Chapter 47

~Alistair~

In a fit of rage, I pulled over at Sam’s house, with a strong determination to make him pay for taking what was mine. He was definitely going to suffer for the evil he had committed, and I was all too willing to make sure he didn’t escape my wrath.

It was unbelievable that Eliana could decide to do such a thing to me. Garrett was right. Perhaps, there was a mixup somewhere, as it was not possible that the sweet and virtuous Eliana would turn around and betray me for no reason. She was pure at heart, and meant well for me. All the times she had told me she loved me and cared deeply about me, she meant it. I would have known if she was lying, and I knew very well that she had definitely been honest and truthful to me.

I was about stepping on his porch and ringing his doorbell, when Sam came out of the house, dressed in denim jeans and a blue t-shirt. He looked like he was in a hurry to get somewhere, and was stunned upon seeing me standing at his doorstep.

“Hey,” He said.

I knew that once I opened my mouth to speak, it was going to be the end of him. I was unable to control my anger at this point, and if I was to respond to Sam, there would surely be a bloodbath, and it was either I died or he died. Of course, I wasn’t going to be the one to die. I was going to kill Sam with my bare hands for what he had done to Eliana, and I was not even going to think twice about it if he decided that he was going to complicate issues further, and make me angrier than I already was.

“You don’t look so good. What’s up, man?” He asked, with a look of concern written on his face.

“I can’t look good when you’ve been screwing my woman behind my back,” I yelled out loud, against my better judgment.

He seemed taken aback, and I was waiting for him to deny the allegation that had been laid before him, tell me he did not know what I was talking about, and be confused when he saw the pictures I had of him and Eliana. I wanted him to look me in the eye and tell me that the images had been photoshopped and were not real.

As stupid as I was, I still felt that somehow, it was not possible that Eliana would have just betrayed me and cheated on me with the very man I was suspicious of. If she was tired of the relationship, she would have said so and gone on her way, but there was certainly no way my Eliana could have broken the trust I had in her, and slept with someone other than me. I just couldn’t believe it, and I did not want to believe it.

I had told Jenny and her brother that I was going to Sam’s house to have a word or two with him, asking him how it had all happened and letting me know why Eliana had done such a despicable thing, and seeing that I couldn’t carry out my anger on Eliana, I had thought it was best if I took out my anger on the man involved. Honestly though, I just wanted someone to tell me that the pictures were false and all part of a plan to tarnish Eliana’s reputation. Then, I’d find out who was behind this act and when I found them, they’d forever hate themselves for trying to come in between me and Eliana.

“How did you find out?” Sam asked, not looking surprised at all.

My shoulders drooped, and I took two steps backwards, as the truth I had been refusing to believe all this while got confirmed from the horse’s mouth. I needed time to process the news, and I could not control the feeling of being betrayed by the person I loved most in the world.

“Are you okay, Alistair?” He asked, in a worried tone, that only irritated me the more.

“How can I be okay? Answer me, Sam. How can I? If you learnt that your woman has been having sex with the very person you were suspicious of, would you be okay? Give me a goddamn fucking answer, Sam. Are you going to be okay if the only woman you have ever loved ended up making you look like a fool by screwing with someone she said meant nothing to her now? Will you be okay, Sam, if the woman who mattered to you more than powers, riches and revenge, betrayed your trust and cheated on you despite all the love and care you have ever shown her? Are you going to be okay, Sam? Are you?” I yelled, enraged and trying so hard not to break down into tears.

Sam moved closer to me, placing a hand on my shoulder, as he squeezed it tightly, in a reassuring manner. “I’m... I am sorry, Alistair. I loved Eliana, and when she told me her feelings hadn’t changed for me even though ten years had passed already, I just got back into a romantic relationship with her, not thinking about how you were going to feel about it. For that, I am so sorry;” He apologised.

I eyed him fiercely. “You are so sorry? You fuck my woman and tell me you are so sorry?” I yelled, throwing a punch in his face.

