Fated To Three, And I Broke Them All

Verity:

My eyes moved swiftly across the computer screen. My hands were trembling.

Finding any information about the Fox King seemed almost impossible.

I found nothing about it, but after searching my brother’s name, several videos appeared, and something about their thumbnails immediately felt wrong.

In one, my brother had his hand around Gigi’s throat while holding a knife. In another, he had Gigi bent over.

A third showed him gripping her hair, while another looked as though my brother was recording as Gigi cried.

Before I could click on even one of the videos, I heard footsteps behind me.

My heart nearly stopped.

Swallowing hard, I immediately tried to shut the screen.

The moment the window disappeared and the computer went dark, I saw Ragnar’s reflection behind me.

I shot out of the chair and turned to face him.

He stood in the doorway, his jaw clenched, his muscles tense, without blinking even once.

"Boss---sir--alpha King Ragnar-- I..." I tried to speak, but no words came. No explanation would form.

I gestured toward the computer, though only because I needed an excuse to look away from his eyes.

"I’m sorry," I muttered nervously, fidgeting with my fingers.

Ragnar simply stood there, staring at me in complete silence.

"I’m going to my room," I said, almost as if I were informing him, before hurrying toward the doorway.

I was terrified he might grab me, hit me, or call everyone over and humiliate me in front of them.

But the whole situation seemed to have stunned him too, because I rushed past him and he didn’t stop me.

Instead, he went straight to his computer.

Which meant he was definitely going to check everything I had searched.

I was completely screwed.

I raced down from the attic with my mind numb.

It wasn’t only that I now had to come up with an excuse for what I had been doing.

What I had just seen had shaken everything I believed.

I was still rushing downstairs when I crashed into someone.

"Watch where you’re going," the maid complained as the glasses she was carrying shattered across the floor.

"I’m sorry," I blurted, trying to hurry away.

A shard of glass pierced my foot, and I gasped, wincing from the pain, but I didn’t stop.

I ran back to my room on my tiptoes.

Just as I locked the door behind me, my phone started ringing.

I picked it up and saw Theodore’s name on the screen.

My heart began pounding.

Blood was pouring from my foot.

Theodore was probably calling because Alpha King Ragnar had told him everything. Only two or three minutes had passed.

The moment I put the phone to my ear, I heard his voice from the other end.

"I just asked the maid. She said you hurt your foot. I want to come to your wing. Can I please?"

That made me realize whatever he wanted to talk about had nothing to do with Ragnar.

"No," I replied sharply.

"Jeez, Verity what the heck? Are these bloody footprints yours? You must be bleeding pretty badly."

He sounded far more stressed now, probably because he had reached the main living room and seen the trail of blood.

"No. I’m leaving this place anyway," I replied hastily, reaching for my bag before yanking open the closet and grabbing my clothes.

Ragnar wasn’t going to let me stay here after this.

Making any kind of mistake where Ragnar was concerned was practically a death sentence, and I had gone into his private space.

"Wait, wait. What the hell happened? Why were you running around like a lunatic without even noticing your foot was bleeding?" Theodore demanded.

"I can’t tell you anything. Your brother can explain it himself," I said, dragging my bag onto the bed, unzipping it, and shoving my clothes inside.

"If you don’t tell me right now, I’m coming to your wing."

His threat stopped me cold.

I pushed the clothes into the bag, then sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Your brother caught me using his computer in the attic. I know he’s going to throw me out now," I admitted, taking a deep, shaky breath.

"What? What were you doing on his computer?"

Theodore sounded even more worried.

"I wanted to see evidence against my brother-"

A sudden, forceful knock at the door made my heart pound harder.

"That’s Ragnar," I whispered.

"Wait, listen to me. Before you..."

I ended the call before Theodore could finish.

I couldn’t keep avoiding this. I had to act like an adult and face Ragnar.

With sweaty palms, I walked to the door and opened it.

Ragnar stood on the other side, absolutely furious.

Then his gaze shifted past me to my bag before returning to my face.

He stepped inside, forcing me to move backward as he kept advancing.

Once he was fully inside, he slammed the door shut without even turning to look at it.

"I was just..." I tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come.

"I’m not having you arrested only because what you did for Jenna," he hissed, bending down until he was at eye level with me. "But you’re fired. You’re getting out of this house, and you are never coming anywhere near us again."

He pointed a finger at me as he shouted, making me stumble back in panic.

"I can’t believe this. I brought you into this house, gave you an entire wing, treated you with respect, and this is what you do?" he screamed.

"What were you doing on that computer? Huh?" he shouted again, making me close my eyes and draw in a deep breath.

"Answer me!" he roared, and my whole body trembled.

By then, I understood exactly what had happened.

Fucking Gigi had set me up.

This was how she had chosen to get back at me for humiliating her.

Before I could say a single word, a voice came from behind Ragnar.

"I told her myself to go and look for evidence against her brother."

Theodore’s voice made my head snap up.

Ragnar turned around to look at him too.