecting to see the old ghosts that’d been rearing their heads in my nightmares lately.
“So far, I’m giving this party a negative-star rating,” Francesca whisper-yelled, keeping her head down. The leaves crushed beneath our shoes with every step. “And it’s ruining my special edition Converse.” She pointed at her initial-engraved purple tennis shoes.
The trees towered overhead, scowling at us for sneaking around where we were unwanted. You could barely get a peek at the dark sky, its stars hiding due to the clouds taking shape. I shivered.
This is different. We’re safe. Don’t think about it.
I silently repeated those words as I glanced around, counting my breaths to ensure I didn’t lose my shit. It would alarm the girls, and I wasn’t in the mood to wax poetic about what constituted trauma.
“Why can’t we go to normal parties?” Amara grumbled, her fingers moving briskly as she looked at Skye.
“Because we’re idiots, and I know it’s anti-feminist or something, but the boys seem to always have better parties,” Skye reasoned.
I shook my head. “ Skye, I should have never left you with these hoes. They ruined your perspective .”
Penelope snickered. “Or she wants to steal a peek at Nikola’s bare chest. That man must have something against wearing a shirt.”
Skye jammed two fingers against Penelope’s chest and pushed her while my face twisted into a grimace.
“God, that man is… disturbed,” I blurted. “Skye, pick anyone but him.”
Skye shrugged. “He’s not that bad. I like him.”
The rest of us exchanged a glance, and I shook my head in disbelief. There wasn’t a sweeter person on campus than Skye and she liked that psychopath? It was wrong on so many levels.
“Don’t worry. We’ll pray for you,” Anya assured, then shot me a conspiratorial grin.
“She’s going to need a lot more than prayers,” Penelope muttered.
“At least she’ll be getting some dick,” Amara deadpanned, then narrowed her eyes on Penelope. “Unlike some of us who leave a trail of dead boyfriends in their wake.”
A pause, then they both threw their heads back and laughed.
“Jesus, you’d think we’ve been gone for years, not just a month,” Francesca grumbled, waggling her brows. “Now spill the tea. Arianna and I feel left out.”
“Bitch, please. There aren’t enough hours in the day to go through all that shit,” Penelope huffed. “Starting with your sisters, Arianna.”
“Why? What happened?” I asked, alert shooting down my spine. “I thought you said Gianna was keeping Hannah in check.”
“Better ask what hasn’t happened,” Amara exclaimed, throwing her hands up. “Haven’t you been speaking to them?”
“I guess they’ve left a few things out,” I muttered.
Penelope stopped, raised her palm up, and silenced us all. She’d changed into flats and a beautiful purple lace dress that hugged her curves. She always succeeded in pulling off brave combinations, but that girl would look good in anything.
“Everyone stop yapping or we’ll get caught.”
Francesca hiked her hand onto her hip. “By whom ? It’s not like we’re trespassing. These grounds are ours to traipse on if we so please, so I don’t know why?—”
“Law,” I blurted out suddenly, surprising even myself, and everyone turned to me in slow motion. “That’s what you should study. Law. You’ve always excelled at arguing your case.”
“Oh, come on, Arianna. She’s a mafia princess just like the rest of us. How could studying law be useful?” Anya was usually the quiet one, but when she spoke up, she managed to capture everyone’s attention. “We enter into it knowing that our families break the law daily.”
I shrugged. “Even criminals need defenders. She could be the one to bail us out of jail.”
Penelope shook her head. “And you’re implying that we’ll all go to jail?”
“I mean, it’s a real possibility,” I reasoned. “But that’s neither here nor there. I just think it would suit her.”
Francesca tapped her chin pensively before she responded.
“If you don’t count the fact I’d have anyone who opposed me murdered, sure. I mean, I’m open to challenges.”
“But—”
“Nuh-uh. It’s decided. I’m going to be a lawyer.”
Penelope looked as if she wanted to say something, but instead, she continued walking down the thick forest path toward the music blaring in the distance.
We all continued in silence, slowing as we approached the bonfire in the middle of the empty meadow.
