Xaden's POV
The tension in the room was thick, and as much as I wanted to remain detached, the situation was far too volatile to ignore. Violet's fury burned bright, and the way she confronted Isabella—her hands shaking, her voice sharp and demanding—told me she was ready to destroy anyone in her path to get the answers she wanted. She wasn't afraid. She wasn’t even thinking about the consequences. All she cared about was getting to the truth.
I could feel the weight of her gaze as it shifted to me. Every word she spat, every accusation, was aimed at Isabella, but it felt like a direct hit to me as well. I could see the raw pain in her eyes, the confusion, and the fear. It made me sick to my stomach. She had been drugged. That much was clear. But the part that gnawed at me, the part that made my skin crawl, was the fact that I had no idea who had done it.
I had tried to stay calm, tried to remind her that there were bigger things at play than her personal vendetta against Isabella, but my words didn’t land. Not when she was this far gone in her rage.
"Violet, enough," I tried again, my voice a low growl. But she wasn't listening. She was too far gone, her anger now like a storm that couldn’t be contained.
I stepped toward her, hoping to pull her back from the edge. I wasn’t sure if it was my instinct to protect or my growing frustration with her refusal to see reason that was pushing me forward. But the moment I laid my hand on her arm, she jerked away from me as if my touch burned her. I barely had time to react before she spun around, her eyes flashing with a fury that almost rivaled my own.
"Don't you dare touch me," she spat, her voice low and threatening, like a predator backed into a corner. "You want answers? Then go hold your precious Isabella. Or better yet, go hold your sister. You have no right to lay a hand on me."
Her words struck deep, and a pit opened up in my stomach. She was right. I didn’t have a right to touch her, not in the way I wanted to, not in this moment of chaos. But something inside me snapped. Violet had no idea the kind of power she was playing with. She was diving headfirst into a storm she couldn’t control, and I needed to reel her back in before she completely lost herself.
"Violet," I tried again, this time my voice harder, demanding attention. "What do you mean when you say you were injected? Who did this to you? What happened last night?"
For a moment, her expression faltered, a flash of hesitation crossing her face. She didn’t want to answer. She wanted revenge, not clarity. I could see it in her eyes, the fire that burned within her. But she wasn’t thinking clearly. Revenge, in her mind, was the only solution, but it would only make things worse.
Before she could respond, the door swung open with a sharp creak, and Avery stepped inside, her eyes scanning the room. She froze as she took in the scene. Isabella stood there, her face still flushed from the slap, while Violet and I were locked in a tense standoff. Avery’s brows furrowed, her gaze flicking between us as she took in the chaos.
"What’s going on?" Avery asked, her tone light, but there was an edge of suspicion in her voice. She must’ve sensed that something was off.
I didn’t waste a second. I moved toward her, faster than she could react, and before she could even blink, I had her pinned against the wall. My hands were on her shoulders, pushing her back into the hard surface, my body towering over hers.
"Did you inject her?" I growled, my voice dangerously low. "Tell me the truth, Avery. Did you inject Violet last night?"
Avery's eyes widened in surprise, her breath hitching. "What? No! Of course not!"
Her denial was immediate, but there was something in her voice that made me doubt it. Her words were too fast, too defensive. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her—I did, or at least I wanted to—but this situation had my nerves frayed, and I wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.
"I didn’t do anything to Violet," Avery insisted, her voice trembling slightly, but she still held her ground. "You have to believe me."
I didn’t ease my grip on her shoulders. "Then explain why Violet woke up feeling like someone had drugged her. Explain why we’re standing here in the middle of a mess that you clearly know more about than you're letting on."
I didn’t give her a chance to speak again. "I can feel the lies, Avery. Don’t lie to me. If you're hiding something, now is the time to come clean."
Avery was silent for a moment, her eyes darting toward Violet. I could tell she was thinking about her next words carefully. She wasn’t going to crack easily, not when she knew she had to keep up the charade for whatever reason.
"Xaden, I didn’t do anything," Avery said, her voice quieter now, and she tried to reach for my hand, to pry my fingers off her shoulders. "You’re not hearing me. I’m not involved in this."
I didn’t let go. My grip on her tightened, my anger bubbling up again. I wasn’t going to let this go until I had answers. Someone was lying to me, and I needed to know who.
"Then why the hell does it feel like we're all caught in some twisted game?" I snapped, my face inches from hers. "What’s really going on, Avery? Because I’m not buying your act."
Avery’s eyes flicked over my shoulder to Violet, who stood at the edge of the room, still simmering with rage. Violet’s anger was palpable, but I could see her hesitation too. She wanted answers, but I was beginning to realize that she didn’t want them from me, and certainly not from anyone else in this room.
The silence stretched for a long, agonizing moment before Avery spoke again, her voice tight, but there was a slight quiver in it that I couldn’t ignore. "You don’t understand, Xaden. There are things happening right now that none of us can control. Things that go beyond just you, or me, or Violet. If you want the truth, you have to look deeper. This… this isn’t just about some petty feud between us."
I didn’t release her. I leaned in even closer, my lips brushing against her ear as I whispered through gritted teeth, "Then start talking. Start telling me what the hell is really going on, Avery."
But before Avery could respond, a sudden, sharp voice broke through the tension. It was Isabella, her voice cool but unmistakably filled with a warning.
"You think this is going to solve anything?" Isabella’s voice cut through the silence, cold and dangerous. "You think that by dragging us all into this, you’ll find the answers you’re looking for? You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, Xaden. You don’t have a clue."