Heartless People

TWENTY-THREE

Someday you're gonna look back on this moment of your life as such a sweet time of grieving. You'll see that you were in mourning and your heart was broken, but your life was changing...

—Elizabeth Gilbert

CHRIS

I splashed the water on my face, and took a deep breath before I dared to look at myself in the bathroom mirror. Without turning, I watched as she walked in. Her blue eyes focused on me as she pressed herself against the door.

"Can I help you?" I asked her, as I took some paper towels from the dispenser. I scanned the bathroom to make sure that we were the only occupants.

"Chris, please don't be this way."

"What way?" I hollered at her. "What way am I being, Mina? Tell me, seeing as how you know so fucking much."

Her head dropped and I strode determinedly to her, and grabbed her by the arm as I pulled her to me, and forced her to look me in the eyes.

"You've disgraced me," I sneered only inches away from her face. "You made me a fool. Of all people in this world, you should have known me. You should have known what I wanted and that was to not destroy my family. Family is everything. It comes before all else, and you didn't even think how I would feel if Avian killed my sisters, my father, my mother."

"I did it for us! You and I both know your family will never accept you!" she cried.

"You did it for yourself! Jesus fucking Christ, you don't give a shit about anyone but yourself. Now you stand in front of me, trying to seem innocent as if
you didn't go against the code. As if you didn't spit on everything my family has spent decades building. Do you know what the Irish do to people who do what you have done? Im being this way, avoiding you, smiling for the cameras, because it is the only thing thats stopping me from snapping your fucking neck and dumping you in acid." Letting her go, I walked past her and opened the door.

"If you have ever cared about me, Mina, play your part because were done. Now, lets go."

She swallowed as she wiped her tears and fixed her dress. Turning to me she took my extended arm. With a smile, we walked towards the lunch table
where my father sat waiting. Mina went and kissed his cheek before she sat down, and I shook his hand in greeting. He gazed at me with the same tired look
I had grown up seeing, and I wanted to tell him that I understood.

"So, Mina, have you chosen a spot at the family burial plot yet?"he casually asked her while he poured himself some tea.

Her mouth dropped open.

"Its quite nice, we have photos engraved into the black marble," he added, as he took a sip.

It seemed as though everyone in the family had taken to torturing her in some way. But she'd made her bed and now she would lie in it, alone. There was
no escape for her. Even though she was out in the open like this, Camila had made sure her orders were clear, if Mina tried to run, we were to aim for her legs.

VERONICA

I watched her as she punched as hard as she could into his neck. He grabbed on to her arm, and pulled her up and over, until her body slammed onto the canvas of Lauren's boxing ring. Crawling onto her side, she pushed herself up before she wiped the blood from her nose and regained her stance.

Fedel stared at her for a moment before he lifted his arms and took a couple of steps back. They circled each other, their eyes never wavering. Finally, she
leaped forward, and he grabbed her waist, trying to stop her. However, she twisted herself, and wrapped her legs around his neck before she flipped him.