Masks are Greater than Sunglasses [ COMPLETE ]

eighteen - family ties

*Happy Wednesday! School is hard and I hope that everyone is doing well. 

You guys have been so amazing so here's an ~extra~ chapter for the week!* 

Recap:

Meet me tomorrow. 10 pm. Washington square park.

Crumpling the slip, I shove it into my pocket. Whatever's going on maybe Bella will have some answers.

- Nick -

Moonlight streams through the cascading water, glittering over the stone of the fountain. I stare into the steam, trying to push down the sinking feeling in my gut. Washington Square park is deserted, all but a few cars driving along the road in the distance.

Somehow the normality of that makes me feel remote, as if I'm watching the world from behind glass. It's been a long time since I felt this way. The past few years I've been straining to make my life normal, as normal as I can be as a Super. Now with Bella back everything's different.

I sense a gaze on me and my eyes snap up. As if I know exactly where to look my eyes clash with another pair. Dark and so similar to my own. The glass around me shatters. I spring to my feet. Everything snaps into sharp relief as Belladonna steps out of the shadows.

She flicks her long dark hair over her shoulder. A smirk is plastered onto her face as she speaks, "It's been a long time Nicky."

I don't say anything. Balling my hands into fists at my side until my muscles shake with tension. I try to calm my mind. All the anger I've repressed for years is streaming through my veins. It takes every ounce of my League training to stay calm.

Bella smirks, as she steps forward the moonlight dapples her face through the trees, "It's been years since I saw you and I don't even get a hello."

"You'll get a hello when you aren't threatening me." I snap, taking an involuntary step back. I force my feet to stall in place. Bella is not a threat to me, not anymore.

"I'm not the one you have to worry about brother dear," She clicks her tongue at me as if I'm a child that just disappointed her. She reaches out, laying a hand on my arm. I barely stop myself from pulling away.

Was she always this haughty? My anger threatens to boil over as I stare at her trying to read the emotions that we both learned to bury long ago. Clearly I've lost that touch, but it seems as though Bella hasn't. Nothing cracks through her cold exterior, "What do you want."

"Right to the point then. You know, I thought that maybe we could reconnect Nicky." I can feel her grip tighten on my arm. If I didn't know better I would think she's hurt by my anger. Guilt lances in my stomach. No, I'm not going to let her trick me like this. My family doesn't get the right to make me feel guilty. Not after how they treated me.

Belladonna shifts, crossing her arms over her chest as her eyes drift over to the fountain, "Fine, all I want is for you to leave Urbandoina."

I narrow my eyes. Nothing is ever that simple. There is always something else, some deeper level. Do I really want to get caught up in whatever chaos my family is planning? No, but I'm not going to run away from them again. They can't drive me out because I'm a Super.

"I have a job to do Bella. Stopping our family from hurting people like me is part of that."

"It doesn't have to be." She glances around furtively even though the park is deserted. Her eyes shine with malice, "You have no idea the storm that's coming and as much as I despise you right now I still don't want you to get caught in this."