Chapter 95: Revenge
Elián;
I turn around and find Bram covered in an oversized coat, staring at me with curious green eyes.
Every ounce of peace I felt in the past few seconds vanishes, and anger begins to flood my veins. God, I hate the sight of him!
"Isn’t this the lad that keeps hovering around Rhydian?" Elien questions, and I take a deep breath.
He is.
"Wow... He looks horrible. Did he steal something to get beaten like this?" Elien speaks again, and I stare at the purple patch around one of Bram’s eyes, as well as the cuts and bruises all over his face and neck.
I don’t know, and quite honestly, I don’t give a fuck what happened to him!
I reply, and Elien scoffs.
"Wow! You really don’t like him." He replies, and I roll my eyes.
Do you like him!?
"I don’t like or hate him. He means nothing to me." Elien replies, and I sigh.
"Why... are you staring at me like that? I only wanted to know why you’re still awake so late at night. Is something troubling you?" Bram’s voice suddenly cuts through mine and Rhydian’s conversation, and I look back up at him.
My face scrunches in irritation, and my nails dig into my palm.
Is it possible that this fucker has no memory of our past life!? Is he truly just some rando here who happens to look like and have the same name as Bram? Or is he just pretending...
"I’ve been wanting to apologise." He speaks again, and I raise a brow.
"Apologise for what?" I finally speak, and he takes a small, unsure step closer to me.
"For telling lies against you during your trial... I had no choice. If I didn’t do it... Alpha Liandria was going to hurt me..." He begins, and I scoff before looking away.
"He’s sorry..." I mutter to myself in amusement as I step away from him.
"I mean it, Elián..." He begins, but I cut him off.
"So what if you mean it!? I don’t get it. What the fuck am I supposed to do with your apology? What is it worth!? If I had gotten... if the fucking correction had happened, would you still have the balls to stand in front of me to apologise!?" I growl, and his jaw drops as he stares at me.
I glare at him, and memories of the smug smile that was on his stupid face that night when he revealed my secret to my parents replay in my head.
It makes no sense for him to be here and not remember our other life. He’s up to something, and I’ll figure it out one way or another!
"Listen here, Bram. I will spell it out for you in case you have some kind of misconception. I. Do. Not. Like. You, Bram. I dislike you a whole fucking lot. So stay the hell away from me." I growl in agitation and brush past him.
I had only taken a few steps when I heard the words that made me freeze.
"Is it because I made them disown you?"
My blood runs cold in my veins. My eyes widen, and my heart forgets how to beat.
I turn around slowly in mortification, and he turns to me with a huge grin.
"You really do know how to keep malice. After seeing you here, I thought you may be someone different... but you’re not. You’re still the same temperamental bitchy ass boy you were. Still completely inexperienced in the game of minds." He says, and my jaw drops.
"There’s no way!!." Elien comments in shock while I remain frozen.
"What? You’re shocked?" Bram says, and I blink at him as he walks over to me.
"Let me explain... Your insecurities never let you see it, but you’re too fucking gifted for your own good. Your animation skills were top-notch, and people always gravitated towards you. It would only be a matter of time till you picked yourself back up after that night. I wanted you to suffer. I wanted bad things to happen to you after stealing Natalie from me. But all your parents did was kick you out. It wasn’t enough" He speaks as he stands in front of me, and I feel my face grow numb with shock as my heart drops into my stomach.
Bram smirks before he starts circling me.
"I was driving my dad’s truck to find you, so I could give you a piece of my mind. To hurt you some more cause I knew you weren’t wounded enough. Fuck, I wanted you to ache so fucking bad... I swear I was only going to say a few harsh things to you to completely ruin your already dwindling sense of self-worth... but when I saw you on that bridge... still looking so... good and unshaken despite your pathetic state... I lost it." He continues before getting in front of me.
He leans closer so our eyes are levelled, and my heart starts racing as the realisation of the things he’s saying begins to dawn on me.
"Why hurt you with words when I could physically hurt you? I mean, the conditions were perfect. You were on a bridge... several feet above water you couldn’t swim in... and I was behind a steering wheel. What do you think I did?" He adds, and my throat runs dry.
"I slammed my feet against that fucking accelerator with every bit of hate red I had harboured for you. I was meant to jump out of the truck just in time, but I miscalculated. Everything went black... and the next time I opened my eyes... I was here. Stuck in this loser’s body."
