Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 60: My villain arc.

Leilani.

There’s a reoccurring factor I’ve noticed in every villain story, and it is the fact that they were first pushed to the wall over and over again until they finally snapped.

Take for example, the story of Wanda who had everything taken from her.

Then Maleficent who had her wings cut off by the only man she ever loved.

Then there is Medusa, the myth, who was raped and cursed.

And the joker.

Then me; who was struck by my brother in a sauna— a public place— for something I never did. And do you want to know what makes this whole event even worse?

The fact that I was left there. To rot. To die. After I passed out.

I only woke up about two hours later, half naked, to realize that I was still in the sauna. Still on the floor and still bleeding from my mouth and nose from Gavin’s hit, whilst steam billowed around me like ghosts from my past.

No one had attended to me. No one had tried to help. And that was exactly what I’d anticipated.

That there was the start of my villain arc.

It was the moment I realized that they all had to pay dearly.

I picked up my phone and called Jarek. And on the first ring, he picked up, sounding worried as he asked; "What happened? I’ve been trying to reach you for hours!"

I quickly briefed him on what had happened, and after a moment of dragged silence, he finally said;

"Wait there for me. Don’t move an inch."

I did as told, not because I was, you know, obedient. But because this time, I didn’t have any strength left in me to move.

A few minutes later, a small gasp escaped my lips when Jarek barged into the sauna with a large coat in his hands which he draped around me in order to provide me with at least a sense of decency.

His expression was stone cold, and when he leaned in to examine my face, I noticed it: his barely contained rage. A strange madness in his eyes. One that I’d never seen before.

And then he exploded; "Gavin Blackthorne did this to you?!" He growled, his nostrils flaring as he stared at me as if in physical pain.

But for some reason, I smiled.

Not because I enjoyed being in pain— hell no. It was because he’d referred to Gavin not as ’your brother’ but as ’Gavin Blackthorne’, which was one of the many reasons I loved him.

"Talk to me Sweetcakes, please..." his voice dropped as he cradled my face in his hands. I flinched at the contact but quickly let out an exhale when it finally registered in my mind that this was Jarek.

That Jarek wouldn’t hit me.

He wasn’t Gavin.

I drawled; "Yes, Gavin did this."

"Oh God, I’m going to kill him!" He bellowed, and with that, rose to his feet. But before he could walk out, I grabbed his leg, forcing him to halt his movements.

He turned to look at me, a stupefied look on his face. "What?!" he snapped, "...you want to let him go easily after hurting you like this?"

Never.

"No." I whispered quickly, my voice breaking. "I made a recording of the entire thing. I caught everything Chalice said to me... about how there was no baby in the first place... about how she intends to hurt herself to jeopardize me."

At that, I turned to look for the phone I was using to record everything before I lost consciousness. And when I found it still inside my purse, I sighed. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Fortunately, it was still on, but unfortunately, it was still recording. Even until now.

"...And I want to use it against her."

The smile that broke out on Jarek’s face was contagious. He smiled so bright that even though most of my face was swollen and in pain, I smiled back.

"We’ll just have to work on the recording and cut out the several hours of you blacked out." He said with a smile— one that resembled a grimace— and I nodded.

He then picked me up, carrying me bridal style to his car. The drive home was unusually quiet with Jarek turning to glance at me every now and then, and when we arrived, the first thing I noticed was the small crowd gathered in front of my house.

My heart dropped. Something bile-like settled at the base of my stomach like lead when I noticed that the crowd consisted of my family, my mates... all waiting with stormy expressions on their faces.

"You don’t have to walk out if you don’t want to." Jarek said from beside me, clutching my hand as he glared hard at the crowd in front of us.

I brought his hand up to my lips and kissed it. I then closed my eyes for a brief moment and sighed. "I’ll go out. I have nothing to hide... and nothing to be afraid of."

I walked slowly towards them with Jarek steadying my movement like a pillar; And at first, I’d hoped to ignore them until my mother spoke up.

She seethed; "You’ve outdone yourself this time, Leilani."

I didn’t respond. I didn’t even act like I’d heard her.

My eyes snagged on my mates, and I wasn’t so surprised to see the hatred in their gazes. The loathing... the anger.

"Ignore them." Jarek whispered, and I did.

I squeezed his hand tightly as I made my way to the door, but just before I could open it, Caelum lunged, grabbing at the collar of my cloth. He spat; "We’re pressing charges.

But I wasn’t fazed. I smiled. "Please do."

That had him frowning. A flicker of uncertainty fleeted across his gaze as he stared me down. He growled; "What kind of games are you playing this time around?"

"Chalice’s games." I answered. "She’s the one who wants to press charges, am I right?"

"No." He snickered. "She wants you off the hook, but I’ll not allow it. That was my child you killed. Mine and my brothers’ child. And we’ll make sure you pay dearly."

At the mention of his brothers, I lifted my gaze to meet Zevran’s and Kael’s cold eyes again. But for the first time in my life, looking at them like this, I felt nothing besides a weird sense of disgust.

I nodded. "Fine then."

I didn’t even bother to look at my parents or at Gavin who was still stewing in rage. If Jarek wasn’t here with me, I’m sure he would’ve tried to hit me again and succeeded.

I spat; "And as for you, Gavin Blackthorne, I am pressing charges as well. For assault and battery. Also for the years and years of abuse I’ve been forced to endure in the hands of you and your father. I hope you all cooperate in court. Thank you and get the fuck off my property."

Maybe that was what set Gavin off, or maybe it was the fact that he noticed I didn’t give a fuck but he charged at me, growling like an injured animal. However, before he could land a punch, Jarek reacted. He was fast and fluid.

He grabbed Gavin by the collar and slammed him against the floor, causing the latter to wince in pain, his body shaking in both anger and shame.

"Get out, all of you!" Jay snarled, and I swear I saw the looks of fear on their faces before they began to scurry away.

"We’re pressing charges!" Caelum shouted again.

I smirked, crossing my arm over my chest as I seethed back at him. "Come prepared because I’m pressing charges too!"