Chapter 90 A Cold Realization.

Chapter 90 A Cold Realization.


Chapter 90.

Bunny’s POV.

I exhaled softly now, my heart thumping loudly in my chest, threatening to burst out of my ribs. The room felt incredibly heavy, suffocating me with every second that passed.

“Who are you?” I finally asked, my voice cracking under the weight of my exhaustion. I raised my head to stare at him through the mirror next to the door.

I had asked him to get me a mirror in that exact spot just two weeks ago, and he had done it without a single second of hesitation. He had paid the workers to install it immediately just because I mentioned it in passing.

But wait. Was I seriously supposed to be thinking about that tiny act of kindness at a horrific moment like this? Does it truly matter that he bought me a mirror? Does it change the fact that he just shot three men dead right before my eyes?

I stared tightly at my frame, which was completely smuggled into his massive arms through the clear glass of the mirror. I looked so small, so broken, and so utterly fragile against his large body.

“If you are not going to talk, then fucking let go of me right now,” I demanded, trying to make my voice sound as cold and hard as steel, even though my legs were trembling underneath me.

Xavier’s face still remained buried deeply against my nape. His breath was hot against my skin, and his arms tightened around me even more, holding me as if I were about to vanish into thin air if he let go.

“Don’t leave me, Bunny… please,” he whispered.

Please?

The word echoed loudly in my ears, bouncing around the silent bedroom, and for some weird and incredibly stupid reason, my entire body went completely still. The frantic wiggling and hitting stopped instantly.

Xavier had actually just said please?

I know this single word should not matter to me right now. I know I should be focusing on the blood on his jacket or the danger surrounding his name. But it was just too obvious for me to ignore. Xavier Thorne had never said the word please to anyone. In all the time I had known him, he was always the one giving orders, always the one dominating the room, always the one taking whatever he wanted without asking permission. He had never apologized for his cold behavior, and he had never begged.

But… today he was explicitly apologizing. Today he was begging me. Was he actually being real right now? Was he truly breaking down because he almost lost me, or was he just being clever and performative? Was this just another highly calculated layer of his manipulation to keep me trapped under his spell?

My mind raced with a million chaotic thoughts, spinning around in circles, but regardless of the danger, I could not ignore the raw desperation in his voice. I needed answers, and I needed them right now.

“Whatever you have to say, say it to me face-to-face,” I said, forcing my tone to remain sharp. I knew that going lenient on him right now would only make him see me as a complete fool. I couldn’t afford to show any weakness.

For far too long in my life, I have been seen as a fool by everyone around me. I have been mistreated, used, and tossed away by the people who were supposed to care about me. And all those times, I had simply taken the pain, swallowed my pride, and ignored the warning signs just to keep the peace. But today was entirely different. Today, I refuse to be lied to anymore. I refuse to let him play with my head.

Xavier exhaled a long, heavy sigh against my skin. Then, he gently pulled his arms away from my body. He grabbed my shoulders with his large hands and spun me around slowly until I was finally facing him directly.

His dark eyes were wide, bloodshot, and swimming with a frantic emotion I had never seen in him before.

“Come sit down with me on the bed, Bunny… and… and I will tell you every single thing you need to know. I swear I will,” he said softly.

His tone was incredibly gentle, which was completely weird and jarring. The Xavier I knew—the ruthless guy everyone feared—would have simply grabbed my arm, yanked me forcefully across the room, forced me to sit on the bed, and barked his explanation at me until I had no choice but to listen. He wouldn’t have asked nicely.

I know I should not be taking note of any of these tiny changes in his behavior, but they were obvious, undeniable realities slipping in on me, forcing me to see that he was completely undone by what had happened at the warehouse.

I followed him gently toward the center of the room, my legs shaking so violently I was afraid I would collapse on the hard tiles before we even reached the mattress.

When we finally got to the side of the bed, I sat down heavily on the very edge of the mattress. I immediately folded my arms tightly across my chest, creating a physical barrier between us.

“Speak,” I commanded, my jaw clenched tightly to keep my teeth from chattering. My entire body was trembling from the residual shock.

Xavier didn’t reply immediately. Instead, his eyes darted toward the dresser. He grabbed the remote of the AC, then turned it off swiftly with a hard click of his thumb.

Such keen eyes for a very dangerous person. He had noticed immediately that I was completely freezing in my torn clothes, cutting off the cold air without me even having to say a word. I was cold to my bones, but I told myself I did not care about his affection or his sudden displays of thoughtfulness. I couldn’t trust it.

Xavier walked back over to me, his eyes dropping to my torn cream top and the dark, ugly scrapes on my knees where the skin was completely raw and bleeding.

