Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.

Chalice.

For a solid five minutes (I know because I counted), I stood there, gnashing my teeth, whilst watching the men that were supposed to protect me walk away after ridiculing me.

I waited until they were gone before I carefully pushed open the door to the room I’d seen Kael walk out of, and I wasn’t even surprised when I saw Leilani sleeping peacefully on the bed. In fact, all I felt was rage.

I knew that it had to be her!

God, she was the only reason they’d treat me the way they did earlier, and it was annoying because they were mine now. They were married to me now, yet surprisingly, she still had them wrapped around her little finger.

—And to make matters worse, none of them tried to make love to me anymore. They treated me like I had the plague. Like the only reason they still had me around was because of the baby, and that was infuriating!

Tears stung at the corners of my eyes, and I knew I should leave. That I should walk out of here and never come back; but I couldn’t bring myself to do that.

Goddess, I felt betrayed and hurt.

And due to this feeling, I slipped further into the room and shut the door behind me.

I tiptoed close to the bed and upon the realization that she was still sleeping soundly, I turned towards the several machines connected to her body and began to look for one... just anyone that appeared even remotely important.

Anyone that would affect her terribly— or even kill her— if I cut off whatever it supplied.

But I didn’t understand anything here. They all looked like medical jargon.

"I always knew you didn’t have it in you to do anything right, because tell me why you’re trying to kill me but don’t know how to go about it?" A voice suddenly said, making me jump fright.

I slapped my hand over my chest as I spun around, my eyes widening when I saw Leilani staring straight at me with a bemused smile on her face.

Oh, how I wanted to wipe that stupid smile off her ugly face!

"Hello, sister!" She purred softly, whilst waving at me in a way that managed to enrage me even further.

My nostrils flared in annoyance, but I was smart enough to know when I had been cornered. So I drew myself to my full height and hissed;

"You flatter yourself."

"Huh?"

"You must think you’re so important, and that’s why you feel I’ll risk killing you, despite knowing what it would do to my reputation."

She shrugged derisively, seemingly unfazed. "Oh, it wouldn’t do anything to it. Would it? I mean, everyone now knows you killed grandma but you’re still walking around freely, aren’t you? No one even tried to question why you did it."

When my body trembled this time, it wasn’t because I was afraid. It was because I was enraged. I opened my mouth, ready to respond when another voice beat me to it.

It said; "Oh, I did. I questioned why she did it. And I’ll keep questioning it for as long as I live until I get to know why."

"Gavin?" I seethed, my rage tripling when I turned to the sound of the voice only to find Gavin standing there with a bouquet of white roses.

I mean, when last did this buffoon even get me flowers?

I tilted my head to the side in irritation as I watched him step even further into the room, his eyes not leaving my face once even as he set the flowers on the table.

And then a thought struck me: How much of our conversation did he hear?

And did he see me trying to hurt Leilani?

These thoughts made my heart race, but I was soon snapped out of them when he drawled; "I would like to know the boy Grandma caught you with... the boy who had made you kill her..."

Now, my legs were shaking so badly, I could barely hold my weight anymore. My eyes darted from Leilani’s face to Gavin’s and upon the painful realization that they were both now on the same side, while I was suddenly the outcast, my chest instantly felt tight.

I spat; "Gavin, stop this."

But he didn’t listen. He turned to look at Leilani for a moment and I saw her nod at him as if conversing with him secretly before he turned to me— mind you, I hated that.

I cried; "Please, you’re scaring me!"

Naturally, that would’ve made him stop. If it was when he still loved me, then he would’ve tried to console me; But he didn’t. I stepped back in fright when he stepped closer. And when he still wouldn’t stop coming close, I staggered backward even more until my back hit the wall.

I cried; "Step back!"

"Chalice, I also recently found out that Leilani had nothing to do with the rogue attack four years ago even though you had managed to convince us all that she was involved in it. Why did you do that?"

I gulped.

No. No. No.

Was Gavin digging into everything? Was he really trying to uncover the entire truth?

Tears streamed down my face before I could stop them and I watched as his eyes darkened before he turned away and spat; "You know, I investigated the case. I even got my hands on the number... you remember the one that we had found in Leilani’s phone, ’chatting’ with her to plot the attack?" He said slowly and again, I gulped.

My throat suddenly felt dry, and truth be told, there were no more tears left in my eyes to cry.

It felt like my entire world was crashing right before my eyes. And it was ironic to think that the person pulling the rug from under my feet was the same brother who had doted on me for years.

"Chalice?" He called, snapping me out of my reverie; but I didn’t turn to look at him.

I couldn’t.

I snapped; "What?"

"Do you know the interesting thing I found?" he asked but I didn’t respond. Leilani also didn’t say anything but she looked intrigued.

—Like this was not all her fault!

He continued; "I found out that the number was registered under your name. Do you care to explain that?"

As soon as I heard those words, I knew then and there that it was over for me. That I was done for.

My stomach churned and at that moment, I desperately wanted to throw up. Again, my eyes met Gavin’s and when I was met with an iciness that felt foreign, I trembled.

"I... I..."

"Chalice, you did that too?" Now, it was Leilani who spoke. Her voice carried a hint of hurt but she didn’t look surprised that I would do something like that. If anything, she was amused.

Amused!

My lashes trembled when she shook her head and turned away, muttering under her breath; "god! You’re despicable!"

And that was the last thing I heard before I began to hyperventilate. It was the last thing I could grasp before my vision began to wane.

In a moment of panic, I feared what would happen when the triplets found out about this too, but before that could happen, I knew I needed to create a distraction.

That I needed to find a way out.

So I let my eyes roll to the back of my head as I crumpled to the floor, ignoring Gavin’s panicked voice as he screamed for me to wake up.

But what exactly does he want me to wake up to?

Does he want me to wake up so that he would continue to question me like a criminal and expose everything I’ve spent years hiding?

Hell no!