Fated To Three, And I Broke Them All

Chapter 161: 161-He Makes Me Take It Off

Verity:

I had walked ahead and sat in the backseat of Ragnar’s SUV.

It was parked a little farther from the gate.

Through the rearview mirror, I watched him walk out of the mansion with his arm wrapped around Gigi’s back as he led her to the SUV.

At the same time, I was a little confused.

Not about much, but about the fact that he was bringing her with him.

I prayed she wasn’t tagging along with us because if she did, the entire plan would be ruined.

It would do my plan more harm than good.

Finally, he came over to the other side and opened the door.

My heart was thumping. I kept my calm, but I didn’t want her to sit with him.

Thankfully, she only leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

The moment he stepped in and shut the door, I quietly let out the breath I’d been holding.

The driver got in, and I noticed there was a partition between the front and back seats, though he hadn’t pulled it up yet.

Ragnar immediately adjusted his black coat and began looking for something in his bag.

"Did you pick up the files?" he asked without looking at me.

"I did," I replied softly.

Once again, I slid to the far right corner of the backseat, sitting almost on the edge as I looked out the window.

I don’t know why I did this, but whenever I rode in the same car as Ragnar, I put as much distance between us as possible, even though I knew I was supposed to be closing that distance instead of widening it.

I kept hearing him shuffle through the pages.

Finally, after half an hour, I heard his bag zip shut and realized he had put everything back inside.

Now the silence was deafening.

"So you’re organizing the event," he finally said.

The way his deep, baritone voice hit me made me jolt. I felt embarrassed by my reaction.

"Yeah. It’s for Jenna’s birthday," I uttered.

"I know that much," he replied. "You picked the mansion as the venue."

I nodded with a gulp and finally turned to him.

He was simply looking at me, one eyebrow raised as though he were thinking about something.

"Actually, Grandma wanted to—uh, I’m sorry. I meant Lady Lucille wanted to have the mate ball and the birthday on the same day, but I thought that since the full moon is only a few days away, it would be really awkward for us to either postpone her birthday or celebrate it early."

I watched him simply nod.

It was a very subtle little moment.

"Anyway, I don’t want a huge event for those two days."

The moment he said that, it was my turn to raise an eyebrow at him.

"But Lady Lucille still wants a very grand event," I reminded him.

He sighed and looked out his window.

"But I’m telling you, I don’t want a grand event in my home," he said firmly.

I stared at him before turning back to the window.

Either he was really arrogant, or he was just trying to put me at odds with Grandma.

Because if she didn’t like the birthday event I planned, she definitely wouldn’t want to hire me for the mate ball.

I could tell he was playing a game with me.

"Why do you scoot over like that? There’s enough space for you to sit comfortably."

The hair on the back of my neck stood up when he said that, telling me he had noticed how I was sitting there, scared of him.

"It’s my habit," I said.

I didn’t turn to look at him, but every once in a while, I caught his reflection in the window in front of me.

I noticed he had rested his head against the seat, stretching his neck back.

One of his legs kept shaking.

After another half hour, I started to feel very sleepy.

I slowly straightened my back, then rested it against the backrest.

I immediately felt more comfortable.

That was when I noticed him turning toward me in his seat, and I almost yelled in fear.

I turned to him and noticed his eyes were narrowed at me.

"Take your hair off your neck."

His demand gave me goosebumps, even though it was a simple statement.

"What?" I asked in confusion, quickly pulling more of my hair over my neck.

"I said, take your hair off your neck, and that scarf thing as well," he added, referring to the way I was going the extra mile to cover something around my neck.

He had seen the bruises two days ago but had kept silent, most likely because Gigi was with us.

I obeyed. I flicked my hair off my neck, then took off the thin silk scarf.

My eyes drifted to him.

One of his arms was stretched over the front seat, while the other rested along the back of the seat.

He was really tall and broad.

The way he sat completely blocked the sunlight coming through the window.

His fingers rested against his lips as he remained lost in thought.

"It isn’t from the gas station attack, is it?" he asked with quiet confidence.

"Actually, it is," I replied.

He confidently closed his eyes and shook his head.

"What makes you so confident it isn’t?" I asked, not bitterly, but because I genuinely wanted to know.

"Because if it was from that day, you wouldn’t be hiding it. It was an attack everybody knew about."

He stopped talking for a moment.

Then he cleared his throat.

"Gigi told me you have a boyfriend."

The way he put the pieces together upset me.

Because he could have done that for my brother too.

Ragnar seemed like a quiet observer overall, someone who was extremely perceptive.

Then why?

Why the fuck didn’t he use that perception to find out the truth about my brother instead of punishing him over a false accusation?

"What about him?" I asked, making sure I sounded like I wasn’t comfortable talking about it.

"Does he hit you?"

My heart skipped several beats.

I don’t know why, but hearing him ask so bluntly caught me off guard.

My response came a little too late, and I knew he had probably reached his own conclusion by then.