31. Elyssa
ELYSSA
“ M iss Bianchi, I want you to tell me exactly what happened last night before your cousin disappeared.”
My gaze was lost in the distance, the events from my last conversation with Mia replaying over and over in my head. Dean Taylor was leaning against his desk, arms crossed over his chest, looking at me like I was a fucking suspect in my own cousin’s disappearance.
“We argued because—” I hesitated, not wanting to mention Dominik’s name now that I knew he had never sent her that text in the first place. “She said she was going to meet a guy at Old Joe’s mill. I told her she shouldn’t, that she deserved more than that. She wasn’t acting like herself, she looked crazed, on edge. She’s had… issues in the past?—”
“Yes, I know all about her drug-abusing days,” he cut me off, a judgemental look on his face, “did you suspect she started taking again?”
He took my small intake of breath for a yes, if the disdain on his face was any indication. “No, it’s not that,” I tried salvaging my cousin’s reputation. “She has been clean for the past few weeks, and then yesterday she was all hyper and happy, it was such a sudden change?—”
“Yes, drugs do tend to bring temporary joy to those who use them,” Taylor cut me off again and I sighed, irritated.
“You don’t understand, it’s not just about drugs?—”
“Look, Miss Bianchi, I’ll tell you what I think happened. I think your cousin went back to her dark habits and you didn’t like it, you argued and she ended up getting physical,” he nodded at the bruise on my cheek and I wished the floor would open up and swallow me. “She’s probably out there looking for her next fix or coming down from her latest high.”
I gasped at the utter disrespect he showed my cousin. Anger burned through my veins as I jumped to my feet, waving my finger in his face angrily. “Don’t you dare speak of her that way! You have no idea what she went through, you have no idea how hard she tried getting better! You better watch your tone when you talk about my family. I might not be legitimate but I am still a Bianchi, and if my grandfather catches wind of the way you just spoke about his granddaughter, he would have your head served on a silver platter, you hear me?”
Dean Taylor’s eyes were wide, clearly not expecting such an outburst of anger from me. My chest heaving up and down, I swallowed thickly before taking a step back.
I sighed, doing my best to get the fury down a notch, before continuing in a calmer tone. “Look, girls have been disappearing in the village. An old friend from there told us that some of their guys were looking to retaliate by hurting girls from the Academy.” Dean Taylor flinched. He tried hiding it, but I noticed. “All I ask for you is to have guards search the perimeter of the school, maybe the village too. I need you to believe me when I say Mia might be in danger.”
Lips pinched together, he stared at me for a beat before slowly reaching over his desk and grabbing his phone, putting it to his ear.
“Dean Taylor speaking. I need a squadron searching the island,” he spoke into the device, “tell them they’re looking for Mia Bianchi Gavini.”
I was bone-tired by the time nighttime came. By then the whole school was aware of Mia’s disappearance and rumors were spreading. I lay in bed staring at the wall, guilt and fear eating at me. If something happened to Mia, I would probably never forgive myself. I couldn’t believe that my last words to her had been doused in anger. I had an awfully bad feeling about this but refused to lose hope for now.
A knock on my door caused me to open my eyes. I never even realized I’d fallen asleep. When I checked the time, I saw that an hour had passed and it was now time for dinner. I was hungry after letting myself starve all day, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to eat anything. Worry had my stomach in knots.
Sinem and Briar stood outside my door, and against my will, my shoulders slumped in disappointment. I guess a part of me had hoped it would be Mia, back from God knows where.
“Hey, babes,” my best friend greeted me softly as Sinem pushed Briar’s wheelchair inside my room and closed the door after themselves.
“Hey.”
“Is there anything we can do to help? Do you need anything?”
I shook my head no, the only thing I needed right then was to know my cousin was okay, that she’d be coming back to me. My stomach rumbled, the sound echoing around us.
“Come on, let’s get you something to eat. They’re about to serve dinner.”
I wanted to argue but the look in Briar’s eyes told me she needed it as much as I did. It made me feel less alone.
By the time we arrived in the great hall, we were surprised to see a commotion had broken out. People were gathered in a crowd in the corridor leading to the dining hall, screaming and hooting. That sort of behavior usually meant there was a fight going on. We were too far away to see who was fighting though, but it only added to the sensation of misery I had been feeling. Everything was going to shit these days.
“What’s going on?” Sinem asked a girl in front of us.
Turning around, her eyes widened as she took us in, gaze settling on me. “A fight broke out between your cousins and the Korolovs!”
Blood drained from my face, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Pushing my way through, not giving thought to the students complaining, I finally arrived in the front row.
Konstantin was sitting on Luca Benetti’s chest, pummeling his face with his fists as the latter lay there and took it, unable to match his strength. I gasped, my hand coming up and covering my mouth. Next to him, Royal had Lorenzo on his stomach with his hands behind his back to keep him from moving. Rhodes and Asher were also fighting Luca’s friends, clearly having the upper hand. Dominik was there too, holding Batista on the ground with a hand around his throat, squeezing hard.
The sight was too much for me and I was seconds away from fainting when guards finally decided to intervene.
Two of them grabbed Konstantin off Luca, and he went willingly but it did nothing to erase the deadly look in his eyes. The others were separated too, exchanging insults and death glares.
