Page 6

North

Standing in front of the mirror, I adjusted my hair, watching Victor and Connor in the reflection. The room smelled like expensive cologne, cigarettes, and the faint burn of whiskey. The speakers hummed with low bass, the sound filling the space but not loud enough to drown out the tension in the room.

Connor was sprawled across the couch like he had nowhere better to be, one leg hanging over the side, a beer in his hand. Victor leaned against the pool table, rolling his sleeves up slowly, his expression calm, unreadable.

They were waiting for me to say something, and I wasn’t in the mood to talk. I could still feel it—the anger, cold and sharp, sitting at the base of my spine like an itch I couldn’t scratch.

I finally exhaled through my nose, rolling my shoulders as I turned to face them. “Aiden’s not coming tonight.” He’d messaged me while we were getting ready, and I just sent him a thumbs up emoji in response.

Victor didn’t look surprised. He just hummed, reaching for his whiskey glass. “Told you he wouldn’t.”

Connor scoffed, dragging a hand through his curls. “Because he’s into all that fucking healing bullshit these days. Swear to god, sometimes I think that bullshit therapy just makes things worse.”

I clenched my jaw. “You really think that?”

Connor sat up, smirking. “Man, you try living with that energy everyday. It’s fucking exhausting.” He took a slow sip of his beer before continuing, “I mean, I get it. If I were him, I wouldn’t wanna be anywhere near her either.”

Silence settled between us. We all knew who her was. Quinn Harley. The name alone made something dark curl in my stomach.

“She’s going to be here for weeks,” I muttered. “Just… walking around like she belongs. Like she isn’t the daughter of the man who fucking ruined Aiden’s life. It’s fucking messed up.”

Connor let out a sharp laugh, shaking his head. “Yeah. Like nothing ever happened.”

I looked over at Victor, watching the way his jaw tensed as he swirled the whiskey in his glass. He hadn’t spoken much about her. Not really. But I knew the weight he carried when it came to Aiden. We all did.

Victor shifted, resting his weight on the pool table. “You can’t control that, though. Mark was the one that invited her..”

I exhaled sharply, running a hand over my mouth. “Yeah.”

Trust me, I fucking knew that.

Connor scoffed. “It just doesn’t make any fucking sense. I mean, I get why Mark’s ignoring it. He married her fucking mother,” much to the disgust of my siblings and me, “But Aiden’s attitude just doesn’t make sense. If it were me, I’d want her fucking head on a spike.”

Victor shot him a look. “Little dramatic, don’t you think?”

“No,” Connor said flatly. “Because Aiden got fucked. And Quinn Harley gets to just… exist. No consequences. No nothing.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “And for what? Because she’s some sad little girl who lost her daddy? Fuck that.”

I said nothing, because he wasn’t wrong. Aiden had been a goddamn star. He was on his way to playing pro, his future laid out in front of him like a fucking dream. He was untouchable. Until he wasn’t.

Until Robert Harley got behind the wheel drunk and shattered everything. The bastard didn’t even have to pay for ruining everyones lives, and in a way, I couldn’t fucking stand the fact that he died before going to jail.

But that wasn’t even the worst because Quinn—Quinn got a summer vacation before college.

I swallowed down the bitterness creeping up my throat, my hands curling into fists. “He deserves more.” I shook my head then continued, my voice low. “She’s not even trying to keep her head down.”

Connor chuckled, setting his beer on the coffee table. “Pity we can’t do anything about that.”

I didn’t answer right away.

Because the truth was—I did want to do something. I wanted her to pay. I wanted her to feel everything Aiden had felt. I wanted her to know what it was like to have your entire life stripped away in the blink of an eye. Like Aiden, like Mom. Like me and Evie. I mean, fuck, my sister could barely fucking function after Lila died. They were closer than siblings—or at least closer than she’d been with Liam and I growing up.

Victor arched a brow. “What, like revenge?”

I met his gaze and nodded in tune with Connor’s, “Yeah, like revenge.”

He studied me for a long moment, then exhaled, shaking his head. “Aiden wouldn’t want this.”

I smirked. “Good thing it’s not up to him.”

A slow grin spread across Connor’s face. “So we’re doing this?”

I didn’t answer right away. I thought about her—and fuck me if my mind didn’t automatically bring up the memory of her lips and the sound of her gasps. Quinn Harley was fucking with my head. The way she had looked at me earlier—hesitant, unsure, already off balance.

She didn’t belong here.

I turned back to the mirror, adjusting my shirt one last time. “She already feels out of place,” I said finally. “We just have to make sure she stays that way.”

Connor leaned back, smirking. “And how do we do that?”

Victor sighed, already rubbing his temples like he knew this was going to get messy. “You know Summer was talking about reputations earlier,” he said. “How easy it is for someone to get torn apart once the right rumors start spreading.”

Connor perked up. “Oh, now that’s an idea.”

Victor shook his head, muttering under his breath. “You’re both psychopaths.”

“Maybe,” I admitted. “But so are you.”

Victor didn’t argue.

Connor cracked his knuckles, grinning. “So what’s the move?”

I rolled my shoulders, smirking to myself. “She’s not gonna know what hit her.”

Victor gave me a long look. “You really hate her that much?”

I exhaled through my nose, my smirk fading. “It’s not just her.”

It was her mother, her father. It was everything they fucking took from me.

Victor sighed. “Right. Lauren.”

I scoffed, dragging a hand through my hair. “Yeah, that fucking gold-digging whore.”

Connor chuckled. “Tell us how you really feel.”

I glared at him. “You don’t get it. She destroyed my family. She latched onto my father like a parasite, sucked the life out of him, and now she’s just…” I gestured vaguely, my stomach twisting. “Sitting in my fucking house, pretending to be some fucked up version of a Stepford wife.”

Connor tilted his head. “Still haven’t spoken to your mom, yet?”

No. In fact, I hadn’t even seen her since she left. A muscle ticked in my jaw, but I didn’t answer. The guys knew what was up. They knew she wasn’t answering any of our calls. Not mine, or Evie’s, or Liam’s. There wasn’t anything I could do about that.

Victor exhaled. “Because of Lauren?”

“Because of my father,” I corrected. “Because he let her do this.”

Silence settled between us.

Then Connor grinned, slapping his hands on his knees. “Alright. I’m in.”

Victor hesitated. “We go too far, we can’t undo it.”

I smirked coldly. “Good.”

Victor sighed again, shaking his head. “You’re playing a dangerous game, North.”

I picked up my drink. “It’s only dangerous if I lose.”

Connor chuckled darkly. “Guess we better make sure you don’t.”

I downed the rest of my whiskey. Quinn Harley was already hanging by a thread. It was far beyond the time that someone should cut it.