“ Boo! ”
The six-foot-five ghoul that appeared from behind a nearby tree was now towering over us, scaring the living crap out of the six of us—much to his delight.
Nikola Nikolaev, the damn lunatic, wore a face smeared in ghostly white paint, stark and unsettling. Jagged black lines carved out skull-like teeth around his mouth, stretching into a manic grin that split his face in two—wild, unhinged, and brimming with chaos. I’d heard of the things they got up to at their gatherings, but I never fathomed it would be so… terrifying.
So there he stood, bare-chested and looking like some psychopath who was about to eat us for dinner.
Seeing our expressions, Nikola tipped his head back, his laughter boisterous.
“You should see your faces right now.”
I glared at him. “You should see the ugly face we’re staring at. And where in the fuck is your shirt, you mad Russian? This isn’t a nudist campus.”
“Too fucking hot.” Obviously, the idiot was used to Siberian temperatures.
“And what’s your excuse for that ugly paint on your face? It’s not Halloween.”
He flipped me off and I narrowed my eyes on him.
“ You scared the bejesus out of us ,” Skye signed, her breathing erratic.
The look he shot her sent my own heart into panic. I grabbed her hand and pushed her behind me protectively.
“We’re leaving,” I said.
“No, you’re not,” Nikola announced. “You wanted to crash a party, so follow through.”
Skye sidestepped me bravely, and the rest of the girls followed suit. Most girls were nervous around the man, although judging by the look on Skye’s face, she wasn’t.
“ Stop fucking with them, Nik ,” she signed, breathing harshly. “ And we haven’t crashed anything .”
I held my breath when the pale blue of his eyes narrowed, darkening on Skye.
“Skye, little babydoll. Stop being brave and challenging me.” He smiled that cold, unhinged smile that the Nikolaev family was known for. Except that Nikola took the cake on all of them. “I’m a broken heart collector and leave ashes in my wake. If you’re lucky, you’ll only need professional help when I’m done with you.”
Obviously braver than I was smart, I shoved him, but his bulky frame didn’t even budge. “Have you lost your mind? You don’t threaten the daughter of Dante Leone.”
And you usually didn’t survive it either. Skye’s biological father was the only one who had openly declared war against the Nikolaevs after he learned about the daughter he lost and the Nikolaev involvement—albeit innocent—in that. He would gladly torch this world while ensuring his family was safe on some tropical island.
“Sweetheart, you don’t mess with a Nikolaev.” He had a point there, but there was no fucking way I’d acknowledge it. “We can definitely take him.”
Skye scoffed. “ You’ll be brought to your knees one day, Nikola Nikolaev. ”
“I’m looking forward to it,” he stated, letting his Russian accent bleed into his words. He stared at my friend like she was his worst enemy. They were, in fact, almost step-cousins, but that was a complicated relationship that didn’t warrant delving into.
He shook off the exchange and grinned, showing off his perfectly straight white teeth.
“Ladies.” He stepped aside, extending his hand like he was showing us a way to a magic kingdom. “After you.”
“I definitely didn’t miss this shit at Yale,” I grumbled as we all followed him deeper into the forest. Like a sick version of Little Red Riding Hood . “Not even been back a day and I feel like I’ve already lost a year of my life.”
“Me too,” Francesca said. “And what’s the deal with Skye and that batshit Russian?”
“It’s been like this since the beginning of summer,” Anya huffed next to me, following along. “It’s like they’re playing a game of cat and mouse, and we’re all getting caught up in it.”
“It seems to be the running theme,” Amara muttered, and I couldn’t quite shake off the feeling that she was talking about herself.
This was dumb.
I should have stayed in my dorm and gotten caught up on the work I’d missed. Instead, I stood here sweating in my Dior summer dress, my lungs burning as I inhaled sharp breaths and listened to some angry heavy metal from someone’s speaker.
“I need a gallon of bug spray,” I grumbled, scratching one leg with my other. I loved being outdoors, but trekking through the woods definitely wasn’t my thing. I preferred resorts, exotic islands, somewhere cold in Norway or Alaska where I could gaze up at the stars and not feel a single bug buzzing around me. “I’m pretty sure mosquitoes are draining me of all blood.”
