Chapter 176 Chapter 176
Violet
She came around to face his back, positioning herself where she could press the heated metal to his skin. Fresh tears fell as she raised the poker, her whole body shaking so hard I didn't know how she was still standing.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to Elijah, barely audible. "I'm so sorry. I don't want to. Please forgive me. Please…"
She brought the poker closer to his back, and I saw Elijah's shoulders tense, saw him brace for the pain that was coming.
And I couldn't take it anymore.
"STOP!"
I burst through the door, my body moving before my brain could catch up, before I could think about consequences or protocols or anything except making this nightmare end.
All three of them turned to look at me. Kelly froze with the poker still raised. Alaric's expression shifted from surprise to fury. And Elijah's head snapped up, his eyes finding mine across the room.
Those dark eyes were filled with pain and fear and something that looked like horror.
"Violet, leave!" he said immediately, his voice rough but commanding. "Leave now. You shouldn't be here."
"No," I said, my own voice shaking but firm. I stepped fully into the office, letting the door swing shut behind me. "No, I'm not leaving."
"This doesn't concern you," Alaric said, his voice like ice. "This is between me and my son. Family business. You have no right to interfere."
"No right?" I stared at him, at this man who called himself a father while beating his son bloody. "You're torturing him! You're making an innocent woman participate in your abuse! How can I stand by and watch this?"
Kelly made a sound that was half sob, half whimper. The poker lowered slightly, but she didn't drop it, nor did she step away. She just stood there crying, caught between impossible choices.
"How dare you," Alaric said, each word dripping with menace. He took a step toward me, and I saw his hand raise, saw the intent in his eyes.
He was going to hit me.
But before his hand could come anywhere near me, Elijah moved.
He was up from his kneeling position in a flash, faster than I'd ever seen him move, his body inserting itself between his father and me. His hand shot out and caught Alaric's wrist mid-swing, stopping the blow before it could land.
For a moment, they stood frozen like that.
Alpha Alaric had a disbelieving look on his face. He stared from Elijah’s hand holding his to my face and back to Elijah.
Elijah didn't push back like he had with Nate and neither did he raise his own hand in retaliation. He just stood there, bare-chested and bleeding, holding his father's wrist with enough strength to prevent the hit but not enough to challenge his authority.
"Don't," Elijah said quietly, dangerously. "Don't hurt her. Hurt me all you want."
The room crackled with tension. I could see the muscles in Alaric's arm straining, could see the fury building in his face as his son defied him yet again. Elijah politely let go of his arm and stepped back yet not completely so as to not stand between us both.
But I couldn't let this continue. I couldn't let Elijah take more punishment because of me.
I dropped to my knees in front of Alaric, the marble floor hard and cold beneath me. My hands clasped together that made every proud bone in my body scream in protest.
"Please," I begged, looking up at this man who seemed more monster than father. "Please have mercy on him. I'll leave right now if you want. I'll pack my things and go and you'll never see me again. We'll both leave if that's what you want. Just please stop hurting him."
Alaric looked down at me with cold disdain, like I was an insect beneath his notice. "You think this is about you? You think your presence here is what matters?"
"Isn't it?" My voice cracked. "You said I make him weak. You said I'm the problem. So I'll remove myself from the equation. Just please, please stop this."
"Get up," Elijah said through gritted teeth. "Violet, get up. You don't have to beg for my sake."
But I stayed down because pride didn't matter right now. I just wanted this to end once and for all.
"Please," I whispered again. "I'm begging you."
Alaric stared at me for a long moment, something unreadable crossing his face. Then he slapped his son on the shoulder hard and took a step back.
"You want to know why I hate my son?" he asked, his voice cold and clinical. "You want to understand why he deserves every mark on his body?"
"Alpha—" Elijah started, an edge of desperation in his tone.
"She should know," Alaric continued, ignoring him completely. "She should understand exactly what kind of monster she's protecting. What kind of man she's throwing herself at."
"Alpha, don't," Elijah said, and there was something new in his voice now. Something that sounded like fear.
"Take off those rose-tinted glasses, girl," Alaric said, looking down at me with something that might have been pity if it wasn't so laced with contempt. "Look at what you're begging for. This man you think is worth saving? He's not. He's never been worth the love you're so eager to give him."
"There’s no need to go there," Elijah’s voice was on the edge.
"He killed his own brother," Alaric said, and the words dropped into the room like stones into still water.
I felt the breath leave my lungs.
"I didn’t mean to…" Elijah started, but Alaric cut him off.
"He died because you were careless, because you thought you knew better than everyone else. He lost his life because you were too arrogant to follow simple safety protocols, follow your alpha’s orders." Alaric's voice was shaking now, with rage or grief or both. "My six year old boy is no more because of you. You continue to breathe and live while my boy has been long buried."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
I looked up at Elijah, saw the way his face had gone completely blank, saw the way his hands had clenched into fists at his sides. I saw the old pain, old guilt, old trauma written in every line of his body.
"So you want to save him?" Alaric asked, looking down at me again. "You want to beg for his mercy? For his worthless life? Then know what you're begging for. Know that everything I do to him, every punishment I give him, is less than he deserves for what he took from this family, from me."
He then looked at Elijah.
“Do you agree with it or not?” He shouted angrily.
“Yes alpha” Elijah said without a second’s delay.