step-sibling. Noun. (pluralstep-siblings) The offspring of one's stepfather or stepmother who is not the offspring of one's mother and is not the offspring of one's father. The stepchild of one's father or mother which is not one's half-sibling.

NOTE: Mia and Chase doesn't share a common parent which makes them biologically unrelated. Axel and Ares’s mothers are real sister's which makes them cousins, and Charlotte is Sedric Torrance  (Ares’s dad) illegitimate child which makes Charlotte and Axel biologically unrelated.

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Luna

“What’s your problem?” I blurted out when Mia entered my room. “With Ares.” I added to the sentence.

“My problem?” She was pissed, and I could tell. “I'm stupefied to come with terms on your relationship with someone like Ares.” 

“Don’t play with your words, Mia. You and I both know how bad you're at it. You behaved strange this morning in front of him. He's my boyfriend, for heavens. If you have something against him then say it.” 

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but stopped. What was with her? Her attitude was suspicious, she has never been this way before. I personally blamed Chase for it. 

“Don’t hide anything from me, Mia.” I glanced up from my phone to see her shifting on her feet. “I don't hide anything from you. If only you had spilled your guts to me before then none of this would have happened.” 

“So, it's my fault now?” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “You think I asked for any of those things to happen to me.” 

“No one wants to be faced with so much trauma. I just mean, things could've been avoided. Tomorrow could've been avoided. You would still be with me without any restrictions, but you're just fading away every second.” 

“Everything happens for a reason. I was a naive little girl who believed that someday a Knight would sweep me off my feet and fall in love with me. I was stupid enough to live in a dreamland and believe in happy endings. But, you don't get want you want.” She stared off in the distance, sounding pensive. 

“I miss the old Mia. I miss my Mia. Can you bring her back.” 

“She was a facade, I'm reality.” She sat down on the windowsill, gazing out of my french windows. “But-” she paused, turning to face me with mischief on her lips. “I don't mind helping you to get ready for your first date.” 

“And…?” I suspected she had more to say. 

“Maybe vandalizing Chase’s favourite car.” She grinned and twirled her platinum blonde hair. 

“Okay,” I said with newfound enthusiasm. “First we should destroy his car then prepare for my date.” 

“What time will he be here?” 

“Around ten, I guess.” 

“Ten?” She asked puzzled. “Where the fuck is he taking you?” 

“Nightclub.” I forced a smile but sucked in a breath when she walked over to me. “Okay, it maybe his idea, but I really want to experience that scene.”

“He's just Ares Torrance, not a king to whom you can't say no to.” She had her hand on her bump. “Love, you tell me the moment he starts misbehaving with you. I'll deal with him.” 

“And how am I supposed to contact you after tomorrow?”  It was a sad reality. I wouldn't be able to be near her again and have our little talks. Or wouldn't even be able to enjoy college life with her. 

“I'll find a way to look after you.” I could tell from her voice that she was second-guessing her decision. “If only it wasn't so difficult for me to stay…. I could've stayed here with you,” she whispered, softly. 

She leaned down to kiss my cheek. “I want to understand. Maybe, I'll see it through your perspective, but most of the days I'll just be angry with you.” 

She chucked. “I'll make my peace with it.” 

I wanted to reassure her. I couldn’t let Chase do this. I couldn’t let him take away my only friend for whom I cared so much.. Did giving up one really mean saving the other? 

I was giving up our friendship to save Mia from anymore of the trouble. Despite my reluctance, I knew Mia couldn't risk living in this city anymore, not until the devil stops hovering above her head.

We couldn't let Chase Henry win. If he won his sick game, he will possess Mia’s life forever . He knew the moment Mia submitted to him, her fate would be sealed with him. 

“Hello?” Mia snapped me out of my thoughts and diverted my attention towards her. “You ready to go?” 

“Yeah, let me just change into something more comfortable.” 

“Kay, I'll be downstairs.” 

We both changed our clothes and drove in my Aunt’s car. Aunt Lucille was taking a mid-afternoon nap as she would soon be above the international waters, again. 

“What do you want me to do?” I looked over at her, her hands clasped in her lap, looking kind of nervous, and I smiled.  “I'm nervous as well.”

She chuckled, nervously. “Oh, sweetie, I'm not a bit nervous of committing a felony, but I'm certainly nervous of having you drive without your license.” 