“It’s because you’re too sweet,” Amara teased. “Try taking a page out of Hannah’s book and they’ll all fly away.”
I rolled my eyes, but remained silent. I hadn’t seen Hannah all day and couldn’t help but feel like she was avoiding me. Something was off with her, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint what.
Penelope interrupted my thoughts. “Those painted faces are dumb. Scary, but dumb as fuck.”
“Cousin… fucking language,” I scolded, unable to keep my face straight. She snickered before we turned to watch the wooded area around us.
The clearing lay hidden deep within the heart of the forest, smothered by towering trees whose skeletal branches clawed at the night sky, choking out any trace of moonlight. Shadows pooled thick and heavy along the edges, watching from the tree line like silent predators. The air was dense with the scent of damp earth, smoke, and something faintly metallic—sharp, like blood on rust.
Bonfires raged across the clearing, flames clawing skyward and vomiting showers of embers into the dark. The firelight twisted over the gathered crowd, their faces flickering between moments of excitement and something darker—grins that stretched too wide, eyes reflecting the flames with a strange, feral glint.
From a battered speaker perched on a stump near one of the fires, harsh metal music screamed into the night—distorted riffs, guttural vocals, and pounding drums that echoed through the clearing like a war cry. The sound cut through the air like a blade, vibrating in the chest, making the bonfires seem to burn hotter, wilder.
“Why do they do it?” I wondered under my breath. I’d heard stories of these activities taking place, but I never bothered attending them. It was truly terrifying the way the orange glow of the bonfire threw shadows all around us and glimmered off each and every skull-painted face.
“It’s like we’ve stepped into a freak show,” I added.
Anya shrugged. “Gabriel said it’s to remind the Legacies, and everyone connected to the mafia, of all the skeletons our families had to bury in the past. I suppose it’s a nod to our… parents. Ancestors.”
“That’s honestly the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Penelope hissed.
“Hey, I’m just repeating what I was told,” Anya grumbled.
“Also, each faction of the mafia uses a slightly different skull,” Amara chimed in. “See over there…” She pointed discreetly to the far right at black-and-white skulls with golden accents. “Those are kingpins. My peeps. Then over to the left with thorns and such are the Omertàs. And then of course there are those with silver accents. Those are your peeps, Arianna.”
“I guess it’s kind of… symbolic?” I hedged, noting that the only ones who didn’t bother with painted faces and scary skulls were the Ashfords—the “Billionaire Kings” as the world liked to refer to them. There were the Yakuza heirs here as well with their own terrifying masks. “And they do it like this every time?”
“More or less,” Penelope huffed. “I really hate violence, but this almost feels… more ominous.”
I wasn’t fond of horror movies, and this certainly felt like a scene from one.
We shouldn’t be here, at this “party.”
On either side of me were my roommates—the only other women here—who looked just as shell-shocked as I was.
“Tonight we show what happens to human traffickers.” A voice I recognized all too well echoed through the forest, everyone’s attention on him.
Matteo Vitale.
The painted face that terrified me the most. Gone was the boy I’d grown up with, and in his place was a ruthless mobster.
Much like every other person on this campus.
Roars of voices rolled through the clearing, the words kill , kill , kill repeated over and over again, and it finally dawned on me why people were gathered here tonight, what their aim was.
They’d apprehended an enemy on East Coast territory.
Matteo had claimed that students here were a legacy of heathens, and he wasn’t wrong. Both of our ancestors were once deeply embedded in flesh trading with auctions, agreements, and prostitution rings.
I’d heard rumors of the punishments doled out to those who participated in it now. They—Matteo and his friends—would track down any reckless man who dared encroach on their family territory. They became judges, juries, and… executioners.
My gaze fell on my twin brothers.
They were glaring at me from across the field, unhappy to see me and my friends here.
I wouldn’t have recognized them if not for those identical glaring gray eyes, and we were too far apart for me to tell them apart. They held my gaze and one of them—Cassius, maybe?—mouthed, What the fuck are you doing here ?
I smiled sweetly and turned my back on them.
Amara chuckled next to me. “Siblings. Gotta love ’em.”