He bled from his nose, staggering backwards. “I deserve that,” He said, looking really remorseful.

I scoffed. “No, darling. You deserve worse than that, and I swear on my life, you would pay for what you have done. I swear it,” I told him, meaning every word of what I had said.

“Alistair...”

“Don’t you dare call me by my name like you are familiar with me. You’ve lost that right, and guess what? You do not even know the slightest thing about me. I’ll make you regret all that you have done. Mark my words,” I threatened.

“You are going to make me regret all I have done because I slept with your woman? If you can recall, she was my woman first, and you don’t have any right whatsoever to come to my own home and threaten me. I did not have sex with myself. The person you should be thinking of punishing is your beloved Eliana. She told me she pities you, and that she can’t leave you because she’s the only thing you have, even though she loves me and not you. Do me a favour, Alistair, and punish her by letting her go. She doesn’t want to be with you, and she is only with you for the sake of your happiness. Let her be free and experience true happiness if your claims to love her aren’t false,” Sam said.

I scoffed. “Was that your plan? You want me to let go of Eliana, in order for you to have her? Is that why you sent me those explicit pictures of you and Eliana?” I asked.

A surprised look embraced his face, and I could tell at once that he was not the one who had sent those pictures.

“I never sent you any pictures, Alistair. I’m guessing someone within these walls did, and I am going to fish out that person, and set that person as an example for others to follow. Who knows? Maybe Eliana sent those supposed explicit photos in order for you to take the hint and let her go,” Sam said.

Furiously, I grabbed him by the collar, prepared to take decisions into my own hands, and do what I must to contain my rage, even if it meant killing him right there and then.

“You know that what I am saying may be the truth, don’t you? Did the person who sent those pictures require any payment from you to stop the pictures from going public?” Sam asked.

I bit my lower lip, already taking a quick guess as to what he was trying to say.

A smirk played around his lips, as he studied my countenance. “If money had been requested for in exchange of the informant being silent, you could have said the person was only trying to blackmail you into giving him money, in order for Eliana’s reputation not to be tarnished in public, because even though you are mad at her now, you still love her, and wouldn’t allow nude photos of her to be released, not so?

“Instead, the pictures were sent to you with no request made. It is obvious that Eliana was behind the sending of those pictures. She wants you to see reasons to let her go. If it wasn’t Eliana, it was just a fan of Sliana, who wants you out of the way because of the speculations that we may be in a love triangle, and the person apparently finds me a better match for Eliana than you. Either way, Alistair, I’m not the culprit, and I request that you let me go now before I call on my guards to get you the hell out of here,” Sam said, in a conclusive tone.

“Your guards are no match for me,” I said, tightening my grip on his collar.

Deep down, I knew that his analysis made a whole lot of sense, but a tiny part of me tried to believe that it was all false and I was still probably in a dream that I was going to wake up from soon. The fact still remained that Eliana had cheated on me and hurt my pride, and it was not about who had sent the pictures or who hadn’t.

The greater part of me was just that I had finally gotten to learn the truth, and that there was truly more than what met the eye.

“Just one more question, Sam,” I said, still not releasing him.

“Shoot,” He said.

“Was Eliana here last night?” I asked, already knowing the answer was only just going to break my heart all the more.

“Yes, she was,” Sam said, without the smirk leaving his lips.

I let go of his collar, trying my best to be strong, as my fists tightened, suppressing and controlling the rage in me that wanted to be seen. That was why she hadn’t answered my calls or bothered to return my calls. The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. I couldn’t stay here anymore, and I couldn’t be reminded of anything that concerned Eliana. If I kept on thinking about her, it was only going to make matters worse. She had betrayed me, and no matter how hard I pinched myself to see if all these was all part of a nightmare, I knew very well that it was not.

