Lola POV
The house was loud.
Not the usual kind of weekend loud either. This was the type of loud that crawled under your skin—the kind of loud that made your thoughts scatter. Music was blasting through the living room like it was a club. People I didn’t know were laughing, dancing, knocking into furniture like they lived here.
Because apparently, tonight, they did.
I walked down the stairs slowly, one hand dragging along the railing like it would hold me together. My bare feet hit the bottom step just as someone spilled their drink and didn’t even notice.
I scanned the room, annoyed. And then I spotted him.
Cassian.
Leaning casually against the kitchen doorway like the entire place wasn’t shaking. Like he didn’t just turn our house into a circus.
I stalked across the room, pushing past people. “Doesn’t she have a house?” I snapped. “Couldn’t she do this anywhere else?”
The music was so loud, I doubt anyone but Cassian heard me. But he did. He straightened, his face immediately darkening.
Darla, of course, was standing near the kitchen counter with a bunch of girls draped around her like props. She looked me up and down and let out an obnoxious scoff, then turned to whisper something to her friends. They all laughed.
Probably about me.
God, how did she end up on the team anyway?
Oh right—her parents. They were one of the biggest sponsors of the volleyball program. That had to be the only reason she made the team. Because it definitely wasn’t skill. She couldn’t play for shit.
Cassian walked over to me, face hard, eyes burning with something between fury and bitterness. He leaned close enough that only I could hear him over the music.
“You don’t get to say anything tonight,” he hissed. “Not in this house. Not after what you did.”
My head tilted. “What I did?”
“You fucked the enemy,” he whispered, his jaw clenched. “You made us look like fools.”
I straightened, fists tight at my sides. “Who I see, who I kiss, who I breathe near—is none of your business.”
“It is my business,” he snapped. “Because you’re my sister. And you’re the one who’s supposed to get that scholarship. You think making out with Reyes is gonna help that?”
I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Where I go in life, Cassian, isn’t your concern either.”
“Yes, it is!” His voice cracked, not from volume, but from pressure. “Because you’re doing this for Mom and Dad. Aren’t you?”
My chest clenched.
“You’re supposed to do this for them too,” I whispered, my voice shaking.
He looked away for a second. Then, softer but no less intense, he muttered, “Even if I wanted to… I don’t stand a chance at that scholarship.”
His words hit like a punch.
“That’s all they ever talked about,” he added. “You. You and your future. You were always the golden child, Lola.”
I took a step back, hurt. “Is that what this is about? You’re… jealous?”
“I don’t want the scholarship,” Cassian said, scoffing like the very idea disgusted him. “I just want you to do what they asked of us. That’s it.”
“They asked it of you too,” I said, my voice rising. “Why don’t you do it?”
“Because I’m not you!” he exploded. “I’m not the prodigy. I was never the favorite.”
I blinked, stunned. “Cassian… that’s not true.”
“Really?” he sneered. “Go read the will.”
My heart skipped. “We’re not supposed to see the will until we’re twenty-one. How do you know what’s in it?”
“I have my ways,” he said flatly.
“And what do you mean ‘nothing’s left for you’? They had to leave something for you,” I whispered.
He shrugged. “Yeah. A car. That’s it. The rest? All of it? To you. So can I please, just have this one thing?”
I stared at him, my pulse loud in my ears.
“And what is this one thing?” I asked slowly. “Is it… Darla?”
His eyes rolled so hard it looked painful. “Go back to your room, Lola.”
“You didn’t answer me.”
“Go. To. Your. Room.”
He didn’t have to say it twice.
I turned around and stormed up the stairs, every step heavier than the last. The moment I reached my room, I slammed the door shut and yanked off my hoodie. I threw myself onto the bed and put my headphones in, blasting music just to block out the noise from downstairs.
Everything felt wrong.
Cassian’s words. The truth about the will. The fact that somehow, my parents had left me everything and him… nothing.
And I never even knew.
I closed my eyes, trying to breathe.
Why does everything feel like it’s falling apart?
That’s when my phone buzzed.
Jace: You coming to watch me race next Saturday?