“Let's not be afraid of my driving. I'll be driving you soon, anyway.” I added a double meaning to my sentence. 

“Quit whining and put your eyes on the road. I want to be alive for the next 24 plus hours, I guess.” Apprehension written all over her face. “And I can't miss the joy of destroying Chase’s most valuable possession. His cars.” 

“Cars?” I questioned the plurality of the word. “I thought it was just one.” 

“Nope. We will be damaging all of his fucking cars. Most importantly, his Lexus LFA. That's like his baby and I hate that fucking car the most.” 

“Any specific sentiments attached to that car?” 

“Yeah, he fucked me and a hell lot of girls on the backseat of the car. That one should be destroyed to pieces.” 

“Well, that should be fun to do.” 

Once, we arrived at this estate, it wasn't hard for Mia to fool the security. They let us in and we drove straight to the garage. Garage or the paradise of cars, you can call it whatever you want. 

There wasn't a single car which looked even remotely used, scarred or damaged to the naked eye. I almost felt bad for Chase. Almost. 

“Where do you want to start?” I searched for the first  victim until my eyes zeroed on a Dodge Charger Daytona. 
“That one.” 

***

“Oh, shit!” I exclaimed. “I can't believe we did that.” My heart was beating erratically fast. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” 

“I know, right?!” Mia matched my excitement. “That was sick. Oh, God. I suddenly know the perfect remedy of getting closure.” 

We both laughed at the absurdity of the act we just committed. We managed to vandalize, not all, but most of Chase’s most cherished cars. There were broken windows, torn seats, spray painted exterior and for heaven's sake, the oil beaten out of the engine. 

I can't believe the level of aggressiveness that poured out of me and the adrenaline rush just swept up in my veins. It was an unpredictably satisfying gesture. 

BUT- I can't help and picture the horrified look on Chase’s face when he'll learn what we'd done to his cars. He'll be out for blood. Not Mia’s, mine. 

Well, let him come after me. I have a boyfriend who can deal with him.

Haha. There you go, Chase.

“I'm going to remember this day forever.” Melancholy loomed in her words. “I want you to remember this day as a happy day not with grief.” 

My smile cracked up, but I still managed to keep it up. “What do you mean?” 

“I'm just sorry that it's happening this way.”  

“Huh?” I was perplexed by the possible double entendre of her words. “What do-” Before I could even complete my question, Mia jerked the wheel left making me lose my grip on the wheel. 

“Fuck!” I tried to regain balance, but it was of no use. 

I accidentally accelerated the speed just when Mia regained total control of the steering wheel. 

The car skidded, bouncing and barreling over the pavement and onto a gravel road, and I felt her hand cover the top of my head as our bodies were thrown from side to side, my skull damn hitting the roof. 

“Mia, stop. You're going to get us killed.” 

The car skidded once more and spun out, and my body coiled up on reflex to protect itself. I screamed as the car tipped onto one side, and flipped over with menacing thud. 

“Oh, God.” I cried, panicking at our situation. 

I looked over at Mia who collapsed that the loud impact of our crash. Blood dripped from her head and shards of glass pinched her growing belly. 

“Mia, wake up.” I pulled out my seat belt and tried pulling out the seat belt but it was jammed. “Someone help.” I shouted on top of my lungs. 

Mia’s breathing started to become shallow and naked fear swept into me. I don't know what I would do if Mia died today.

It was supposed to happen this way. NO! She wasn't supposed to die. My pulse was erratically beating and I felt like I could get a fucking heart attack in the moment. 

For one second I was trying to remove the belt from Mia and then I was being pulled out of the car. 

“Get her out of here.” 

“Oil is dripping.” 

“Leave the other one inside. It's too late.” 

NO. Don't leave her to die. Get her out as well. Someone help her. Don't be cowards. My bestfriend is still inside the car. 

I wanted to scream the sentence on top of my lungs, but my mouth weighed like thirty pounds in the moment. It was impossible for me to even tilt my head to the other side. 

I raised my hand to reach out to Mia, but darkness reached out to me and engulfed me in it's maze of hopelessness. 

Voices infiltrated the smothering darkness. I fought to find the surface, to break free of the blackness that surrounded my vision and body. 

