warning: scenes of violence

• [ o u t f o r b l o o d ] •

♥ louisa ♥

WHAT WAS CHRISTMAS without any magic?

Nothing more than another cold, wintry day where people wished they had someone who'd keep them warm.

My Christmas day had composed of a tense meal with my parents where each of us tiptoed on ice and avoided the elephant in the room. As soon as our plates had become clean, we all retreated into our bedrooms in the empty house, tending to our own business. They probably hadn't even realised that I'd left the house ten minutes ago.

Like a pearl trapped in a clam, the huge lump remained clawed to my throat as I signed off the letter I'd been writing.

- Love From Lou x

I frowned slightly, my lips falling downwards when I noticed how shaky my handwriting had been. I'd only be lying to myself if I said the cause of it was the vibrations of the taxi. The sinking feeling in my heart suggested that if I were still in my bedroom, I'd be a complete mess.

Glancing at my slim wrist to check the time, I slid the letter into an envelope and wrote 'Gabe' in black cursive on the top. I put it in my handbag.

7.57 pm

Three minutes to go.

I didn't know if the next hour would lead to my demise. What was certain was that it would lead to his.

An odd hollowness filled me as I thought about my time at Forteaux Academy. It had been a poisonous remedy. A remedial poison. Something that had a fair deal of highs and lows.

I guess things don't have to be perfect to be significant.

My reign was soon to come to an end however, strangely enough, I didn't feel the terror or restlessness that I'd always imagined at facing the internal devastation. It felt like I was turning over a new leaf.

I knew that the peace within me was going to be disturbed as soon as I saw Logan Thornton's face. All my pent up wrath was going to be released the split second my eyes fell upon the man who had mercilessly shattered my already broken pieces into smithereens, hurt those I loved to get his way and doused the beauty of life with fire.

He would soon be burnt with the very flames of the thing he was obsessed with.

Thanking and paying the cab driver, I stepped out onto the empty streets overlooking the calm river. The day that Gabriel and I had come to this exact place after meeting at that patisserie was freshly engraved in my mind. It had been one of the very few days where I'd forgotten about the shadows haunting me and instead embraced the laughter and joy that the moment had brought.

My blazing eyes were set on the tall man who lurked by the Thames, arms rested against the barrier.

"Logan."

"Look who finally turned up." He was dressed in a plain white t-shirt with a fitted grey woollen blazer over the top, that skimmed his slim, toned figure. A half-full bottle of alcohol was in his hand.

The coppery strands of his hair were combed backwards, presumably for his family Christmas celebration, revealing the square structure of his face and uneven jaw that people seemed to think made him more attractive than he already was.

I could feel his eyes raking through me and to be frank, I didn't blame him.

The silk white slip dress I had worn fell towards the floor in weightless waves, skimming my body at the right places. The nude jacket hung from my shoulders matching the sensual colour on my lips. I figured that if things were going down tonight, I may as well sink looking like a damn deity.

"Did you enjoy your Christmas present? " I questioned, the gold eye shadow adorning my eyes shimmering in the dim light and silently ridiculing him.

His lip curled in distaste and I walked closer to him, placing each jewel-embellished Sophia Webster heel in front of the other. "It truly was difficult to find something right for you Logan, so tell me," I stopped centimetres away from him. "How does it feel to be newly un-fianceed?"

As I predicted, that seemed to kick him off.

"You bitch-"

I rolled my eyes with a smile, "Bitch? Is that all? Come on, I thought a straight honours student with a mind like yours would be more creative than that."

"Oh, really? I'll do my best to expand my vocabulary from now onwards." The brown of his eye seemed to darken as the volcano within him began bubbling.

"Why don't you tell me how you found your gift? I'm surprised your loverboy made it through five blades in the gut. He never fails to surprise me."

My jaw tensed as I looked at him in disgust, "You're crazy."

He laughed bitterly, white teeth flashing at me, "I wouldn't call it crazy. More committed. Once I've decided on something, I follow through and don't chicken out like a coward."

"Even if it's completely fucked up and delusional," I offered sternly, angling my head towards him just in time to see his eye twitch. He placed the bottle on the floor.

"Don't you dare call me fucking delusional."

Within the snap of a finger, he'd closed the gap between us, his hand resting against the dip of my waist. "Putting somebody who is out of line back in place is a lot better than say, abandoning your sister and then ramming her with a car."

His words had the exact effect on me that he had imagined; they siphoned my soul out in a mere moment.

But this time I'd prepared for his manipulation and quickly moved on.

"Don't turn this around," I ripped his hand away from my waist and dropped them to the floor as if they were toxic. "And get your filthy hands off me."

"As if my hands haven't been on your skin before," He mocked before giving me hips one last tight squeeze and moving to clasp his hands behind his back.

Frustration rippled through me as he turned around the face Tower Bridge, looking as if he didn't have a single care in the world. He should have been suffering.

I swept my thick black hair over my shoulder, mumbling under my breath just loud enough for him to hear.

"Gabriel's have."

Silence.

"What the hell did you just say?"

His head whipped towards me as what I said caught his attention. I smirked at him with my eyebrows raised, "Nothing."

