Fated To Three, And I Broke Them All

Verity:

A very strange scene unfolded.

When Theodore arrived, he sent Jenna away.

Then he started insisting that I go to the kitchen.

I don’t know why.

Maybe he really was interested in seeing how the food would be prepared there.

But in my mind, it was connected to that one incident.

The one that showed me what a scumbag Theodore truly was.

Nothing mattered to him except his own amusement.

That night, I was just someone he had happened to meet.

And he had decided, ’Why not try something?’

He had probably forgotten me by now.

Forgotten the girl he had treated so horribly.

The girl whose confidence he had shattered that night by making fun of her with his friends.

That was why I couldn’t bring myself to go anywhere near the kitchen.

Then Jaguar showed up, and he started insisting as well.

Well, that worked out perfectly for me because I was wearing the scarf in a way that would grab his attention.

I wanted them to notice it.

”You know what,” Jaguar said, looking at Theodore.

The two of them suddenly started acting as if they were on some secret mission, and I just happened to be caught up in it.

”Actually, Verity, I was thinking—could you please wait here?” Jaguar said, snapping his fingers.

The way he looked at his brother told me he was signaling him not to let me walk away.

”I’ll be back,” Jaguar said before hurrying away.

An awkward silence settled between Theodore and me.

”I think your brother really, really likes scarves,” I said jokingly, trying to give the impression that I didn’t think he was pressuring me to take off the scarf for any other reason.

Then, after five minutes of Theodore silently staring at me and making me uncomfortable, Jaguar returned.

He was holding a necklace in his hand.

”I wanted to get Jenna something for her birthday, maybe a pendant. I wanted to see if it would look good on her,” he said as he pulled out an old pendant, probably something he had taken from his grandmother’s drawer.

But he made it sound as though he had bought it.

”It’s an antique. Wow, this is exquisite,” Theodore said, watching him closely.

Of course, I noticed everything.

”Why don’t you ask her?”

I acted as though I was too afraid to take off the scarf.

”That would defeat the purpose of it. It wouldn’t be a surprise anymore, would it?”

Jaguar commented, holding the necklace out to me.

”Can you please take off your scarf so I can see if it looks good? You know, it’s an antique, and sometimes antiques don’t look good on everyone,” he said, making me smile.

I had to try even harder.

”Well, like you said, they don’t look good on everyone. What makes you think that if it looks good on me, it’ll look good on her too?” I said with a shrug.

”Can you please just try it?”

Finally, Jaguar said it in a much harsher tone, using his boss voice.

”Please,” he added.

I looked at Theodore, making it seem as though I couldn’t say no anymore.

I was scared of losing my job by disobeying my boss.

So, with very shaky hands, I started to take off my scarf.

As soon as I took it off, I watched both brothers stare at me as though they were in shock.

”These marks—are they from that gas station attack?” Theodore asked.

The way Theodore spoke gave me the feeling that the two brothers weren’t working together.

They were questioning me together now, but I didn’t think they had shared much information about me with each other.

Because he was way off.

”Yes, exactly,” I said, trying not to sound too confident.

I wanted to make it seem as though Theodore’s explanation had given me an excuse to lie.

But the look in Jaguar’s eyes made it obvious.

He didn’t believe my lie.

”This looks bad.”

Theodore reached toward me, but I pulled away.

”We can try the necklace now,” I said as I turned around to him.

He remained silent before slipping the necklace over my head.

The cold pendant rested against my chest.

Then, as he reached behind me to fasten it, I felt his fingers brush against my neck.

It was a deliberate touch.

He wanted to touch me.

He wanted me to know he understood I was in pain.

That he didn’t believe my lie that the marks were from the attack.

”It looks good,” Theodore said.

I felt like he had just found an excuse to keep looking at my breasts for a little longer.

His eyes never really settled on the pendant.

They kept drifting back to my cleavage.

He swallowed hard, scratched the back of his neck, then turned to the side with one hand in his pocket.

Jaguar remained behind me.

Slowly, I turned to face him.

For the first time, I saw tears in Jaguar’s eyes.

His jaw was clenched.

He wasn’t tearing up because he felt sorry for me.

It was a tear of anger, as though he wanted to do something to whoever had done this.

He kept staring at me before he finally said, ”I know who did it.”

That was all he said, and everything fell into place.

I’d been a little suspicious when Mrs. Baker recorded that video.

Then Jaguar had called immediately afterward.

I had already connected the dots.

I just needed confirmation.

And when Jaguar said he knew who had done this, it confirmed that my suspicion had been right all along.

Jaguar had asked Mrs. Baker to spy on me.

Not just her, but her future son-in-law as well.

At least now I knew.

I would have to be very careful.

”I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, quickly reaching behind my neck to untie the pendant.

But it had gotten tangled in a few loose strands of hair that had slipped free from my bun.

As my fingers worked at it, they brushed against another pair of cold fingers, and my heart thundered against my chest.

Theodore had come up behind me.

My eyes met Jaguar’s across from me.

The world around us seemed to disappear.

Jaguar only saw me standing in front of him.

He didn’t even notice Theodore.

His eyes remained fixed on mine while Theodore slowly untangled the necklace from my hair behind me.