Fated To Three, And I Broke Them All

Verity:

A few days had passed, and Gigi was driving me insane.

Every day, she sent me different kinds of texts, rambling about one thing or another.

Most of them were about her dress, the theme of the engagement ceremony, or the songs she wanted to choose.

Some of her ideas were so ridiculous that, at times, I wondered if she was only telling me about them to annoy me.

Once, she said she wanted to be airlifted in a carriage and lowered down as if she were a fairy descending from heaven to save the distressed Alpha King.

I was shocked by the things she came up with.

Another time, she told me she wanted swans running around her while she dramatically ran toward Ragnar before throwing herself into his arms, all while monsters chased after her.

I didn’t know what was wrong with her.

To be honest, she just sounded incredibly needy and like an attention-seeking bitch.

My days at the office weren’t going any better.

I had to make sure I was never alone in a room with Jaguar or Theodore, and neither of them missed an opportunity to try to change that.

They wanted to get closer to me.

I had noticed how aggressively they were pursuing me now, both of them constantly trying to get my attention.

Still, we hadn’t had a single one-on-one conversation since the last time I’d told them to give me some space because I needed time to clear my head.

I just didn’t know how long they would continue respecting that decision before cornering me again and demanding that I choose.

That afternoon, I was in Ragnar’s office, placing small notes inside the files on his desk, when my high heel slipped.

One of the files fell beneath the desk.

I grunted and made my way around to the open side where Ragnar’s chair stood.

After staring at his seat for a moment, I bent down to retrieve the file.

Instead, I slowly lowered myself into his chair and gave myself a little twirl.

Then I reached for the particular pen he always used, held it the way he did, and straightened my posture.

"Oh, I’m Alpha King Ragnar. I’m never wrong," I declared, doing my best to imitate his tone.

I deepened my voice.

"Oh, who are you? Sorry, I don’t remember your name. My crown is too big for my head. It blocks my brain, so naturally, I have no idea who you are."

I tried to sound as much like him as possible.

"Wait, who are you? No, you’ll be punished because Ragnar says so."

I pointed accusingly in front of me before turning in the opposite direction with a hiss.

"You’ll all listen to me because I’m the best of the best. I’m so arrogant and annoying, but I’m always right."

I placed my hands on my waist.

With a sigh, I finally got out of the chair and crawled beneath the desk to retrieve the file.

That was when the door opened.

My entire body jolted.

Before I could grab the file and crawl back out, I heard a voice from the other side of the desk.

The front of the office desk was completely covered, hiding me from whoever had just entered.

And it wasn’t just anyone.

It was Alpha King Ragnar.

"I want this investigation kept private," I heard Ragnar say.

I immediately decided not to come out.

"Get me the camera footage from that specific night. And find out why the cameras at Rochelle’s house weren’t working. There has to be something you can do to recover the footage."

The hairs on the back of my neck rose.

That specific night could only be the night Gigi claimed she had been abducted.

And where had she supposedly been taken from?

According to her, Rocky had been hiding in the bushes around Rochelle’s mansion.

He had jumped out, grabbed her, and abducted her.

Now Ragnar wanted the footage from that night.

A strange feeling settled over me.

He had to suspect something. Otherwise, why was he so interested in recovering it?

Then again, if the footage really was missing, that could mean Rochelle had deleted it.

I remembered the day Rochelle had come over, when Gigi had confessed that the two of them had set Rocky up to torture and abuse Jenna one night.

I couldn’t help wondering what else the two friends were hiding.

"Nobody is going to suspect anything. Everyone is busy with the engagement. That’s why I want you to do it now. The engagement is a good distraction, and I want this done before then."

Ragnar’s heavy tone and commanding voice were intimidating enough, but the words he was saying were even more unsettling.

He had agreed to the engagement so everyone would be distracted.

Maybe whatever he found in that footage would determine whether he still wanted to go through with it.

I hoped so.

That had to be why he wanted everything done before the engagement.

But if he fucking forgave her and listened to her nonsense after everything, it would be a slap in the face to every victim involved.

My heart started pounding harder.

Then Ragnar suddenly went quiet.

I frowned beneath the desk.

Was that it?

Was he not going to say anything else?

Footsteps approached, and I immediately pressed myself farther to the side.

I bit my bottom lip, wondering if I should just jump out and say, "Surprise," but that would be too weird.

I could say I had been looking for the file, but then he would probably ask how long I could possibly have been searching for it when it was right there.

The footsteps stopped beside me.

Then Ragnar turned his chair around.

His knees almost brushed my cheek when he sat down.

"Come out," he ordered. "You can’t stay hidden forever."

I bit my bottom lip again.

Then, as awkwardly as possible, I started crawling out from beneath the desk.

The moment I crawled out, I saw the look on his face.

Oh, he looked pissed.

"I was looking for a file."

Well, I had to say something.

But the expression on his face told me he wasn’t going to tolerate a single lie tonight.