I had been hurt and broken by the very woman I had referred to as “Princess". She wasn’t a princess. Her sweet nature had been too good to be real, and I should have known better. She was a witch, who like in every other fairy tale, posed to be a princess, and made life unbearable for you at the time you least expected.

Turning around, I made to go back to my car and get the hell out of Sam’s house. All I needed to do was sit at the beach all alone, thinking of what next to do with my life that had become regrettable all of a sudden.

“Sure you can drive in this state?” Sam asked, calling after me.

I turned around, swiftly. “I am sure that you would be the happiest person if I died in a car accident, so, whether I know how to drive or not should be the at the very least of your concerns,” I said.

He shrugged. “Well, I never said I was concerned about you driving or not. I was going to see Eliana to drop off something she left here yesterday. I figured you were going to her place to confront her, and I was going to suggest you helped me drop it off. I was only worried if you’d be able to drop it off safely, without a scratch,” He said.

“Well, unfortunately for you, Sam, I am not a messenger, and you must know that I am not going to step a foot in Eliana’s house. You should go and give your lover the thing of no value that she forgot with you, without so much as a scratch,” I told him, and was about to turn around and be on my way, when his voice stopped me from doing so once again.

“Don’t say that it has no value. It’s very much valuable, and she told me it was a family heirloom,” He said, and brought out my mother’s necklace, which had been given to her by my father, out of his pocket.

I took a few steps close to him, with my mouth agape, as my heartbeat increased rapidly, shocked to the bone at the revelation of what Eliana had dropped off at his place.

I attempted to take the necklace from him, but he refused to let me have it. “This belongs to Eliana, and I don’t think she’d be pleased to hear that I gave it to you,” Sam said.

“You bastard! It belongs to my family, and I gave it to Eliana, thinking she was worth being called family, and I’d forever regret my decisions, even when I am buried and rotting in my grave,” I said to him.

Sam shook his head, pitiably and in a mocking manner. “How the mighty has fallen! You know, it’s funny that a billionaire, who is also an Alpha, has been torn apart because of love. Love, truly makes the strongest men weak, and you were stupid enough to give someone you had just known in a matter of months a family heirloom. That shows how little you think of family, or it’s probably because you actually didn’t come from the family whose surname you bear,” Sam said.

Deciding not to hold my anger back anymore, I lunged at Sam, giving him a slap in the face. He deserved much worse, and I was willing to give it to him. Without second thoughts, I threw a punch in his stomach, which made him yelp in pain. I dealt him several blows on his eyes, nose, mouth, and the final step was kicking him to cause him to fall on the bare ground, landing heavily with a thud. I kicked him in the stomach countless times, and stepped on him.

Feeling a little bit satisfied with the bruises on his face, and blood dripping from his forehead, nose and mouth, I panted heavily, then bent a little, picking up my mother’s necklace, which had fallen from Sam’s hand while I was beating him to a pulp.

I turned around, feeling more pain than I had ever felt in my life. Sam had been right. I thought little about family, and it was not just about my foster family. I had decided against seeking the revenge I had planned for years, not minding that the revenge had been to honour my late biological parents, who had died at the hands of Eliana’s family. I had trusted her with my family’s heirloom, even though I had just known her for a few months.

I was hurt, broken and shattered. I did not need a soothsayer to tell me that I was done with love, and everything that came along with it. Despite knowing that love made one vulnerable, I had gone ahead to fall in love like the stupid fool that I was, and in the process, I had landed myself in this mess.

Eliana had stolen my pride, strength, wisdom, and every part of me, but I was going to pay her back. I would destroy her family and make her pay for ever taking the love I had for her for granted. I hurt as much as I loved, and no matter how adorable her brown eyes were, or how soft spoken she was, or how sweet her lips tasted, I was going to ruin her.

At first, all that mattered was revenge, then I had met her, and suddenly, she was all I wanted, but not anymore. All that mattered to me now was to get my revenge, and she wouldn’t even see it coming, but she would regret the day she decided to make me feel this hurt.