The Syndicate’s Bride

26

Vanessa

As soon as I stepped into the room, everywhere went silent as two pairs of wide eyes rested on me.

Owen shot to his feet, almost knocking down his empty seat, while Ryan’s previous shock had already melted away, morphing into something akin to annoyance.

I mentally scoffed. He really had the nerve.

Owen broke the silence. “Princess–”

I raised my hand sharply, cutting him off. “I don’t even want to hear another word from either of you,” I scoffed. “Do you really just take me for a fool? Someone you can lie to whenever you feel like it because you know she trusts you too much to question you?”

My eyes were beginning to sting with unshed tears, and I had to swallow hard just to stop myself from breaking down.

I'd always held Owen in the highest regard than I did anyone else. He was my only family, my confidant, the first person I trusted before any one else, even before I trusted myself.

Through all the anger, violence, and heartbreak of my life, Owen was the one true thing I was happy to hold on to. My brother, my best friend. Never in this life or the next would I have ever thought that he’d keep something this significant from me.

And he hadn’t just kept it from me either. He’d teamed up with Ryan who he didn’t even like, almost confirming just how deeply insignificant I was where trust was a factor.

It was too much to process at once. It was just too much.

“Princess,” Owen tried again, stepping towards me. I took a step back, wrapping my hands around my body as if they would protect me from the ache and betrayal. Thankfully, he stopped mid walk, a flicker of guilt in his eyes. I turned away, unable to stare in them any longer to prevent my anger from diminishing.

“How long has this been going on?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

“Two days,” he quietly replied.

Last night’s incident flashed in my head and everything clicked. I chuckled bitterly. “God, I must have really seemed gullible, huh? Last night.” I looked between the both of them. “Last night was merely a ploy to deceive wasn’t it?”

At their silence, I scoffed, bringing my hand to cover my face as the threat of tears only grew stronger.

“I must be seem so f*****g stupid to the two of you, huh?” I chuckled, my voice beginning to c***k.

“We were only trying to protect you,” Owen said softly.

Protect me? Protect me?

“What the hell, Owen?” I croaked out, finally giving way to the tears. “Do you somehow think that will automatically make this okay? “You both go behind my back, team up in private, all the while leading me to believe there’s this unquenchable flame of hatred between the both of you which only keeps me awake at night, worrying about the both of you,” I yelled tearfully. “I was even so worried I had been too harsh on the both of you the day before, and that maybe the three of us could talk it out when we got back home. But all this time, you’ve both been fine! Then you hit me with the ‘we did it to protect you’ crap and expect me to just go along with it? What f*****g bullshit.”

“You have to listen to us,” Owen said, “there was no other way.”

“No, there was,” I snapped, wiping at my cheeks, “You both should have come to me, let me in on whatever the f**k was going on. Who told you that you could make choices for me, huh? It’s what father has done to me all my life. What makes you both any f*****g different?” I yelled.

Behind Owen, Ryan finally decided to involve himself in the conversation, stood and walked forward, but Owen stopped him just before he could walk past him.

“Don’t, Winchester,” he warned, “this isn’t a good time.”

Ryan looked down on Owen’s hand, his jaw ticking in irritation before he released a breath and took a step back.

“I know you’re angry,” Owen continued, “and you have every right to be, but this situation runs so much deeper than this right now, Princess. You need to understand that.”

“Don’t you f*****g get it? I sneered, “I don’t f*****g care, Owen. I don’t f*****g care if my anger is the least of the problem, I don’t f*****g care if you both did this to protect me. I just don’t f*****g care. None of it matters, not when this is how I’m being treated, like a f*****g child, like my feelings were less important than your plans.”

“Do you even understand how lonely this makes me feel?” I croaked out. “My whole life I’ve experienced loneliness and had to fight it all on my own. You were there Owen, you know how I lived under father’s rule, you were there when I fought these battles myself. Your actions are just confirmation that I am indeed alone like I’ve always thought. And I honestly thought you’d be the last person to make me feel that way.”

Heavy guilt flashed across his features making him look away as he nervously bit his lips, a habit of his when he was about to cry. I wiped my tears with the back of my hand, and looked away, unwilling to look at anyone anymore. I needed to leave, to go somewhere for peace and quiet.

“I’m leaving,” I said finally, turning towards the door. “And I don’t want to be found so don’t come after me, either of you.” With that I exited the study and the manor.

Ryan

As soon as the door to my office swung open, I knew I’d been careless. Too preoccupied with the new alert I had gotten earlier that day, I’d let my guard down, completely shutting down my heightened hearing abilities that were supposed to be listening in on Vanessa’s movement.

She hadn’t taken the truth well, which was understandable. She felt betrayed by the alliance, even going as far as comparing our choices to her father’s behaviour which only confirmed the growing suspicions I’d been having about her father.

Owen, too, didn’t take the confrontation well. As soon as Vanessa left crying, he lashed out, telling me why he had said our secrecy would be costly.

“This is what I was f*****g afraid of, Winchester,” he yelled in frustration. “You don’t know her like I do. Once she’s like this, it’s hard to earn her trust back.”

I let him vent out his frustration even though I slowly started to get sick of it, and they way he kept insisting he knew her better than anyone. Thankfully, before I could voice out that thought, he left my study, slamming the door shut behind him.

I had no desire to offer him sympathy. We weren’t friends. And if he wanted to vent out his feelings, I was sure he could take care of himself.

Vanessa was my only priority.

I hated seeing her cry, hated seeing how quickly the situation escalated, which was why I'd given her a thirty minute head start, allowing her to clear her head for sometime, before turning on the tracker I had installed on her phone and going after her.

The tracker led me to the underground racetrack, unsurprisingly. It made perfect sense that she’d go to the one place she could blow out her frustration with her wrench and engine grease.

The racetrack was the quietest I had ever seen it. Even the staff seemed to be absent for the day, which made sense. It was a Sunday after all.

Climbing out of my car, I headed straight for the garage, knowing it was the one place she frequently visited at the arena. I passed the lonely hallway, following the sound of metals clashing together until I got to the working room.

Vanessa stood turned away from me, drilling nails into a wooden frame, assembling the object piece by piece. Her little sniffles, drowned by the drilling machine could be heard with my heightened sense of hearing, indicating she was still crying and upset.

My gaze softened on her. For a moment, I considered giving her more time, allowing her to cry to her satisfaction, but it was because she was crying that I couldn’t bring myself to leave her.I was risking getting my head smashed with her wrench, but as long as it was her, I was fine with it.

She could do whatever she wanted.

Plus, it was already too late as she snapped her head to the door, finally noticing my arrival. She narrowed her gaze on me, her lips slightly lifting in annoyance before returning to her work, choosing to ignore my presence.

With a sigh, I walked into the room, stopping a few distance from her just in case she decided to turn that drill into a weapon. I’d heal, of course, but I was more comfortable with the preventive measures.

“Can we talk?”