Chapter 130: You’re A Con Artist!?
Rhydian;
I stare at his broken nose, busted lip and bruised face, and confusion keeps clawing at my mind.
I’ve known Igma to be aggressive. She loves to fight and is always in male-dominated spaces. She comes alive when it’s time for a fight.
But despite all that fire, there’s always reason guiding her. She always tries to do right. Especially to Omegas in respect for her father.
So why... why would she do this?
Is it because Alana is her mate?? But Alana has never lied to us before.
Then again, Alana was only a palace maid before Koda selected her to be Elián’s aide.
I only started truly getting to know her then.
What if she feels indebted to Elián and will do whatever she can just to keep his position safe?
She’s trying to set Bram up in order to secure Elian’s place, and Igma is only helping because she doesn’t know the truth. She probably only sees what Alana shows her.
It seems so messy, but it seems logical too...
"His real name is Abner Ikostar. He was a con artist your mother hired to undergo the surgery so he could give her the Alpha grandkids she wants!"
Igma’s words ring in my head, and I shut my eyes in annoyance.
I look back at Bram, and my nails start digging into my palms due to how tightly I have my hands fisted.
A con artist.
Him!?
"Not under your mother! Alpha, Beta, Omega... Even Premodial. Nothing matters under your mother. I’m her subject, and that is all I am. She has power over me. Over my family. Over all of us. Who am I to reject her? If even you can not, who am I to?" Bram’s tear-filled voice rings in my mind again, and I groan in frustration.
"There is no turning away from this. At least, not for me. If you refuse to sleep with me... If you do not get me pregnant, she can not hurt you. But me? She has my parents. If I do not give her what she wants, she can and will get rid of my parents and i. Do you now see why I have no shame? Do you now see why I am not worthy of the attention being an Alpha gives me? Can you see now that I am not at the top of the food chain? If anything, I am just an object to be devoured by the people on that chain. So please... Let me do what I’ve been trained to do, so I can survive..."
I take a deep breath and run my palms over my face as memories of Bram’s tears and pleas torment me. How would anyone consent to the amount of suffering he’s been forced to go through?!
Why is everyone against him? There’s no smoke without a fire, but everyone is screaming fire, and I can’t even see the smoke.
I’m so fucking confused, it’s infuriating.
I can’t just trust whatever Igma says because she’s my cousin.
She needs to show me undisputable proof first. Otherwise, I’d be a cruel, unfair fool.
If she can... if she can show me proof to back up her claim that this...
This helpless, hopeless young man is some criminal mastermind, then... only then will I take any kind of action against him.
I’m trying to do the right thing. Why the fuck does it feel so wrong though!?
I can’t stop thinking about Elián, worrying about him... wondering what he’s doing and how he’s faring.
I’ve thought about writing a letter to him several times, but every time I sit at my desk to write one, all I see is the hurt that was in his eyes the last time we spoke.
I feel so fucking lost, and there’s no one to talk to. I don’t... I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I hate being stuck in the middle of all this.
I hate... I hate that I... that I have to be involved in all this.
For the first time in so long, it felt like I could finally breathe, and now it’s all gone.
Now, I... now every breath feels like a fucking brick tearing its way into my lungs.
I’m losing my mind! I’m losing my fucking mind. I don’t want to do this anymore!!
I just... I just want to go back to those days with Elián. His gentle smile and eyes... those things about him that made everything else seem to vanish.
I want that back... I just... I just want to breathe again.
"A....Alpha Rhydian?" A small voice crashes into my thoughts, and my head snaps up.
My gaze locks on exhausted green eyes that just opened for the first time since yesterday.
I stand up and walk over to his bed, unsure of what I feel as I look at him.
Am I angry that he even ever appeared in my life??
Am I angry that his fate is currently in my hands?
Am I pissed because deciding to trust him or not is weighing heavily against my sanity??
Or do I hate him because a dark part of me wishes he didn’t survive Igma’s attack?
"Why are... Why are you here?" He croaks, and I shut my eyes to gather my thoughts.
"I... in... I came to check up on you. You’ve been unconscious since yesterday." I inform, and I watch his face fall as he looks away from me.
"Alpha Igma." He whispers, and I stare at him in silence.
"What happened between you two? Why did she attack you?" I ask the question that has been tormenting me since last night, and his eyes find me.
He stares at me for only a second before guilt fills his eyes and he looks away from me.
"It... To be honest, Alpha Rhydian... It’s all my fault." He whispers, and my brows crease.
"How so?" I probe, and he shuts his eyes.
"I... I was going to see... Alana yesterday to ask her why... why she set me up with Elián’s room that night..." He begins, and I inhale deeply as I am forced to remember that all of Elian’s scent is gone.
"Alpha Rhydian, I’m really sorry for that night, I truly didn’t..." He begins, but I cut him off.
"What happened between you and Alana?" I demand to get him back on track, and he pauses.
He looks away from me again and takes a deep breath.
"I asked her why she framed me. I asked her... why she and Elián hated me so much... then she... she told me that she would do... whatever it took to make sure that... that you never see any good in me." He begins, and I listen with a pounding heart.
"Sh...she said that I am... that I’m trying to take her masters place and I’m just an... abominable freak of nature who... who would never match up to him." He adds, and the room goes heavy with the weight of the accusations his making.
"I... I finally knew her reason, and I... I finally understood her. I was... I was going to walk away... but then she brought up my past." He continues, and my brows crease.
Past??
"What past?" I question out loud, and he takes a deep breath.
He looks back up at me, and my heart skips a beat when I see his quivering lips and the stream of tears that are now escaping his eyes.
"My... My birth name is not actually Bram Lunarstone." He cries, and my heart sputters to a stop.
I take a shocked step away from him, and he sniffles and buries his face in his palms as he breaks down.
"My... my real name is actually Abner Ikostar. A nobody with dozens of debts tied to that name." He adds, and my jaw drops.
"His real name is Abner Ikostar. He was a con artist!" Igma’s voice repeats in my head, and my heart starts ramming so hard I fear it might stop.
She... she was telling the truth!?
"You are a con artist!?" I demand in shock, and he turns to me with wide, mortified eyes.
"What!? No, Alpha Rhydian, that’s the lie that destroyed my life! Don’t join them in saying it, too. I beg you..." He cries as he presses his hands together in front of him, and I swallow as I stare at him, waiting for all of this to somehow start making sense.
"I was never a con artist. I was a helpless, broke nobody who managed to scrape by by taking loans and begging for money!" He wails, and I just stare in silence.
"I lived in shame and hiding. In order to find me... people started making up lies that I... that I was some kind of criminal and con artist who needed to be apprehended. They even used to put up posters with my picture!!" He cries as if he’s reliving a nightmare, and I just... watch. Not knowing what to believe anymore.
"Alpha Liandria found me and offered to help me clear my past records and give me a new name. I foolishly accepted her help, not knowing I was selling myself to her. That’s how I became this experimental subject! That’s how my whole life got ruined!! Alana threatened to twist the truth and make you see me as a criminal. I snapped and attacked her. Every... everything from then on is a blur. All I can remember is... Alpha Igma vowing to kill me..." He concludes, and my mind goes blank.
It’s gotten even more complicated. Someone help me... please...