“Only because we can’t murder them,” I said, but my voice was devoid of any real venom.
“Is this guy getting a bullet in his head, burning at the stake, or what?” someone yelled. “We don’t have all night for this shit.”
“We’ll teach him ‘predator and prey,’” Matteo answered, his strong baritone voice traveling through the entire clearing. “We’ll set him free and then hunt him down. Heck, maybe even take one of his organs or two.”
What the actual fuck?
“It would seem your brother’s leading this manhunt,” Penelope whispered the obvious to Francesca. “Better hope he doesn’t get locked up.”
She just shrugged. “This is why I need to get that law degree.”
“Just make sure you charge them an arm and a leg,” I added, and the girls fixed me with their disapproving stares. “What? A girl’s got to make a living somehow. It’s no different than robbery, and y’all are good with that.”
“I see your point,” Amara agreed. “We pat you on the back when you and Hannah steal money, and like you said, this is no different.”
Over Amara’s shoulder, I spotted a familiar face. I lost track of the conversation, blinking furiously to make sure I wasn’t imagining things.
Hannah.
Sure, her face was hard to make out, but there was no mistaking her. Her hair was up in a high ponytail, and the smile she wore on that white-painted face with black skull lines was nothing short of terrifying.
We never willingly ventured into violence, not unless it was self-defense.
My eyes flitted to my brothers, where I registered their shock as they noticed the same person I did. That meant it had to be the first time Hannah was here; otherwise, they wouldn’t be surprised like that.
Hannah’s fingers circled a baseball bat resting on her shoulder, all her attention on the man Matteo was about to set free. She wore jean shorts, an oversized white Oxford that was tied at her waist, and black high-top sneakers.
“Run, because when you’re caught, all hell will break loose,” Matteo shouted as he unbound the prisoner. I always knew there was a dangerous edge to him, but I’d never gotten this close to it before.
“You have thirty seconds.” Hannah laughed, then she started counting. “One Mississippi… two Mississippi…”
My mouth parted in shock as I watched it all unfold.
“What in the fuck is going on here?” I hissed, staring in shock at the scene in front of me.
“Jesus Christ, she’s even crazier than I thought,” Amara echoed my own thoughts. “Did she?—”
“She joined the Legacies,” Penelope finished for her.
“That she did,” Nikola, who appeared out of nowhere again, said while cackling. “Bloodthirsty, that one.”
Four songs.
Ten minutes and thirty-three seconds.
One hundred eighty-five breaths.
That was how long it took my twin to catch her prey. She handed him over to Matteo and his gang of merry followers, who then took him somewhere to most likely kill him.
My ears rang as I pushed through the crowd that was now celebrating their conquest, dancing like we were in a nightclub. I couldn’t quite catch the words of the 5 Seconds of Summer song as I plowed through the field with bonfires all around and zeroed in on Hannah.
Just as I neared her, she took a red cup from a passerby and downed their drink.
“Holy shit.” She shook her head, grimacing. “Do you have anything that doesn’t taste like chemical disinfectant? Ugh.”
“Obviously not, since only psychopathic men are meant to be here, Hannah,” I hissed, facing her with my hands on my hips. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Well, I thought this was a normal party, not—” I spread my arms open. “Not this . And I certainly wasn’t expecting my sister to participate in the Legacies’ crazy shitshow.”
Ignoring my obvious fury, she pulled me into a hug and said, “I’m going to eliminate every single asshole that wants to hurt our family in any way.”
“That’s probably a very long list considering the business we’re in. You can’t win against them.”
“One by one, I’ll make them pay,” Hannah stated as if she hadn’t even heard me.
“Yep, she let that one go over her head,” Amara let out under her breath. I turned my head to find all my friends standing behind me.
“Your twin is reckless,” Anya announced, shaking her head. “Can we go back to the dorm now?”
I didn’t get to answer because Penelope beat me to it. “Hell to the no.”
“ Want me to go back to the dorm with you? ” Skye offered, feeling sorry for Anya, who preferred to read her shifter romances rather than watch these wannabe animals.
“Absolutely not. We arrive together, and leave together,” Penelope objected. “We’ve made it this far, let’s enjoy the freak show at least a little bit longer.”