I felt as if the bottom of a deep pit filled with water had trapped me. I wanted to swim toward the air, pushing upward with all of my strength. 

Where was I?

As the voices became clearer, I focused on and used them as my new goal. With all my might, I pushed toward the sound. 

A few more attempts and then I'll break free

“Doctor, her skull received a few hits from the accident, but it's not severe. Only her right elbow suffered the consequences of the impact and rest is surfacing back to normal.” 

I heard as the voices became clear. 

“Have there been any signs of regaining consciousness?” 

“This next twelve hours will be painful for her, but assume her regaining her conscious within the next thirty-six hours.” 

“She needs to show some voluntary movements or else it will make our work difficult.” 

I'm here. I'm here. I felt like  shouting the words, but even moving my fingers seemed impossible to be yet I tried to do my best to move. 

The darkness wouldn’t allow me to speak. Unrelenting, it wrapped around me, filled, and held me tight. 

The voices drifted farther away, taking my audible goal with them and disorienting me in the darkness. Exhaustion prevailed and the blackness momentarily won. 

                                 ***

I blinked opened my eyes, trying to focus on the world beyond the black. The room was bright, too bright, as people spoke.

Keeping my eyes open was too difficult; instead, my brain settled into the darkness of my closed eyes and tried to listen. I heard voices, but their words were unfamiliar. 

When I felt someone touch my forehead, My eyes opened again. It was one of the people in scrubs. I blinked toward her. 

“Doctor, the patient is awake.”

Suddenly, another face was before me. This face had bright eyes that were acutely alert.  “Ms. West, can you hear me?” 

 I tried to talk, but I couldn’t. Words evaded me. There were unknown sensations in my body and a throat that ached.

I tried to block it and searched for a new goal. Somewhere in the chaos I found a consistent beeping--somewhere beyond the people and discomfort. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the steady rhythm.

“Ms. West, don’t leave us again. We need you to stay with us.” It was the voice of the bright eyes. I looked toward her and blinked. “Can you hear me?” 

Since I couldn’t speak, blinking worked better. 

“You had us all worried.” 

I scrambled my mind. What happened? Where was I?

As Bright Eyes stared, the memories rushed back. I couldn’t think of anything except of Mia. She fooled me. She used me as a bait. She left me alone. Where was she? 

Bright Eyes spoke again, “Ms. West, you were involved in an accident. Do you have any recollection of the incident?” 

I blinked my response. 

“Do you know how you the accident happened?  Apparently, your car collided due to the bad maintenance of the road.”

Maintenance? Road? That's not what happened. 

I fought to keep my eyes open. “Ms. West, relax. You’ll be able to talk with us soon.” 

Soon? Why couldn’t I talk now?

Then there were people--more people--in my line of vision. They scrambled about pulling and prodding. I didn’t want to think about what they were doing; instead I closed my eyes and listened to the beeps. 

It was sometime later, the bright eyed woman returned. “Ms. West, can you speak?” 

“Y-yes,” I  managed.

“Your family is here to see you. Later we can talk about your condition.” 

My eyes scanned for Aunt Lucille and finally she appeared in my peripheral vision. 

“Baby.” She broke into tears. “You've had me worried sick for days. No driving for you ever.” 

She kissed my forehead lovingly and discussed my health with the doctor. 

I grew thirsty and was immediately given water to drink. After awhile, I drifted back to the darkness but not for long. The next time woke up, my hospital room was filled with large bouquets. 

It looked like a meadow and there were balloons in my room. 

“Good, you're awake.” Aunt Lucille smiled at me. “I didn't want to disturb you, but there's someone waiting right outside your door since you landed here.” 

“Is that person responsible for the meadow?” 

“Yes, he is,” she confirmed. “It’s not a secret to me anymore that your boyfriend is amazingly caring and rather… stubborn.” 

If laughing wasn't painful, I could be chuckling at the thought, but my mind was already preoccupied with something else. 

“Aunt Luce…”

“Yes, darling?” 

“What about Mia? I asked. “Is she alright.” 

Aunt Lucille stopped in her stance and I was already dreading for her answer. 

“Aunt Lucille…” My voice began to shake. “Don’t hide anything from me. Did she survive?” 

She shook her sideways. “I'm sorry, Luna. She couldn't survive in the fire that caught my car.” 

***