Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 244: Burn with me.

Leilani.

The crowd grew silent as everyone turned to stare at me, but above all their piercing gazes and the murmurs that rippled through them like a disruption in a still pond, Chalice’s gaze stood out to me the most.

She looked... betrayed.

Completely and utterly betrayed.

If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought that I had hurt her beyond measure. Like my actions were unforgivable... like I was the worst possible person to ever exist.

And maybe she was right.

Maybe this was just who I was when I wanted to get back at someone for hurting me as much as she did.

I smirked when she wouldn’t stop glaring at me, but now, I was no longer looking at her. I was staring pointedly at Clement who doesn’t seem to know if he should go or stay.

If he should speak or not.

He palmed his trousers once... then twice. And as if still not satisfied with that, he continued to wipe down on his pants as if looking for some magical kind of dryness. As if that could automatically rid him of his involvement with Chalice. And goddess, I wanted to laugh at him.

He gulped thickly as he came to shakily stand in the centre of the room and with his eyes downcast, he whispered; "Why do you want me here? What do you want me to say?"

"What’s your involvement with Chalice... or Candy as the case may be?" I snapped back immediately, not even bothering to sugarcoat my words.

At my utterance, I vaguely heard the sound of someone’s breath hitching, and it wasn’t until that moment that my gaze flickered once again to Chalice who was still kneeling in front of Kael with tears filling her eyes.

"She is my... she was my student." He stuttered,

"And besides that, what was the relationship you both shared?" That was Caelum and I sighed when his eyes met mine, a small smile spreading across his lips as he shrugged.

And I know that this may not be the right time to say this, but seeing him like this... acting so self righteous and proud filled me with a kind of anger that I couldn’t explain. I do not know why but I still didn’t like him. And fine, maybe he’s tried so many times in the past to atone for his sins but it doesn’t change the fact that he was the most cruel to me.

That he’d been the one to drain me of 10 bags of blood... or was it 12? I can’t even remember due to the pain!

I turned away from him when Clement coughed and dropped his head in feigned respect. He answered; "None. We didn’t share any kind of relationship besides that."

And usually, I would’ve believed him if I didn’t know better. My voice sounded colder than it had been moments ago when I asked; "Are you sure?"

He shrugged. "Yes."

Seeing as he wasn’t going to respond truthfully, I nodded once and turned away, my voice cold and detached as I spat; "That’s okay then."

"What’s okay?" He asked quickly with wide eyes that darted between me and Chalice. But even like this, I noticed the way his eyes lingered on her for a second too long. The way he licked his lips even without knowing...

"Maybe we can force the words out of your mouth." I drawled after fixing him with the iciest glare I could muster and maybe that did its thing because then he shuddered visibly and began to tremble. He wrapped his arms around his chest and rasped;

"No. No! Stop no!"

But I hadn’t done anything to him yet. I wasn’t even interested in interrogating him. However, his response only went to show that there was more to this than meets the eye... and that in itself made me very curious.

I took a step closer to him but just as I did, my head swam. My vision waned for a very brief moment, and goddess, I staggered, almost falling to the floor until three pairs of arms caught me from different angles.

The triplets.

My breath hitched when surges of electricity rushed through my veins and I immediately shrugged them off, sounding unappreciative as I snapped;

"I am fine! I do not need help!"

If they were mad at my response, then they did well to perfectly hide it as they nodded meekly and retracted their hands. But even now, I could still feel them... could still feel the uncomfortable sensation running up my back, reminding me of that moment they all touched me all at once.

I bit my lips in annoyance and thinned my eyes at Clement whose eyes were now clenched shut. He spat; "I really have nothing with Chalice. She is just a thief I intend to get back at for stealing all my money!"

At his words, the crowd gasped in disbelief but the culprit herself seemed unfazed.

She seethed; "Don’t just tell them that! Tell them about how you humiliated me!"

"And tell them about how you were slapping her ass so fearlessly only a few minutes ago even after knowing that her husbands— us— are in the same room as you." Caelum added, and that there made me freeze in shock.

I turned slowly to meet Clement’s gaze and what I found now wasn’t just annoyance. It was a blend of panic and shame. And something else... something that looked like disgust.

I frowned.

—

Chalice.

Several months after Leilani fled from the pack after being accused of Grandma Aurora’s death and I noticed to my utmost befuddlement that her mates were still clinging onto the memories of her and to the hopes that she would return, I devised a new plan.

To study abroad!

My plan had been simple. To leave. To go to school and have fun. To learn tech just like Leilani had been learning, and most especially, to create an environment where they would have no other option but to miss me!

But that wasn’t the entire reason I’d left. It wasn’t the only reason I’d asked my parents to help me flee from the pack like a thief in the night.

I’d left because for some absurd reason, I’d been ridden with guilt. It was because I couldn’t bring myself to look at Grandma’s garland-decorated pictures without feeling some type of way in my guts.

And coupled with that, I couldn’t stop thinking about Jennifer too— the girl that Louis had killed while following my commands. The same girl who for some strange reason was the genesis of this crisis in the very first place.

These thoughts were the things that plagued me as I got into my plane with the intention of going to study at the Duke’s University.

And that was where I had met Clement for the first time.

He had started off as my statistics lecturer in my first year who I always suspected looked at me in a way that was too sensual for a teacher-student relationship... then he became my boyfriend... and then my pimp and before I knew it, I was performing all sorts of atrocities with him— Be it sexual and non sexual. You just name it!

The memory made a shiver run down my spine, and as I stared at his beady eyes now filled with apprehension, I couldn’t help but think back to the time when I used to look up to those same eyes in panic, hoping that he would have mercy on me.

But he never did.

Instead, he broke me... and broke me until I was nothing but a pile of shit before him.

Now, if I must burn, then he must burn with me... even Louis!