Fated To Three, And I Broke Them All

Verity:

"Chase you?" Theodore asked, making me step back so I could look at both of them.

They now stood shoulder to shoulder, watching my face.

"Oh no, it’s just, um, I had a dream," I lied, my eyes drifting up toward the light behind them as I tried to think of an excuse.

But I couldn’t exactly say I’d had a dream when I was coming out of Ragnar’s bedroom.

"Um, I’m glad to see you’re back."

Then I changed the subject to what really mattered.

They had the nerve to come here and stand in front of me after spending time with none other than Gigi.

If Jaguar thought I’d forgotten, he was wrong.

I remembered the way he’d spoken to me earlier.

So when it came to Gigi, he could speak to me however the fuck he liked, but then expect me to act normal because it was Gigi, as if I had any obligation to her.

I mean, of course they thought I did.

The fact that he was setting that boundary made me realize that, deep down, these brothers still thought I owed Gigi for what my brother had done to her.

"Yeah, we had to eventually come back home. Did you think we’d left forever?"

There was a weird sternness in Theodore’s voice.

I kept studying both their faces before tilting my head and folding my arms across my chest with a scoff.

"I’ll be in my room," I said, and it wasn’t an invitation.

No, they knew that too.

As I walked past them, I made sure they knew that every single one of them could go suck balls.

I started walking away, only stopping briefly to see what they were doing.

They were heading toward their brother’s room.

So maybe they were going to talk about what had happened with Gigi, or why she was upset, because I’d heard she was upset.

I wandered farther ahead and around the living room.

I guess nobody was going to sleep tonight.

It was already around two, so I wasn’t sure how many more hours it would be before the brothers finally returned to their bedrooms.

But I was anxious.

I wanted to know what was going on with Gigi too.

After waiting a few minutes, I decided to walk back toward the hallway.

It was a very dangerous game I was playing.

My steps faltered when I remembered Ragnar’s words.

He knew about me helping Jenna, and even though he could have called me out at any time, he had waited.

I hated that about Ragnar.

Whenever he figured something out, he never confronted anyone.

He waited for them to come to him, and only then would he confront them.

That was the messiest part because if someone never thought to talk to him about it, he would just keep it all in his head and hurt himself over whatever version of the situation he believed.

So I stopped.

I wasn’t sure whether he would figure out that I’d been outside his door too.

I turned around and started walking back toward my room, rubbing my hands together anxiously the entire way.

I had only reached my wing and opened the door when I gasped.

Jenna was sitting inside my room, looking restlessly at me.

She must have been crying while I’d been assuming she was asleep.

"What’s going on, Jenna? Why are you up again?" I asked, sitting down on the bed beside her.

"I can’t rest. I can’t get those thoughts out of my mind. Verity, you have to cancel my mate ball. I just can’t—"

She looked like she could pass out at any moment.

When she rested her head on my shoulder, I felt the full weight of her body against me.

I immediately wrapped an arm around her to support her.

"Jenna, look at me," I said, making her lift her head.

Her eyes kept drifting shut.

Her lips were completely dry.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"No. It’s just— I have this feeling. I’m really scared. You saw how my father treated me. Imagine what he would do to me when he finds out what I’ve been doing behind their backs."

Jenna cried out, and a small hiccup escaped her lips.

Guilt struck me.

"Your father won’t find out. I just spoke with Alpha King Ragnar. He doesn’t judge you," I said.

She smiled faintly and tried to get up, only to sit back down again.

"You know, I’m just a woman who everybody, deep down, knows is dirty. They just don’t tell me because they don’t want to make me feel bad."

Every time she spoke like that, she made my eyes sting with tears.

"Jenna, tell me what you’re feeling. Are you okay?" I asked, taking one of her hands between mine and rubbing it gently.

"I think—I think I need to sleep," she mumbled.

"Okay, then you can sleep here," I said, helping lift her feet onto the bed.

"No, I mean sleep for a while. Maybe a few years. And when I wake up, everything will be back to normal. People will have forgotten about me."

Her lips curled downward before she slowly began to succumb to sleep.

That was when I realized she’d taken sleeping pills.

"Jenna, how many?" I asked, trying to keep her awake.

She lifted one hand and held up three fingers.

Three was normal for her.

But that explained why she was so sleepy and out of it.

Even though her body was trying to sleep, she had been forcing herself to stay awake.

"Jenna, when you wake up, things will be better," I told her.

She held on to my wrist as her head sank into my pillow.

I watched her sleep, but even then, she was wheezing.

With every second that passed, I felt more certain that the delay was destroying Jenna.

I had to do something.

I couldn’t just let her die like that.

I grabbed her phone and decided to text Oliver.

He wanted one night with me, right?

Then let’s make this night so memorable for him and so iconic for his sister that generations of their family would remember it.