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---
The house was pulsing with music.
Lights strobed in red and violet. Bodies moved around him, high on cheap alcohol and even cheaper attention. But Elias wasn't looking at any of them.
He was watching her.
Mira, standing in the center of it all â in a silver dress that clung to her like a warning sign. Her laugh was too loud, her smile too sharp. And she wasn't alone.
She was wrapped around Jax.
Elias's blood boiled.
> Is this what she wanted me to see?
He could barely hear himself think over the bass, but he shoved through the crowd until he was close enough to see the way Mira's eyes flicked toward himâsmirking, taunting.
Like she was proud.
> "Can we talk?" Elias muttered under his breath, close to her ear.
She turned to him with feigned innocence.
> "You're interrupting."
> "Now."
She sighed dramatically and peeled herself off Jax's arm. "Fine. But only because I like the way you beg."
He didn't reply.
He grabbed her wrist and led her through the maze of the house until they reached the hallway outside the kitchenâdim, quiet except for the muffled thud of music behind the walls.
> "What the hell is your problem?" Elias snapped.
> "My problem?" Mira scoffed. "I'm not the one brooding in corners like I've been betrayed."
> "You dragged Jax into this just to get a rise out of me."
> "And it worked," she smirked. "Didn't it?"
Elias clenched his fists. "You're sick."
> "No," she said slowly. "I'm just tired of watching you circle Maya like she's your salvation."
He stepped closer.
> "You're obsessed with her."
> "I'm obsessed with the fact that no matter what she ruins, everyone forgives her." Her voice shook now, bitter and broken. "Even you."
> "Maya didn't ruin anything."
> "She ruined us!" Mira shouted. "You were mine. Before she started showing up everywhere with that innocent little face and those eyes like she's never done anything wrong. Like she's not the reason our family fell apart."
> "You made your own choices."
> "And so did you. You chose her."
The silence cut like glass.
> "So this is revenge?" Elias asked coldly. "You flirt with Jax, stir shit at this party, just to make me jealous?"
> "You don't get to judge me," Mira hissed. "You don't get to sit on your throne of moral superiority when you've used her, too. You think I don't see it? You don't love Maya. You're just punishing her for surviving."
That stopped him.
For a second.
But then something dark flickered in his eyes.
> "At least I didn't try to destroy her," he whispered. "You did that. Every chance you got."
Mira looked at him like she didn't recognize him anymore.
> "I never wanted to kill her," she said quietly.
> "But you wanted her to suffer."
> "Yes."
Her honesty was brutal.
So was his silence.
Then she stepped close enough for her perfume to choke him.
> "You'll regret leaving me behind."
> "I already do."
She slapped him.
Hard. The sound cracked through the hallway.
Tears glittered in her eyes but didn't fall.
> "I hope she destroys you," she whispered.
> "She already has."
---
Ten minutes later, Mira stormed into the car where Maya was waiting, her face flushed and eyes wild.
> "Drive," she snapped.
> "Miraâwhat happened?"
> "Just drive, Maya."
The tires screeched as they sped into the storm.
---
Elias didn't follow.
He stayed.
Alone. Angry.
Still tasting the venom of Mira's words. Still hearing the echo of the slap.
Still wondering if he should've stopped her.
But he didn't.
And when the crash cameâ
Metal screaming. Glass breaking. Flames kissing the nightâ
It was too late.
---
Present Day
Maya stared at Elias like she'd never seen him before.
> "You let her walk out after that fight?"
> "Yes."
> "You knew she was upset. You knew she wasn't thinking clearly."
> "And I didn't care," Elias whispered. "Because all I could think about was you."
> "That's not love."
> "It's not," he said. "It's guilt. It's rage. It's knowing I didn't save anyone that night. I just waited to see who survived."
Maya's breath caught.
Because the truth wasn't that Elias blamed her for Mira's death.
It was that he blamed himself.
And maybe⊠so did she.
---
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