Chapter 114: 114-Her Boyfriend Ruined Everything
Jaguar:
I’m not sure if I was doing the right thing, but while I was hiding in that closet, I saw my brother brutally silence Verity.
I also noticed two things that slipped from her lips. One was Oliver’s name.
I remembered what Gigi had told me, that Verity used to have a crush on him.
But the way Verity spoke about him didn’t sound like a simple crush.
It felt like something much deeper. I just couldn’t understand why.
Why didn’t the two stories match?
Then another thought crossed my mind. What if Verity didn’t even know what her brother was doing?
Now that I think about it, she was probably only eighteen or nineteen back then.
Maybe even younger. I couldn’t be sure. She was much younger than Gigi and Justin.
So how the heck did everyone assume she knew?
She looked completely clueless.
The way she apologized to Gigi told me she was just as shocked as everyone else.
I just didn’t know what to think.
I left the house and stood outside before texting her again.
I couldn’t leave her behind.
I wasn’t Ragnar. Ragnar could be heartless. Not me.
’Well—we could be heartless when it came to someone else,’ my wolf snapped.
But Verity was Verity.
I don’t know what happened to me. Every one of her tears felt like a drop of water falling onto a hot stove inside my heart.
When I walked inside, I saw her wounds up close, and I just couldn’t understand how Ragnar had decided she shouldn’t go to the hospital.
I hugged her, and she cried against my chest, making me feel like such a horrible man for everything that had happened.
All this time, we had only seen her beauty and her composed posture. Why hadn’t we looked beyond that?
When I pulled away from the hug, instead of letting her walk on her own, I slipped my arms beneath her and carried her to the bedroom.
I laid her down as carefully as I could.
Then I cupped her face in my hands, gently brushing my thumb over the bruise on her cheek.
She winced in pain, so I softened my touch even more.
"I’ll get you help. You don’t need to stay here because someone is threatening someone."
I don’t know why those words left my lips. I couldn’t even bring myself to say Gigi’s name at that moment.
We couldn’t just ignore Verity.
That fucking monster had beaten her.
I just didn’t know what had come over me.
There was so much anger inside me that I couldn’t suppress it.
My wolf kept wanting to take over so I could find that man.
How the fuck dare he lay his hands on Verity?
"No!" Just as I was about to stand up, Verity grabbed my hand, stopping me.
"We cannot go to the hospital," Verity whispered, slowly shaking her head because she was still in pain.
"Why not?" I asked, sitting down beside her.
"Because the note said if we went to the hospital, he’ll come for—" She paused, gulped, then continued, "He’ll come for Gigi."
As soon as she said that, I felt like my heart would stop.
Not because of what the note said. I had already known that from when Ragnar was yelling at her.
"But he beat you up," I argued, reminding her that he couldn’t threaten us into staying silent while he was hurting others just to protect one person.
"Who am I?" She gave me a sad smile. "I’m just Verity."
The way she said it made my heart split in two.
Anger flared inside me. I took a deep breath, then raised my hand and gently touched her cheek.
"I don’t fucking care what anyone says. You’re just as important."
The moment I said that, a small yelp escaped her lips.
Her body seemed to tense beneath my touch.
It was as though she had never expected anyone to stand by her side.
That realization hurt. I felt so bad for her.
It seemed as though she had never been loved like this before. No one had ever taken care of her.
"And I will take care of you," I promised.
"I don’t want to go to the hospital," she insisted. "I don’t want Ragnar to get angry at me."
Her voice cracked the moment she mentioned my brother’s name.
She didn’t even complain about him.
"Then let me take care of your wounds."
As soon as I said that, I saw her eyes begin to fill with tears.
"But what if your brother—" she started to say.
I immediately placed my hand beneath her chin.
"I’m a grown-ass man. I can take care of whoever the fuck I want to," I said, watching her eyes soften.
My hand slowly traced the curve of her neck.
Then I lifted my fingers, leaving only one resting against her skin as I trailed it down to her collarbone.
Her collarbone was so defined that I found myself captivated by its shape, gently tracing it with my fingertip.
My hand continued lower, stopping just above the slight curve of her cleavage.
I watched her swallow hard.
I pulled my hand away. I had something bigger in mind.
I needed to take care of her. I couldn’t let my emotions or my body’s hunger take over.
I had to show her that I wasn’t with her only because of her body.
I reached for her robe, but someone cleared his throat, making me pull my hand back.
I turned around and there he stood.
Roman.
Her boyfriend.
"Is everything okay?" he asked, glancing between the two of us.
"Roman," Verity blurted out, calling his name with so much love and relief that I felt my heart tighten in my chest.
She struggled to get off the bed and went straight into his arms.
He was carrying bags of food and a bouquet of flowers, but he quickly wrapped one arm around her and pulled her close.
His eyes remained on me. There was something in the look he gave me.
It was as though he wanted me to know that she belonged to him, not to me.
"Baby, are you okay?"
Roman pulled her away just enough to look at her.
He quickly dropped the bouquet to the floor, cupped her face in his hands, and searched her eyes.
She looked at him, then hugged him again. He wrapped his arms around her without hesitation.
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