I’m better off with my online buddy, or even Scarlett.
And it’s okay. I mean, that’s how it should be, right? Once we fall in love, the person becomes part of our immediate family, or so they say.
Brothers don’t stop loving their sisters when they fall in love.
Lightning strikes the sky, like a sharp razor gliding through my heart and ripping it in two, forcing me to look inside and see the ugliness that pollutes it.
My brothers don’t love me. They feel responsible for me.
I wipe away the single tear sliding down my cheek, and my strained laugh sounds pitiful even to me.
How pathetic I must seem to him right now. Most people my age have mommy and daddy issues, and here I am with my older brother issues.
I don’t remember my parents and why I love them like any child would…they didn’t raise me or shape my childhood in any way.
Rush and Rafael are the parental figures in my life.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for everything they did for me, but we don’t have a bond. They grew up and built their lives away from me, and sometimes I think I’m just screwing up their lives.
Getting my inheritance would sure lift some of the burdens from their shoulders, and they’ll be able to focus more on their relationships. My brothers deserve to be happy, even if their happiness doesn’t include me.
Lev’s status changes to offline. He left without replying.
Oh no.
Me spilling my guts was too much for him? The time has come, it seems, to rectify the situation and never allow myself such weakness again.
I jump out the bed, putting the laptop away, and run inside the living room, snatching the book I brought from the library and sprinting back to my room.
I snap a picture of it, ready to send it to my laptop and show it to my friend to change the subject to where it should have stayed. On our mutual interests.
That’s when the golden envelope Marissa gave me earlier slips from it and falls on the blanket.
I forgot about that.
Abandoning my mission, I pick up the envelope, flip it, rip the red seal, and take out the glistening invitation inside.
Lavender Wright.
You are honorarily invited to the Masquerade Auction Night.
Welcome to our club.
Where vices rule and saints weep.
Iread the invitation several times, studying the club’s logo and the address with a code attached.
Grabbing my phone, I point my camera at the code, and a place shows up on the map which seems to be in the middle of nowhere.
The fine print underneath states that I can bring one more person with me, and the said auction night is happening this Saturday.
Right after family dinner, then?
Why are they sending me an invitation?
Scratch that.
Who owns this club and how do they know my home address?
