Chapter 372-Hiding In Plain Sight

Verity:

My mood had already been off because Theodore and Jaguar had messaged me, asking me to help create a welcoming atmosphere for Gigi.

That was how I found out she was coming back to the mansion.

Honestly, what happened to her was terrible. I wasn’t denying that.

But things here were already depressing enough, and having those two ask me to prepare a welcome for her felt incredibly inappropriate.

When my brother had hurt Gigi, everyone had looked at me with so much hatred, as though I were somehow responsible for what he had done.

But now, after Gigi’s brother had wronged all of us, she was still being showered with love.

And somehow, I, one of her brother’s victims, was expected to help prepare her welcome.

The whole thing felt wrong.

What surprised me most was that neither Theodore nor Jaguar seemed to realize how inappropriate it was.

But Gigi was already here now, and we were all sitting in the living room.

She sat there with a soft, sorrowful expression on her face.

Lady Lucille had already left. Before leaving, she had merely asked Gigi how she was in a dry tone and said she hoped Gigi would find some peace.

Jenna left not long after, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Bundy.

Mrs. Bundy clearly hadn’t wanted to be part of Gigi’s welcome either.

Unfortunately, I had to stay.

Jaguar had specifically asked me to remain with Gigi so there would be another woman around and she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.

It was strange how differently every victim was treated.

"How is the office going?"

Gigi’s question snapped me out of my thoughts.

I gave her a small nod to indicate that everything was going well.

"I mean, I hope their absence from the office hasn’t caused any problems," she added, gesturing toward Theodore and Jaguar.

Both of them immediately avoided my eyes.

"No. They’ve actually been working pretty hard," I replied, not understanding why she was bringing this up. "They leave for meetings early in the morning and don’t come back until late at night."

They’ve been so busy these past few days that they haven’t even had much time to spend with me.

"What did they tell you?" Gigi asked.

I frowned slightly. "That they were going to meetings."

She turned toward them, giving them a playful, warning look.

"They were at the hospital with me," she revealed. "Both of them were driving me crazy, but honestly, having them there really lifted my spirits."

My heart dropped.

I forced a weak, brittle smile onto my face when all I really wanted to do was scream at them.

Theodore and Jaguar had gone completely quiet, their expressions giving them away immediately.

They knew they had been caught.

And somehow, the fact that they had lied to me about it hurt more than anything else.

They had spent all that time with Gigi and deliberately hidden it from me.

Why?

Because they knew it would hurt me?

And if they knew it would hurt me, didn’t that mean they already knew what they were doing was wrong?

A strange storm began building inside me.

My mind almost went numb as I struggled to keep my expression under control.

I felt as though one wrong reaction would expose exactly how upset I was.

But even if I managed to hide it, one look at their faces told me it didn’t matter.

They already knew they had fucked up.

And now they knew I had found out.

"I heard you’re preparing for the mate ball?" Gigi asked, pulling me back into the conversation.

I gave her a weak smile.

"Lady Lucille wanted it," I replied.

"Yeah, sure. I understand. I was just saying that if anything comes up, let me know. It’ll help keep my mind off everything else."

There was a sadness in Gigi’s voice as she spoke. Almost immediately afterward, she lowered her gaze to her hands.

That was when Ragnar walked in carrying a file.

"Gigi, I know this isn’t the right time to ask you all these questions, but I have to finish the reports," he said, sitting on the sofa beside her and turning to face her.

He placed the files down while his brothers remained behind them. I leaned against the side of the sofa, watching Gigi’s expression carefully.

She nodded, swallowing hard.

"So, can you tell us how it all happened?" Ragnar asked quietly, studying her face while she kept her eyes lowered.

"That night, when you asked me to go home, I was really broken and shattered," she began.

The moment she said it, the blame landed directly on Ragnar.

I saw his entire body tense.

His brothers exchanged a glance too, almost as though they were silently acknowledging that he had fucked up.

"I couldn’t go home. I was going through a lot at the time, and I needed comfort, so I went to Rochelle’s house."

We all frowned, trying to understand how any of that had led to her abduction.

"When I got there, I had no idea her ex-boyfriend was there too. I don’t know why he had come or what he intended to do, but he was hiding. Maybe he saw me and decided to change his target."

She paused briefly.

"Before I knew what was happening, he covered my mouth with his hand and forced me into my own car. Then he made me drive at gunpoint."

Her fingers curled tightly into a fist.

I could only imagine what she was reliving in that moment.

"Halfway there, he made me type that message. I was terrified, but he told me that if I did what he asked, he would let me go after a few days. I thought that at least meant he was planning to keep me alive, so I typed it."

She drew in an uneven breath.

"After that, he abandoned my car and made me continue on foot. We walked for hours before he finally took me to his cabin."

Her voice weakened.

"And then the nightmare started."

She immediately wrapped her arms around herself.

Her expression twisted as her fingers dug into her skin, almost as though she wanted to claw it off.