Dean Taylor appeared, looking furious. All the guys involved were told to join him in his office, except for Luca who was directly taken to the infirmary, two guards holding him up by the armpits.
Before I could think it through, I ran after them, my brain racing a mile an hour wondering what happened for all hell to break loose like that.
There was no way they could have known about the fake text that claimed to be Dominik because I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, but maybe Mia had? Maybe she’d told someone else she was going on a date with him and that person came through and testified?
The other option for such violence to happen was that my cousins had gotten wind of me and Konstantin seeing each other and I didn’t want to think about that. Especially not with Mia disappearing and the incriminating text from Dominik. I was already an outcast, but now they would consider me a traitor too.
The Korolovs and their friends went into the office first and I took that opportunity to go see Lorenzo, who was sitting on a chair, pressing a tissue to his bleeding nose.
“What the hell was that, Lo’?” I took in his disheveled and bloody appearance, wondering what the hell happened to make him fight. He hated conflict, hated violence. That was the main reason he didn’t want to join the mafia.
Whenever his dad had a job for him and he’d come back home beaten and bloody, he’d cry himself to sleep later on. My cousin was not a violent man, but it seemed like his twin disappearing had him losing his mind.
“They found her phone!” he bit out, blue eyes settling on me. “They found Mia’s phone in the woods and it had blood on it! Guess who her last text was from? Dominik-fucking-Korolov!”
Blood rushed from my face and I stumbled back. I wanted to scream that it was a mistake, that it was way more complicated than that, but I couldn’t.
“It must’ve been a mistake, Lorenzo. Think about it! He only came back today!”
His eyes narrowed on me, but he remained silent. Instead, Batista decided to jump into our conversation. I didn’t hate many people, but Batista was one of them. He was my uncle’s son and the ultimate heir to our grandfather. Of course, his father would inherit his throne first, but then Batista was next in line. The fact that he was the first son of a first son made him feel invincible. He was cruel and selfish and only cared about himself.
“Are you taking this scum’s side? Our cousin is gone and you're defending the primary suspect?!”
I snapped my mouth shut, shaking my head and trying to remain calm. “Believe me when I say I want to find her as much as you do but I’m telling you, Dominik Korolov has nothing to do with it. We’re losing our time on this track!”
“You—” his words never made it out because that’s the moment the door to the dean’s office opened, Konstantin and Dominik walking out of the room with murderous expressions, followed closely by their friends.
Both my cousins matched the energy and I was stuck in the middle. Konstantin’s lip was bleeding but, other than that, he looked perfectly fine. The same couldn’t be said about Luca in the infirmary.
Konstantin’s gaze fell on me and softened a little before he forced himself to look away and stalked out of the office. Then Taylor called in my cousins and their friends who went into his office, shutting the door after themselves.
I wasn’t hungry anymore and simply went back to my room.
KONSTANTIN
I entered Elyssa’s dorm silently, careful not to wake her or the girls living on the same floor. The whole room was plunged into darkness; the only source of light came from the moon outside her window. It was full and particularly high in the sky tonight.
Shedding my shoes and clothes, I got in bed next to her, wearing only sweatpants. I wasn’t here for sex, all I wanted was to hold her. Today had been fucked up and I knew she must’ve had a day from hell.
Elyssa must’ve been exhausted because it was barely eleven at night and she was already deep in slumber. Usually, she would be reading Arnold Hangmire’s journal, researching The Order, or studying around this time. I tried calling and texting her, telling her to meet me in our usual spot, but when no answer came through, I decided I’d check on her myself.
Wrapping my arms around her lithe body, I brought her closer to my chest, feeling like I could finally breathe easier now that she was next to me.
It was strange, those emotions she brought out of me. With her, I felt everything more strongly: attachment, obsession, anger, attraction… she took the few things I could feel and multiplied them tenfold. She put my mind at ease and made me feel normal for once, and the more time I spent with her, the less I could imagine myself ever living without her.
Slowly, she started waking up, eyes fluttering open, long lashes dusting the top of her cheeks. When she felt me behind her, she relaxed in my hold, her hand coming to rest over mine on her stomach.
“Are you okay, lebedochka ?”
She sniffled, burrowing her face against her pillow further.
“The last thing I said to her was to get out of here. That I never wanted to see her again,” she whispered, her voice broken, and I felt like something was keeping me from breathing.
I could feel her pain, her hurt. I hated the fact that she was so sad and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. Grasping her hand in mine, I squeezed once, sending her strength as she told me her mom used to do. Elyssa turned around in my arms, flinging her arms around my neck and hugging me tight. My own went around her waist as I breathed in her sweet scent, kissing the top of her head softly.
She cried quietly and I held her until she fell back asleep, her heart beating against mine.
The call came in around one in the morning. Her phone rang on her bedside table, waking us both. When she saw the caller ID, she grabbed it fast, pressing the green button and bringing it to her ear. I sat up next to her, watching her intently.
“Hello,” she breathed, the hand holding the phone shaking.
Lorenzo’s voice echoed from the device, clearly crying and distraught.
“T—they found her body, Lyssa. Mia is dead.”
My little swan crumbled down, broken and in pain.