Chapter 124 I Deceived You
Alaric's shoulders jerked sharply. He lifted his head, eyes locking onto Bianca's face, a flicker of unshakable resolve burning in their depths.
"Bianca, I'm sorry. I lied to you, but I had no choice. I had to do this!"
He reached out to grab her shoulders, but Bianca had already anticipated the move. She sidestepped with ease, leaving his hands grasping at empty air.
Alaric froze, clearly not expecting to be dodged. Surprise flickered across his face.
"Are you alone?"
Bianca caught his wrist in a firm grip, her gaze sliding past him to scan the darkened room behind. She was more concerned about whether someone else was hiding there than about Alaric himself.
"Bianca, I lied to you. No one bullied me." Alaric's eyes reddened, and he struggled to pull his hand free, but Bianca's grip was iron.
"Is there anyone else here?" Bianca stepped closer, her eyes narrowing as she bore down on him.
Alaric's throat bobbed. "Bianca, I was wrong to lie, but I swear there's no one else here but me."
Bianca let out a cold snort. She pulled a coil of coarse rope from behind her back and, with practiced efficiency, bound him tight.
She spun him around and delivered a sharp kick to his back.
The force sent him stumbling forward. He lost his balance and crashed face-first onto the carpet in a graceless heap.
Bianca nudged his sprawled body out of the way with her foot, then strode deeper into the hotel room.
She flipped the wall switch. Light flooded the space, and Bianca blinked once, her eyes adjusting instantly.
The layout was simple and unremarkable. No signs of anything unusual. No third person lurking in the shadows.
Bianca's brow furrowed.
Did whoever was pulling Alaric's strings trust him completely, or did they simply assume she wouldn't fight back?
After confirming the room was empty, Bianca didn't leave. She shut the door that had been left wide open and turned her attention back to Alaric, who lay on the floor with tears streaking down his face and snot running from his nose.
Whatever shred of sympathy she might have felt evaporated completely, replaced by cold disgust.
"Bianca, can you untie me? It hurts."
The rough rope had already rubbed his wrists raw. The skin was broken, tiny trickles of blood seeping through.
Bianca glanced at him, her expression blank.
She crossed to the sofa and sat down, crossing one leg over the other and folding her hands in her lap. Her gaze swept slowly across the room.
What exactly was the person behind Alaric trying to accomplish?
Terrence's knuckles had gone white where he gripped his phone, his fingers trembling slightly. Rain hammered against the car windows in relentless sheets. Dark clouds blotted out the sky, devouring the last traces of light.
The engine roared as the black Bentley tore through the night like a bullet toward the southern district.
The air around Terrence was suffocating, his eyes churning with barely restrained emotion.
He sat perfectly still, but that stillness radiated a kind of power that demanded respect.
The phone buzzed in his hand, dragging his thoughts back to the present.
He glanced down. Another message.
Three messages had arrived almost simultaneously, each one eager to paint Bianca as a villain. The more urgent they were, the more transparent their agenda became.
The storm in Terrence's eyes settled slightly. He pressed his lips into a thin line and stared up at the sky, now completely consumed by clouds.
Meanwhile, Bianca was toying with Alaric's phone.
Whoever was pulling the strings behind the scenes must have had a lot of faith in this idiot, or they assumed she'd dismiss him as harmless.
Too bad for them. The phone held nothing useful except for the message she'd just sent.
The number was unfamiliar, offering no clues about who was behind this.
She did her best to mimic Alaric's tone in her reply.
As for what would come next, she had no way of knowing.
Alaric now had a white cloth stuffed in his mouth, silencing his ceaseless babbling.
Tears dripped onto the carpet one by one as he cried soundlessly, like a child.
He looked helpless. Innocent, even.
He couldn't understand why he'd been tied up. Why did Bianca seem to hate him even more now? All he'd wanted was to get closer to her.
"From now on, you only need to nod or shake your head."
Having gotten nothing more from the phone, Bianca turned her attention back to Alaric.
"The person who told you to do this—do you know who they are?"
Alaric shook his head. He shifted his body, leaning against the wall in an attempt to look less pathetic.
His tear-filled eyes gazed up at her pitifully, trying to summon some trace of mercy.
Bianca ignored the look. "If you want to walk out of here in one piece, you'd better tell the truth. My patience is running thin."
Alaric's pupils trembled. He made a few muffled sounds through the gag.
Bianca clicked her tongue and stood, yanking the cloth out of his mouth.
"Make it worth my while, or this goes right back in." She dangled the soaked fabric in front of him.
She'd meant to use it as a threat, but disgust won out. She tossed it onto the carpet.
"Bianca, I really don't know. They sent me a message saying that if I did this, you'd never leave me."
Tears and snot ran down Alaric's face in an undignified mess. He squirmed, trying to inch closer to her, but Bianca raised a hand to stop him.
"Don't move," Bianca said, uncrossing her legs and fixing him with a cold stare.
She took a deep breath and continued. "Who else knows about this little stunt of yours?"
"No one... My mom and the others don't know. I wanted to get closer to you on my own. I didn't know it would make you hate me. If I'd known, I never would've done it. Bianca, can you forgive me? Just give me one more chance?"
Alaric seemed completely oblivious to the fact that his expression wasn't inspiring sympathy—it was inspiring revulsion.
"Alaric, even if you have limitations, you should still know the difference between right and wrong. You did something you knew was wrong just to satisfy your own selfish desires, and now you want me to forgive you? Do you honestly think that's going to happen?"
Bianca's voice was sharp and unforgiving, ripping away the veneer of innocence to expose the selfishness and manipulation underneath.
Knowingly doing wrong, whether out of stupidity or impulse, was unforgivable in her eyes.
Alaric's lashes fluttered violently. He lowered his head and fell silent, broken sobs catching in his throat.
It was a tactic children used—crying to earn pity and forgiveness.
But it had no effect on Bianca.
She quickly realized she wasn't going to get anything more useful out of him.
So she turned her attention back to the phone, swiping open the camera. Without hesitation, she snapped a photo of Alaric in all his pathetic, disheveled glory.
The image froze on the screen, capturing every humiliating detail.
Bianca stared at the photo, a cold smile playing at her lips.
Whoever was behind this had dared to scheme against her. They were going to pay for it. Since she couldn't figure out who they were yet, she'd pour all her fury onto Alaric instead.
She wanted to see if the person pulling his strings cared about him at all. Would they flinch when they saw this photo? Would it hurt them to see him like this?
At that moment, the heavy door slammed open, crashing into the wall with a dull thud that rattled the frame.