“How about we change your clothes first, Bunny? You… you are bleeding, and your clothes are completely ruined. Let me clean you up, and then—”

“Don’t you dare try to fool me, Xavier!” I snapped angrily, my voice rising as I cut him off completely. I glared up at him, my eyes burning with tears. “Speak right now! Tell me the truth this very second, or let me walk out of that front door and never come back!”

Xavier exhaled deeply, running a hand through his dark, messy hair. He looked completely defeated. He dropped to his knees right in front of where I was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking up at me.

“I never came after you because of a stupid bet, Bunny. I swear to you on my life, I didn’t,” he began, his voice raw. “Just think about it for a single second. How much money do you honestly think those pathetic guys could ever pay me that would be enough to make me come after you? I have millions, Bunny. I don’t need their pocket money. A bet means absolutely nothing to me.”

“I don’t need you to ask me foolish questions, Xavier! I don’t care about your money! Just go ahead and talk about the video! Explain why Daniel said what he said!” I shouted back, my hands clenching into tight fists against my thighs.

Xavier stared at me, his eyes dark with pain as he took a breath to explain.

“Some days after your final breakup with Daniel, I was walking down the back corridor near the gym. I came across him and a group of his wealthy friends standing in a circle, making a disgusting bet about you. Daniel was furious that you threw him out, so he wanted to hire a man to approach you, trick you, and ruin your reputation.”

My heart stopped for a fraction of a second. Daniel did that? The person I had spent months trying to please had actually tried to sell me out to his friends?

Xavier continued, his jaw tightening as he remembered the scene. “I stumbled right into the middle of them making the bet. Daniel was telling them that whoever could manage to take your virginity would get a massive amount of cash from the group, and they were all laughing about it, talking about you like you were some prize to be won.”

“When I walked into that room and heard them using your name in such a vile light, I had only one single intention in my mind, Bunny. I wanted to draw my weapon, kill every single one of them right there on the floor, and walk away.”

I let out a sharp breath, my eyes widening. Really? He was seriously sitting here talking about murdering people in broad daylight right in front of me? After he had just murdered three people in cold blood an hour ago, he was speaking about death as if it were a normal, everyday event. It terrified me how casual it was for him.

“But I didn’t kill them,” Xavier said quickly, reaching out as if to touch my knee before drawing his hand back when I flinched. “I knew that if I just slaughtered them there, it would bring too much heat onto you. I wanted to tell them to back off and ensure that not a single one of them ever came after you again. But in the underworld, Bunny, without a concrete threat or a claim to hold against people, stopping them permanently would have been completely impossible. They would have just waited until my back was turned to strike at you.”

“So, eventually, I decided to take the bet myself. I looked Daniel straight in the eye and told him, ‘If I claim her virginity, then she is mine completely. None of you bastards has the right to ever come after her or look in her direction again.’ I did it to build a wall around you.”

My heart thumped loudly in my chest, the sound echoing in my ears, but I could not even bring myself to think of anything else aside from the raw words coming out of his mouth. The betrayal from Daniel was sickening, but Xavier’s logic was entirely twisted.

“And when you actually took my virginity… did you go back and tell anyone?” I asked, my voice dropping into a shaky whisper as I looked down at my hands. “Did you celebrate with them?”

Xavier shook his head immediately, a look of absolute horror crossing his face at the suggestion.

“No! No, Bunny, never!” he swore fiercely, leaning closer to me. “I would never do something so disgusting to you. I would never share our private moments with those lowlifes. I only took the bet at that exact moment because I had no other immediate threat to use against them to force them to stop coming after you. By saying you were mine, it put them afar. It made them too terrified to touch you because they know who I am.”

A bitter, cold scoff rolled to the corner of my lips now. I looked at him, my chest heaving with a mixture of anger and disbelief.

“And who the fuck gave you the right to possess me, Xavier?” I asked, my voice dripping with venom. “Who gave you the right to decide that I belong to you just to win a dispute with your enemies?”

Xavier’s brows pulled together in a deep, frustrated knot, his eyes locking onto mine with absolute seriousness. “Because you are mine, Bunny. You are all mine. I don’t need anyone’s permission to protect what is mine.”

“You must be completely crazy to think that you can just possess human lives the exact same way you possess your guns!” I yelled, pushing myself up from the bed, my feet pressing against the cold tiles as my voice echoed off the walls. “I am not a piece of property, Xavier! I am not a prize you get to claim to scare off other monsters!”

“No!” Xavier countered loudly, standing up instantly to match my height, his large frame towering over me as his voice boomed through the room. “I know you are mine, Bunny! I haven’t just been following you because of some stupid bet from last month. I have been yours since our freshman year! I have been watching over you, tracking your safety, and looking after you from the shadows for years!”

The moment those shocking words slipped past his lips, my entire body went completely still on the cold floor. My breath locked in my throat, and the world around me fell into a dead, terrifying silence.

Freshman year?

He had been watching me for that long?

The realization sent a cold shiver straight down my spine.