Chapter 63 Misplaced Trusts
Xander
"So, will either one of you like to do the honours?" she asks, still dangling the object in front of us once again.
"Where did you get that?" I ask, reaching out for a closer look, but she snatches her hand back, her face darkening with irritation.
"What's important is how it got into your hands. This is no ordinary gemstone, Xander," she replies, voice low and cool.
I do know that, it was the reason I had subtly extracted it from him before killing him, and it was also another reason I had searched for it for days, restless at the probability of having lost it.
But now, it looks like it holds more value to her than just it's appearance.
"I took it," I sigh.
"Why? And why didn't you tell me?"
"I wanted to confirm that it wasn't planted. Why is it even so important to you?" I ask.
She presses her lips together, dipping her head a little to hide the trembling in her voice. "My mother wore this up until the day she died. It's a family heirloom," she whispers.
Max and I exchange a bewildered look, not expecting the sudden turn of events.
"I had searched for this for a very long time. It's a tradition for every first daughter to wear and pass it on to the next, my mother had said." she continues. "Now, I know exactly why she never let me have it," she pauses, gripping it tightly in her hand.
"How convenient to find it on you, brought into your kingdom, on a challenge night." She snaps her head up at the last statement, angry tears brimming in her eyes.
Within a second, she's right in front of me, fisting my clothes in her hands. "Are you working together? Did your family kill my mother? Was this part of your plan all along?"
The wheels in my head stop turning at her words. Is she really accusing my family...?
"Answer me," she screams, pushing me as she does.
"Vanessa, what the hell are you talking about? I told you–"
"It's not about this," she shouts, releasing me, but her feet remain firmly planted in front of me. "I had dreams; visions, flashbacks, or whatever, ever since I came here, they became more persistent. Everything points to you - your family," she reveals, pacing from one end of the room to the other.
This is the first time I've ever heard her say anything about it.
"What?" Max and say in unison, dumbstruck.
Max takes a step forward, holding his hands out. "Whoa, Nessa. I don't think we should be jumping into conclusions here."
Ignoring the slight pain in my side, I grab ahold of her shoulders to stop her, looking deep into her eyes. "Tell me it's not true?"
She shrugs me off and that even seems to hurt more. "It is. I couldn't tell you especially if I thought you were the one."
Was that why she had willingly accepted my proposal without much of a fight? Was she here for revenge afterall?
As if sensing the direction of my thoughts, she says, "Not anymore. Because now, they're... different - changing and I'm barely keeping up with any of these." She waves her hands around, gesturing to everything that's happening too fast.
"Someone could have purposely made Sean do it just to cause a rift between us," Max reasons.
"Who and for what purpose? There's just too many things going on around here I can't even really trust anyone at the moment. Not even you two," she sighs with exasperation.
I won't deny the hurt that cuts through me at her words, hating the way she doubts my intentions here, but she's right to feel that way.
She did only recently discover that she's not as human as we had all thought at first.
"My family loved yours like their own, and there's no reason for them to want to have eliminated you." It's the truth, even if I had been too young to under their dynamics then.
They never liked just anyone.
"I lost my mother, and my sister, the same day as yours," I finally say, the weight of my loss suddenly heavy in my chest and I move to take a seat at the edge of the bed.
Silence envelopes up, and neither one of us makes a move to speak, letting the words linger in the air, heavy and raw.
It's a topic I never speak about and it's also forbidden at the pack. The pain of the loss, too great for me to bear even right now, but we both need this - Vanessa and I - and I'll do it. For her.
"That's impossible," she whispers after a long time.
"Both cases are documented and we've been investigating both from different sides for a very long time," Max speaks up.
"But if it wasn't you...then who?" she asks, sinking to the floor like all the energy has suddenly left her.
"Someone who definitely wanted you to believe we did." My voice is deceitfully calm, but the rage boiling inside me burns so bright it can almost light up a fire. I want to burn them all down until there's nothing left.
She sinks further. All the years of pent-up anger turning into devastation at the realization that she had been harbouring hatred towards the wrong people.
I want to go to her and hold her in my arms, but even I need comfort.
"Why was your sister never mentioned before?"
My jaw clenches. "Speaking about what happened is strictly forbidden and it's only known by a handful of people."
"You've been searching all this time. Your sister...you think she's still alive?" she asks quietly.
"I... don't know," I clench my fists on my thighs.
I look up at the sound of the door shutting close, realizing Max has left us alone.
Vanessa turns to face me, her blue eyes dimmed and hollow. The fiery anger that was there just moments ago now replaced with something... softer.
She stares at me now, neither like an enemy, nor yet as an ally, but like two souls who got broken on the same night.
"So we've been both chasing ghosts," she murmurs.
"And someone's making sure we don't ever find them," I agree.
"But we will, no matter what, and won't be leaving anyone alive in the process. That's a promise."