Chapter 324: Can It Get Worse?

David's POV

Orion moved first.

He lunged with his fist cocked.

I didn’t flinch. Didn’t block. Just braced myself for the impact.

His knuckles cracked against my jaw…hard enough to snap my head sideways, hard enough to split my lip.

Blood bloomed hot in my mouth.

He grabbed my shirt, yanked me forward until our faces were inches apart.

“You think you can just walk back in here,” he snarled, “after what you did? After you sold us out to the Jamesons? After you almost got Ava killed? You think you can stand there and say you love my wife’s little sister like that makes everything okay?”

I met his eyes. Didn’t look away.

“No,” I said through the blood. “It doesn’t make anything okay. Nothing erases what I did. I was a coward. I was weak. I let that family use me as a pawn because I was scared of what they’d do if I said no. But I’m not that man anymore. And Holly…she’s the reason I’m standing here instead of still running.”

Orion’s grip tightened. Knuckles white.

“You think saying ‘I love her’ fixes this?” he snarled. “You think three little words erase the fact that you betrayed Ava? That you sat with her, ate with her, looked Ava in the eye and lied every single day while the Jamesons used you to gut us from the inside?”

“I know it doesn’t,” I said through swelling lips. Voice thick. “Nothing erases it. And I'm sorry.”

Orion’s grip tightened until the fabric bit into my skin. “Then why the fuck are you standing here asking for my sister-in-law like you’ve got any right?”

“Because I love her,” I answered. Quiet. Honest. “And because she loves me back. Because running from this…running from you two…would mean running from her. And I’m done running.”

Silence.

Ava stepped forward again…slower this time. Her hand closed around Orion’s wrist. Not pulling. Just holding.

“Let him go, baby,” she said softly.

Orion didn’t move at first. His chest rose and fell like he was still deciding whether to throw me through the nearest window.

Then…slowly…he released my shirt.

I stumbled back half a step, caught myself. Blood dripped from my split lip onto the pristine white marble. One drop. Two. Tiny red stars blooming on the floor.

Ava looked at the blood. Then at me.

Her voice came out calm. Too calm as she turned to the hallway. “Elena!”

A middle-aged housekeeper appeared almost instantly.

“Take Mr. Hunt to the east guest suite. Fresh towels, spare clothes from the stock. Dinner will be ready in forty-five minutes. He’ll join us after he’s cleaned up.”

Elena nodded once. “Yes, ma’am.”

Ava looked back at me, a little warmth blooming in her gaze.

“You look tired, Mason. I got a quick briefing about  everything that happened yesterday from Holly. So we should really cut you some slack,” she said.

“Yeah right! I don't even know why we let him in,” I heard Orion mutter under his breath and Ava shot him a warning glare.

She turned back to me with a soft smile. “You’ll freshen up. You’ll eat. And then…when we’re all sitting at the table like civilized people…we’ll have this conversation again. Every detail. Every lie. Every choice you made. No interruptions. No bullshit. If Holly still wants you after that…we’ll see. After all, she was the one that begged for us to drop the charges against you back then.”

Orion’s jaw ticked. He didn’t argue anymore. But the look he gave me said he’d happily finish what he started if I so much as breathed wrong.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand…smearing more blood…and nodded once.

“Thank you.”

Ava didn’t respond. Just turned and walked toward the staircase, hands on her waist. Her baby bump looked huge, like it was about to burst open and a child will jump out of it.

Orion lingered a second longer…staring me down like he could see every rotten thing I’d ever done.

“If you hurt anyone in my home while you're here,” he said quietly, “I won’t need guards. I’ll do it myself. Slowly.”

Then he followed Ava.

Elena touched my elbow gently. “This way, sir.”

I followed her down the east corridor…legs heavy, jaw throbbing, blood still trickling down my chin.

We got to the guest room and Elena set fresh towels and other stuff on the counter.

“Dinner’s at seven-thirty,” she said softly. “I’ll come get you if you’re not down.”

She left quietly and the door clicked shut.

I stood there alone, staring at myself in the mirror.

I looked like a man who’d just taken the punch he’d been waiting years to receive.

And somehow… It felt like the first honest thing that had happened to me in a long time.

I stripped off my blood-specked shirt, turned on the shower…hot as it would go…and stepped under the spray.

Water hit the cut on my lip. Stung like hell.

Good.

Let it hurt.

Because tonight, really…when we sat down at that table…

I was going to tell them everything.

No more lies.

No more half-truths.

Just the ugly, unfiltered truth.

And if they still wanted me gone after that?

At least I’d have said it out loud.

At least Holly would know I hadn’t run when it mattered.

I pressed my forehead to the cool tile and let the water pound my back.

Forty-five minutes until dinner.

Forty-five minutes until judgment.

But I wasn’t afraid anymore.

I was ready.

What's the worst that could happen?