He strode towards me, his hands tightly wrapping around my thin arms. The nails of his hands dug into me, "What happened in the nightclub in Sydney once I'd left? And don't even try to lie to me because I can see right through you. I saw you leeching onto him like a damn prostitute."

By 'once I'd left' he meant 'when I was blackmailing Lexi' yet of course he was unaware that Gabriel and I had followed him outside the club.

Knowing it would irritate him, I threw my head back and laughed at the stars above me. They seemed to twinkle in amusement with me. "I'm not a prostitute, Logan. Now you're just getting ridiculous."

His mud brown eyes narrowed as he silently surveyed me for a couple of seconds. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Something changed. You seem different. Has your deranged brain forgotten who I am?"

"No, that would be too much of a dream," I looked at him with a fiery contempt that was as pure and concentrated as black coffee. This time, I wasn't going to hideaway. I was out for blood. "I simply don't care anymore."

He let out an animalistic growl, hands clenching into fists and the stone in place of his heart turning into ice.

"Yes, you fucking do care. As soon as I'm finished with you, you'll be sobbing your empty heart out like usual. I'm pretty sure, screaming in frustration in a sign of 'caring' even if it's in hate. There's so much more I could do to destroy you."

An angry sound escaped me as I responded to him, "Not anymore, Logan. I'm not going to succumb to a manipulative bastard like you-"

He spat at the ground in repugnance, "You're rub-"

"And you deserve to be rotting in hell for what you did to Prince and Gabriel. They both could have died. Are you too swept up in your arrogance to notice that or are you just stupid?"

The December air seemed a lot chillier than before and I found myself tightening the material that covered my skin. He murderously took a few steps towards me, upper lip twisted in anger and then grabbed my jaw in his hand, dragging it to close his face.

My handbag fell to the floor.

I let out a cry of pain and his whispered dangerously, "Don't act all saintlike, Louisa. Prince getting caught up in it was just an unfortunate side effect-"

My hands tried to pry his away from my cheeks, "a side effect? You're too dismissive-"

"Shut the fuck up and let me finish. I hate being interrupted," he stormed, squeezing my face tighter and causing me to hiss out in pain.

"We both know you're just as bad as me. At least I'm upfront about wanting to ruin Gabriel. I don't pretend to be his friend; you watch his suffer internally, knowing that you could alleviate his pain but choosing not to. You're just like me, Louisa. Just like me. The difference is that you're too cowardly to admit it."

I wavered for a second, seeing the element of truth in his words.

You know he's playing mind games. Don't let him in.

Letting out a breath of irritation, I scratched my long nails into his eye. He let out a plethora of curses, releasing his grip on me and shoving me to the floor. "Ouch! Fucking b-"

I landed at an odd angle on the floor, a crack from one of my bones filling my ears. My fingers scrambled for my phone inside my Hermes bag - which had been discarded on the floor - as he continued swearing loudly metres away from me.

As fast as I possibly could with my heart pounding against my chest, I started the live stream pointing the camera towards the pair of us.

"Oh, you're gonna regret that, you worthless deliberated piece of crap!" Logan screamed at me, not going a damn how loud he was screaming since the street was empty.

He was oblivious to my phone and too caught up in his wrath. A vein protruded from his forehead as his body tensed. I couldn't help the familiar tremor in my hand as he radiated fury

Get up, Louisa.

Pushing my hand off the ground, I stood up whilst gritting my teeth as I glanced at my grazed arm. Blood emerged in little dots from where it had scraped against the tarmac. "You're the debilitated one, Logan," I scowled.

The jacket slipped off my shoulders causing my white dress to become tainted with red as my chest heaved at the emotions raging inside me.

"Look at all this confidence," Logan mocked, full lip turned downwards as he clicked his head to the side in preparation.

The glow from the half-lit city landed on the left side of his face, irradiating it vaguely just for me to see the volatile look in his eyes. The left one was bloodshot from where I'd gorged at it.

"It doesn't suit pathetic weaklings like you. So why don't you just stand by the Thames and take some pretty picture with the Tower Bridge? Do your job and shut the hell up."

A wave of new anger rushed through me at his sexist ideology and I strode towards him. "My job is not to look pretty, Logan," I snapped at him, the wind ripping at my hair and splaying it behind me. He scoffed as if what I had was ridiculous and shoved me backwards. I stumbled at the impact and winced at my right shoulder which had begun aching from where I'd fallen upon it earlier.

Tomorrow, I'd be battered but right now, I was ready to launch him into the embers of desolation.

"Yes, it damn well is Louisa. That is your only job around here unless I tell you to do something different," Logan growled, pulling his jacket off and dumping it on the floor. "Now come here and do the only thing you're good at."

The taunt was evident in his words as he brought up the arrangement which had been going on for months. Sole repulsion ignited me when I saw his full lips pull into a smirk.

"No."

I was pushing him and I knew he was about to snap. Aggression infested him as he gave me a lethal look.

"What do you just say?"

I do love this new Louisa. But to be honest, I prefer part two of this chapter - it's even more wild ;) This is still part of the build up. Volcano erupts in part two.

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KiwiAndKoalas x

♥ 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫! ♥