Chapter 152 The Truth He Kept

Chapter 152 The Truth He Kept
Victor’s POV

My fist slammed against the punching bag in my chamber's basement, the force of each punch making the bag swing backward before coming toward me again.

I barely noticed the pain in my knuckles.

They were already beginning to hurt, but I didn't care.

I needed to let out the anger building inside me.

I grabbed the punching bag and held it still for a moment, breathing heavily as Kieran's words replayed in my head.

“Since my brothers rejected her, I have claimed her. She's mine!”

My jaw tightened. I slammed my fist against the bag again, harder than before.

“Who told you I rejected her, Kieran?” I muttered angrily. “Why were you so quick to judge?”

I pushed the punching bag away with both hands before hitting it again.

The image of Elara standing beside Kieran in the courtroom kept coming back to me.

She had looked happy. Too happy.

She had smiled at him, blushed when he told her he loved her, and even told him that she loved him too.

I clenched my fists. Why?How could she accept him so easily?

After everything that had happened, she had simply accepted him.

I punched the bag again. My breathing became heavier as frustration continued to build inside me.

I knew I shouldn't be this angry.

I had been the one who told Kieran that I had accepted her.I had made that decision myself.

So why was I suddenly regretting it?

Why did seeing her with Kieran bother me this much?

I hit the bag again, trying to push those thoughts out of my mind.

It didn't work. The door to my chamber's basement opened behind me.

I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. I already knew. Silas.

“What was that?” he asked as he approached. “Why did you leave the hall like that?” I continued punching the bag without looking at him.

I knew exactly why he was here. I also knew he probably already understood why I had left.

He wasn't asking because he genuinely didn't know.

He was here to tease me. “Nothing,” I replied. “I just felt uncomfortable.”

I continued boxing as though his presence didn't bother me.

Silas was quiet for a moment. Then he burst into laughter.

I stopped for half a second and glared at him before turning my attention back to the punching bag.

“You are very stubborn and funny, Victor,” he said.

I ignored him.

“I know you're going crazy because Kieran accepted Elara publicly,” he continued, clearly enjoying himself. “But isn't it stupid that you're in love with this lady and can't tell her?”

My fist stopped in the air.

Sweat slid down my forehead, and I slowly lowered my hand.

I turned toward him. “I don't understand what you're talking about, Silas.”

He smiled. “You know exactly what I'm talking about.”

I said nothing. He walked closer.

“Why did you tell Kieran that you had accepted her earlier?”

His lips pulled into a knowing smile. I looked away from him.

There was no point arguing with Silas when he had already made up his mind about what he thought I was feeling.

I walked toward the table at the side of the room and grabbed the bottle of water.

I opened it and took several large gulps, allowing the cold water to run down my throat. Silas remained behind me, waiting for an answer.

I lowered the bottle. “I only did that to get Kieran mad.”

Silas raised an eyebrow. 

“I don't have any interest in her,” I continued. “I don't care if she's innocent or whatever.”

The words sounded convincing in my head. At least, I wanted them to sound convincing.

Silas stared at me for a few seconds. Then he shook his head.

“Oh, shut up, Victor.” I frowned.

“Why are you so stubborn?”

I looked away from him again, tightening my grip around the water bottle.

I didn't want to hear what he had to say.

I didn't want him to keep pointing out things I had been trying to ignore.

But the truth was becoming harder to hide, even from myself.

I had seen her smile. And I had hated every second of it.

No matter how much I tried to convince myself that I didn't care, the anger in my chest was telling me otherwise.

“For how long are you going to keep quiet?” Silas asked, his patience clearly running out. “Would it kill you to admit that you're in love with her? That's why you keep teasing her and trying to make her life hell, because you can't admit that you fucking love her!”

His words hit a nerve.

I immediately grabbed my hair firmly and pulled my fingers through it, frustrated with myself and with the entire situation.

“Can you shut up?” I snapped. “I'm trying to figure my shit out here. I need space, please!”

My voice roared through the room.

Silas didn't move. He simply stared at me.

I turned away from him, breathing heavily as I tried to calm myself.

What was I supposed to do? Admit to him that I was fucking in love with a girl I once hated?

How was I supposed to explain that?

For so long, I had convinced myself that Elara was nothing more than a problem. I had treated her like someone I couldn't stand being around, always finding an excuse to annoy her, tease her, or make things difficult for her.

But somewhere along the way, something had changed.

I didn't even know when it happened.

I only knew that whenever I saw her hurt, something inside me hurt too.

When she was in pain, I couldn't breathe properly.

When she cried, I wanted to know who had caused it.

When she smiled at someone else, especially Kieran, I felt an anger I couldn't explain.

Was this what love felt like? The thought alone made me uncomfortable.

I had never imagined myself falling for Elara. Not her.

Not the woman I had spent so much time convincing myself I hated.

“You can't use that tone on me, Victor,” Silas said. I turned toward him.

“You can use it to scare everyone else, but not me.”

He walked closer.

“You always use your anger to chase people away from you so they don't get close enough to discover the truth. You think if you keep pushing everyone away, nobody will notice what's actually going on inside your head.”

I remained silent. He stopped in front of me. “Now tell me.”

I looked at him, but he wasn't joking anymore.

He grabbed my shoulders firmly and stared directly into my eyes.

“Now tell me! Are you in love with Elara or not?”

My mouth opened, but no words came out at first.

I wanted to deny it. I wanted to laugh and tell him he was being ridiculous.

I wanted to tell him that he didn't know what he was talking about.

But none of those words came.

Instead, the truth escaped before I could stop it. “I am!”

My voice echoed through the room. Silas's eyes widened slightly.

I looked away, but there was no taking the words back now.

“I am in love with her!”

My chest tightened. “I fucking love her, but what do I do?”

I ran a hand through my hair again, frustrated.

“Kieran has already claimed her. She's his!”

For a moment, the room was silent.

Then a cold voice came from behind me.

“That's right. She's mine.”

My heart skipped.I froze, I knew that voice. Slowly, I turned around.

Kieran stood near the entrance. My stomach churned the moment our eyes met.

He had heard everything, I immediately forced my expression to remain cold, refusing to let him see what was going on inside me.

But Kieran looked completely different from the brother I was used to seeing.

His face was cold, His eyes were dark, and there was something in them that made it clear he was furious.

He slowly walked toward me. I watched every step he took, keeping my face expressionless even though my heart was pounding.

Honestly, I had never seen that look in my brother's eyes before.

He stopped a few feet away from me.

“That's right,” he repeated. “She's mine, and I don't want you to come anywhere close to her.”

His voice roared across the room. I trembled slightly. Only for a second.

I quickly composed myself and kept my face cold. Kieran's eyes narrowed.

“You have always hated her,” he said. “And it should remain like that.”

I stared at him without responding. His words settled heavily between us.

Silas remained quiet, watching both of us.

I could feel the tension in the room, but I refused to look away from Kieran.

He was my brother. But at that moment, we were no longer simply two brothers standing in the same room.

We were two men who had just realized that we wanted the same woman.