Iris Giorgianni is no ordinary girl. She's living a double life: a neglected daughter at home, but a fighter on the streets. As the leader of The Sangue - one of the most wanted and well-known gangs in London - Iris has a reputation to uphold. Only...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people."
- Virginia Woolf
"WHAT?" IRIS replied, tugging down her shirt and standing up. Her heart was thumping so hard inside her chest that she was afraid it would burst out of her. Pretending it was nothing, she began walking towards the climbing area again, only to be stopped by Levi's hand around her wrist.
"Don't play dumb with me, Iris." Levi said quietly. His eyes scanned her face with concern. "I'm going to ask you again. What the hell was that scar on your stomach?"
Iris cleared her throat, lifting up her shirt and looking at it as if she'd only just seen it before. "Oh, yeah. That? I think I fell and scratched it or something."
"Bullshit." Levi's fingers touched it softly and she gasped in pain, flinching. Levi raised his eyebrows. "A scratch, huh?"
Iris was silent. She was so unbelievably angry with herself. This was the second time that she let something slip to Levi, and he was beginning to get closer and closer to the truth. She couldn't bear the tension between them, but she was not going to tell him anything. It was better that way. She didn't even want to think about the way he would look at her if he knew the things she'd done; the people she'd hurt.
Levi placed two fingers on her chin, moving it softly so she was looking into his eyes. "Who hurt you, Iris?"
She almost laughed. If Levi knew that Wrench had done it, there would certainly be hell. But as much as she would love Wrench to experience Levi's anger, she couldn't create any more conflict that brought up the question of their gang violence. So instead she swallowed, looked away and lied. "I did. I fell."
Both of them knew that wasn't the real story. Levi's face contorted into a look of anger, his jaw clenching, eyes glaring.
Like I said, I'm not budging, Levi. Iris thought.
"So you're just going to lie to me, then?" Levi asked after a prolonged period of silence. He had created more distance between them, moving away with his back to her, muscles taut.
"I'm telling the truth, Levi." She snapped. "Leave it out."
"Leave out the fact that you have a huge fucking scar?" He growled, turning around and moving his face close to hers. His hazel eyes blazed. "Huh? Leave that out? I can't...I can't let you do this, Iris."
"Like I said. I'm not lying." She glared back defiantly.
"Stop it. Stop it, Iris. I fucking mean it."
"Stop what?"
"All of this bullshit. You aren't telling me what the hell happened to you."
Iris groaned loudly, suddenly feeling a wave of emotion blow over her. She wasn't quite sure why; this wasn't exactly a sad moment. Perhaps it was frustration, frustration at herself, and the frustration of having to lie to him. She hated it, but in this case it had to be done.
