Verity:
Flashback:
A crowd had gathered at the construction site where my brother worked.
They were laughing. Some of them were filming. Others were replaying something on their phones like it was entertainment.
I recognized the voice coming from the videos.
I did not look.
I pushed through the crowd, my heart pounding in my ears.
Then I saw him.
My brother was crouched behind a concrete pillar.
A river of tears poured from my eyes. For a moment, my hands and feet went cold.
I could not understand whether this was a nightmare or if it was truly happening in front of me.
How was I supposed to handle this?
My brother. My dear brother. He was an amazing human being. Gentle and very innocent.
Seeing him like that set something on fire inside me.
I wanted to scream so loudly that the entire world would shatter into pieces.
Justin was sitting on the ground, his face smeared with black ink.
Laughter still echoed around us. It was a humiliation that one could never forget.
He slowly lifted his head. A tear slipped down his cheek.
"I worked my whole life to earn respect," he said hoarsely. "That was all I had. Your brother has brought shame upon you. Will you forgive me?"
His hands were clasped together. He was begging for forgiveness he did not owe.
A respected teacher who had guided countless students.
A construction worker who had done nothing but work himself to exhaustion.
And they have stripped him off his dignity.
End Of Flashback:
Theodore sat on his knees in front of me, and all I could think about were those distant memories.
There were so many of them.
Every time my brother had fallen to his knees and cried in front of me, those moments had stayed with me.
Now Theodore was here, his head bowed, an Alpha King kneeling at the feet of an omega he once would have called a fat pig.
"I love you," he repeated, lifting his head to meet my eyes, as if his gaze alone might pull more emotion from me.
"You don’t mean that," I said dramatically.
But I knew he did.
I knew he meant every single word.
"It’s true," he insisted. "I love you so much."
He continued, his voice breaking.
"I love you so much that I would choose you over my years-long friendship with Gigi. Tonight, I’m the one who drove her away, and yet all I could think about was you. What would happen to me if you left me the way Gigi left Ragnar?"
Theodore took my hand and kissed the back of it, tears streaking down his cheeks.
I had never seen him so miserable.


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