21-year-old Florence Ivelle struggles through college to claim freedom but gets trapped into a deal with her brother, Alastor, leaving her at his mercy until she graduates. She doesn't expect to be kidnapped into breaking it.
Three masked men take h...
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"Wasn't Matteo annoying?" Toska asked through a mouthful of toothpaste, both of us side to side as we brushed our teeth in the bathroom. "I had such hope she'd be better than Keon, but even if she's a different kind of annoying, she's still annoying." She spit into the sink. "Right?"
My thoughts rotating around my earlier conversation with Yoongi, I mumbled around my toothbrush, "I'm sure she thinks you were a bit rude. It's perspective, I think."
She scoffed, wiping her chin with the back of her hand. "You're supposed to be on my side."
"I think we're all on the same side." I bumped my hip against hers, looking at her through the mirror. "Everyone's tensions are just high."
She huffed. "Your talk with Yoongi seemed to go well. Got you all philosophical."
"It went...better than I expected." I looped my arm around her waist, laying my head on her shoulder as I continued brushing my teeth. "Thank you for standing up for me. If Matteo is ever rude to you, I'll tell her off for you."
She fought against her smile but it pulled through. "I'll piss her off, then. It's been a while since I've seen you fight."
"Parties seem a whole world away," I agreed, leaning forward to rinse out my mouth. She followed, keeping my hair out of my face. "You could've fought, too."
"I could've." She shrugged. "But I was there for a party and to watch you fight. I did enough fighting with Yoongi and the others."
"How kind of you to let me have my time to shine," I teased, earning a lop-sided grin from her. Sobering down a bit, I grabbed a hand towel for my face. "Toska, have..."
"Have I killed anyone before?"
My eyes widened. "How did you—"
She sighed, playing with her fingers anxiously. "You've been wanting to ask it for a while; I could tell."
I slipped my arm through hers, clutching it tightly as I set my toothbrush down. "You're my best friend."
"I know." Her voice dipped. "But what if you look at me differently and...what if you don't want to be my friend anymore?"
"Did you kill people who have done horrible things?"
Her features scrunched. "Flo, I—"
"Did you?"
"Please don't be mad. I had people to protect, people who were kind to me when my mother wasn't, and—"
"And you killed to keep them safe," I concluded.
Her eyes pleaded with mine as her fingers dug into my arm. "Don't be mad," she entreated.
"Did you keep them safe?"
She hesitated before nodding quickly.
"Then I'm not mad at you," I said firmly. "Okay? I'm not."
Her grip on me loosened before becoming dangerously tight. "You're not?"