He sneers, and his words leave my mind glitching.
I had expected him to be the same Bram... but confessing that he tried to kill me?? I was mad at him for indirectly causing this mess... But he was the one driving the truck!?
He saw me and decided to kill me?! My best friend of five years!? No... This can’t be real.
"This fucker was a nobody alcoholic Alpha here. Too useless for any work, and too arrogant to go begging. The fool jumped into a lake here to drown himself. He died, and I got trapped in his useless body. That was till my path crossed with Alpha Liandria, and she made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Sure... The road has been treacherous... in fact, I used to think I was suffering for my sins against you... But after seeing you here, it became clear to me... Coming here wasn’t a punishment. It was my second chance to finish what I couldn’t do in our world." He narrates as he turns his back on me and walks a few steps.
I feel my chest tighten as I stare at him. Unable to process everything as tears involuntarily blur my vision.
He... He... He’s actually...
He...
"Elian?" A voice suddenly breaks through my thoughts, and when I look up, I find Rhydian walking over to me with confusion on his face.
"It’s cold outside. What are you doing out of bed..." He begins, but stops when he sees Bram.
He looks between Bram and me, and the next thing I hear is a sob.
My head snaps at Bram in shock, and my eyes nearly pop in disbelief when I see tears streaming down his face.
In a matter of mere seconds, his face has gone red, and his eyes look so sorrowful. Like he’s been crying for a long time. How did he change so much in the blink of an eye??
"Alpha Rhydian... I don’t want to be your omega." He croaks, and my brows knot.
Rhydian, who was heading towards me, turns to Bram and walks over to him.
"What are you saying? Why don’t you want to be my omega? I won’t hurt you. You also don’t have to serve me. I’m only doing this to protect you." Rhydian says, and I stare up at the innocent man who’s being played so easily.
Bram throws a glance my way. A nervous... pathetic glance. Like he’s scared of me or something. A show he’s put up just for Rhydian to see, and Rhydian doesn’t miss it.
Rhydian looks back at me, and I blink back.
"Elian doesn’t like it." Bram then says, and my jaw drops.
"And he has every right not to. He’s your Omega, after all. He shouldn’t have to think anyone is after his position. He was right when he called me an opportunistic, selfish slut. If I weren’t all these things... I wouldn’t be in this mess." He cries, and air escapes my lungs in horror.
"I never said that!" I exclaim in shock, but Rhydian snaps his head at me with his grey eyes now gold.
He eyes me like I’m the most vile person on the planet, and something about that look breaks me. He can’t possibly think I...
"Seriously? I tried to explain everything to you this afternoon, and this is what you do? You had to hunt him down at night and say such cruel things to him?!" He scolds me, and my heart drops.
"Rhydian, I didn’t..." I try to reason with him, but he cuts me off.
"It’s Alpha Rhydian to you!" He growls, and I jerk in shock.
"You’ve become too spoiled, haven’t you. I gave you a mile, and now you want to run all over me? I’ve been trying to respect you, and this is what I get?! I’m ashamed of you, Elian. You should be ashamed of yourself, too! I didn’t expect this from you." He continues, and I feel my heart burst inside my chest.
"Apologise to him!" He adds, and I look over at Bram, who’s smiling triumphantly behind Rhydian.
I feel everything inside me crumble, and I can’t stop my tears.
Just when I thought things were finally looking up... this happens?
"Elian, I asked you to..." Rhydian begins again, but I don’t let him finish.
"I’m sorry."
The words roll off my tongue like a bitter pill, and Bram’s smirk grows.
"I was... inconsiderate, and I let my emotions control me. For that, I’m sorry. I should have done better." I add, and Rhydian’s face falls. He wasn’t expecting me to apologise so easily.
But then again... what’s the point of dragging anything when Bram has clearly won?
Once again... he’s stolen from me. It truly was foolish of me to think I could have a shot at happiness. Even here, I’m not allowed that.
Without a word more, I turn around and begin my journey to my room. It’s not the fact that he screamed at me that draws tears from my eyes... but the fact that he didn’t even bother to call me back as I walked away.
Once again... I’ve lost...
"Are you really going to let him get away with doing such horrible things to you?! You can’t just cry like a baby! You need to fight back! This is OUR life now, so I’m on your side. We’ll figure this out. You haven’t lost. Not while I’m here at least..."
There’s no point, Elien. Let it go.