Fated To Three, And I Broke Them All

Theodore:

Verity had me deeply worried about her.

Considering everything she had been through, and everything that was coming out about her past, her reaction had been strangely subdued.

I remembered what happened when Gigi had been hurt.

Verity had broken down completely. She cried endlessly and sank into depression.

Everyone coped differently, of course, but Verity seemed especially troubled now.

Maybe it was because this time, it involved her brother.

I had noticed that she had stopped showing her emotions as openly.

She carried herself as if she were somehow guilty, and I hated seeing her like that.

When I heard something shatter, I came out and found the maid cleaning up the mess.

She told me Verity had stepped on a piece of broken glass and that the blood on the floor was hers.

Calling Verity didn’t help much.

The more she told me, the clearer it became that she had landed herself in serious trouble.

But I had to do something to protect her.

I couldn’t let Ragnar throw her out of the house.

"What did you say?" Ragnar asked, turning toward me.

"She was really struggling. Ever since the truth about Oliver came out, I think her anxiety has been getting worse. Everything she went through before has started coming back to her. All that old trauma, everything she suffered because of her brother’s actions."

I avoided Ragnar’s eyes as I continued.

I knew how protective he was of the attic.

"She came to me asking what evidence we had against Justin. I thought it would be better if I guided her toward the truth myself."

"And you told her to sneak into my attic and go through my private belongings?" Ragnar hissed.

His anger was justified, but I wasn’t going to let Verity take the blame alone.

She stood behind him looking so vulnerable that my heart softened toward her all over again.

"It wasn’t like that. I took her up there myself. I sat her down in front of the computer. I only stepped away for a minute to use the bathroom. When I came back, she was gone, and then I realized this whole mess had happened," I explained more confidently.

Ragnar stared at me in silence.

"How did you get the code to my computer?" he asked.

A chill ran through me.

If Ragnar started questioning me about the code, I was seriously screwed.

"Do you really want to know?" I asked.

"Yeah, I do."

If it had been Jaguar, he probably would have noticed how uncomfortable I was and let it go.

But Ragnar wasn’t Jaguar.

He wasn’t going to drop it.

"I saw you enter it once. What’s done is done. What’s the point of dragging this out now?" I replied.

His jaw tightened.

Then he turned toward Verity, who was still staring at the floor.

"Then maybe you’re the one I should punish," Ragnar said.

I lifted my chin and met his gaze.

"Whatever punishment you think I deserve."

I was still speaking when Verity’s voice cut through the tension.

"I deserved to know."

Silence fell over the room.

"There was so much evidence against my brother. What I don’t understand is why no one told me any of it."

As she began questioning him, I noticed the severity in Ragnar’s expression slowly start to fade.

"None of this matters now. Beating yourself for the past won’t change anything. But if I ever see either of you anywhere near my office again, it won’t end well."

As expected, Ragnar seemed angrier about his privacy being invaded than anything else.

"And as for you, I’ll deal with you later," he told me, pointing a finger in my direction.

Then he started to leave.

He stopped beside me, and for a second, I thought he was going to say something else or question me further.

Instead, he glanced down at the floor.

"Tell the maid to clean up her wound," he said harshly before walking out of the room.

The moment he was gone, I rushed to Verity because I could tell her knees were about to give out.

She was already starting to collapse.

I caught her by the arms and helped her onto the bed.

Then she broke down.

"I need to see that evidence," she choked out.

Her breathing was so uneven that it looked like she was slipping into a panic attack.

I had never seen Verity like this before.

Seeing this side of her made guilt settle heavily in my chest.

"Theodore? What’s going on?"

Gigi’s voice came from the doorway.

Verity didn’t look up. She turned her face away instead.

I glanced back at Gigi, who stared at me in confusion, probably wondering why I was kneeling in front of our secretary.

"It’s okay. I’ll explain everything later," I told her, hoping she would understand and leave.

Verity was clearly in no condition to be seen like this, and I could tell she didn’t want anyone witnessing her breakdown.

"Um... could you come outside? I need to talk to you," Gigi murmured.

"It’s just... it’s nighttime, and I suddenly started having all these flashbacks. I tried to sleep, but everything keeps coming back to me. I keep seeing all those horrible faces of the people attacking my family, and I don’t understand why Oliver did that."

By then, Gigi was standing in the doorway crying uncontrollably.

Slowly, she lowered herself to her knees.

Now I had two women crying in front of me, and I had no idea where to look.

My gaze kept shifting from one to the other.

Verity gently removed my hand from her arm.

"Go. Help her," she muttered, turning her face away.

"Theodore, please come."

Gigi struggled back to her feet, using the doorframe for support, then reached a hand toward me.

My eyes went back to Verity.

Her breathing had begun to settle, but she was still hiccuping between uneven breaths.

Gigi, on the other hand, was in the middle of a full-blown breakdown.

"Gigi, Ragnar probably went back to his room. Go to him. He’ll take care of you."

The words were difficult to get out.