Hannah was quick to agree. “ Someone ’s reasonable.”
I glared at my sister. “What the fuck, Hannah? What are you doing, and why are you involved in this shit?”
She gave me a blank look.
“You do remember that our dad runs the Maryland mafia, right?” She spoke slowly, like she thought I had difficulty following what she was saying. “We’ve been involved in this shit since Mom married him.”
“It doesn’t mean we…” I swung my hands in the air at the woods, then in the direction that Matteo and his gang disappeared to, at a loss for words to describe what was happening here.
“What?” she challenged. “That bastard is somehow connected to the man who almost shot you and Francesca. He deserves to die.”
“How do you know that?”
She shrugged. “The guys followed a lead and found… Never mind, don’t worry. The point is, he had to pay.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “So you were, what? Avenging me and Francesca?”
“Yes.”
“You were mad at me for risking my life, yet you do this?” My voice was high-pitched and uneasy, haunting even. “I had no control over the shooting at Yale. But this? This is pure recklessness.”
Someone cleared their throat behind me.
“We should all calm down.” Of course it was Anya.
Amara nodded, eager to help resolve this conflict. “We have classes in the morning, so maybe we should go back to the dorms.”
Penelope patted her hand. “Ever the peacemaker.”
“I think she and Anya are right,” I said. “Let’s just go.”
Hannah’s eyes shone with defiance.
“Pfft. We’re here now. Let’s not spoil it,” Francesca argued, tugging on my arm. “Hannah is just being a good sister. Your brothers are here too but I don’t hear you yelling at them.”
“Hmm, true,” Amara agreed. “But this has nothing to do with gender discrimination and everything to do with?—”
Penelope bumped her friend’s shoulder, and Hannah’s expression changed from a rebellious one to the one she always reserved for?—
“Matteo!” She stared behind me. “You took care of that fast.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up at the sound of his voice.
“Ladies, I see you crashed our party,” he announced coolly.
I inhaled a deep breath and slowly turned to find him standing there with one hand in his jeans pocket, his white T-shirt revealing muscular biceps. It was a rare occasion to find Matteo in jeans, but it was certainly a sight worth beholding.
He nodded at everyone, leaving me for last. When his hazel eyes rested on me, it felt like the world stopped turning. The power shimmered from every fiber of his being, consuming the space around him. Or maybe just me.
My brow furrowed at the odd reaction. What’s happening to me these days?
“Well, I didn’t crash it.” Hannah grinned, wrapping an arm around his bicep. Matteo gave her a look, and she continued. “I did good, right?”
I forced a smile that must have looked more like a grimace, then narrowed my eyes on him. “You all have some explaining to do.”
“I always protect what’s mine. Always .” Matteo’s eyes flashed with something raw, and everyone around us stilled, probably sensing the predator in him. “You can’t fault me for it.”
I held his gaze, refusing to be the one to break eye contact. It felt like being trapped in a bubble, the noise around us drowned by the drumming of my own heart. I’d never seen him look at me like that.
“Can you, Ari?” he drawled, still staring at me, drilling holes into my soul.
Hannah glanced between us, then slowly, almost carefully, said, “She doesn’t blame you, Matteo. She would never blame her future brother-in-law.”
I hated that I noticed he didn’t correct her. These little comments by Hannah were nothing new. From the moment she’d met him, she’d staked her claim and made it clear that she’d marry him. It’d never bothered me before, so why did it bother me now?
“Actually, I do blame him.” I was surprised I sounded calm considering the thundering of my pulse and the adrenaline sluicing through my veins. “He should never allow my sister—his future wife —to get in harm’s way.” Something told me I was poking the monster, but it was too late to retract the words. I locked eyes with him and gritted, “Don’t fucking do it again.” Then I smiled at my sister. “Let’s get something to drink.”
She interlinked her arm with mine and we left them all behind, but I couldn’t resist glancing over my shoulder. All the girls had scattered, but Matteo and Francesca stayed in place.
She whispered something to her brother while looking troubled, but Matteo’s heated gaze followed us, his jaw set and lips thin.