Chapter 76: Blatant Lie

Arriving at the home of the Mafia Wolves, I couldn’t stand to see everything that had unfolded in such a short span of time.

These people really did go through a lot.

It wasn’t easy being a Mafia Wolf. The clapbacks were always going to hit hard. That was just the nature of this life ... brutal, unforgiving, and always expensive.

Jade’s and Rex’s faces weren’t looking good at all. I was the one who had carried her the entire way here, and seeing her like this twisted something deep in my chest that I wasn’t ready to name.

No one deserved to go through this. Not Jade, especially. She had sacrificed so much for this pack. Maybe that was exactly why she kept taking the heaviest hits ... she was literally the most important person in this group, second only to Rex himself.

They had to call someone in to treat her. She could barely speak.

"Who are you calling?" I asked.

"Someone trusted. Someone who attends to us specifically," Camila said.

She said the person would arrive within twenty minutes.

"Jade, stay with us. Please."

"Draven," she breathed out, barely above a whisper.

I felt every eye in the room shift toward me when she said my name.

Gia and Dorian were with Rex across the room, working to slow the bleeding from his shoulder. He’d taken a knife ... thrown clean at him ... and it had gone in deep.

Everyone was watching. Watching the way I stayed close to Jade. Watching the way she called my name. I felt the weight of their stares, but I didn’t flinch. I didn’t look away. I wasn’t ashamed anymore.

Not with her life on the line.

Let the suspicions run wild. I didn’t care.

I already found myself wondering what the Mafia Wolves’ clapback was going to look like after all this. Whatever it was, I was ready to go in with full force.

The trusted medic arrived and moved toward Rex first.

"Please ... can you check Jade quickly? Just make sure she’s alright," I said.

Camila stepped between us and shoved me back. "Will you have her skip our boss just to see Jade?"

"No ... it’s not like that. I just wanted to know she was okay," I said.

"What the fuck? That was stupid of you," Dante said, and pushed me harder than Camila had.

"Sorry. I apologize," I said, stepping back.

"Sorry for yourself," Camila snapped, then gave the medic a nod. She moved to attend to Rex.

She cleaned and covered the wound efficiently. Rex let out a sharp shout when she pressed in ... it was a deep cut, a real pierce. Even so, I still thought he was a hero for taking that hit for all of us.

When she finished with Rex, she moved to Jade. Jade, who looked weak to her last bone.

The medic examined her thoroughly, checking her over from head to toe. Then she looked up.

"She’s been assaulted," she said.

"Like... rape?" Mia asked quietly.

"No. Physical assault. A bad one. She’ll need time to heal, even after I treat her."

An anger rose inside me ... the kind that doesn’t settle until something is destroyed. The only thing that was going to put that fire out was Carlos being brought all the way down.

I watched every step of Jade’s treatment without looking away.

Rex had been bandaged up by then, and he rose carefully, flexing his arm to test it. I stood immediately and went to him.

"We need to do something about these rogues. Fast," I said.

Rex walked right past me like I hadn’t spoken. Like I was furniture. Like I was a fool for even opening my mouth.

"Rex ... what’s the first move?" I followed him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He spun around and slapped me with a force that nearly dropped me to the ground.

"Are you mad? How dare you touch me on the side where I was just injured?"

I steadied myself, hand pressed to my cheek.

"We’re not doing anything right now," he said. "First thing we do is protect ourselves. There’s too much casualty on our hands already."

"We can’t wait," I said. "We have to retaliate. I thought we were the Mafia Wolves ... look at what they did to Jade, they..."

"What the fuck?" Rex cut me off. "Is it only Jade you care about?"

"I think he’s fucking her, sir," Dorian said.

Rex looked at me, then back at Dorian. "That’s not possible. He’s new. He wouldn’t dare."

"We can’t be so sure, Rex. Ask him," Rafael said.

Fuck.

I’d been doing it again ... every single time I opened my mouth, it was in Jade’s favour. She had taken over some part of me I hadn’t protected well enough, and now it was about to cost me everything.

"Draven." Rex’s voice dropped low. Dangerous. "We have a dead member already. Don’t lie to me. Are you fucking Jade?"

He looked me dead in the eye.

I looked around the room. I looked at Jade. The medic was adding the finishing touches to her treatment.

"I’m not fucking Jade," I said. "How in the world would you even think that?"

"You sure?" Rex stepped closer. "There’s a penalty for anyone who lies to me."

"I’m telling the truth, Rex. That’s a fallacy, and I don’t know why Dorian and Rafael would even imagine something like that. I’m showing basic empathy for someone who was kidnapped and badly assaulted. When did that become grounds for suspicion?"

My heart was hammering. I felt like my chest was a locked room with something trying to break the door down.

"But Jade wasn’t the only one injured," Dorian said. "Why didn’t you show this much concern for Rex? Your actual leader?"

"Because she’s a lady," Rafael said.

They all laughed.

"Enough," Rex said.

He moved away from me.

"Rex, you should still ask Jade when she’s back on her feet," Dorian said. "Just to be twice sure."

It looked like Dorian was dead set on seeing me buried.

"I’ll confirm with her," Rex said flatly.

I had blatantly lied to the leader of the Mafia Wolves.

That took a lot of nerve ... even from me.

Were they watching? I asked myself. Had Dorian or any of them seen something ... heard something ... from when Jade and I were together in her room? Or mine?

It was possible. And at the same time, it wasn’t. We’d always kept the doors and windows locked.

They were assuming. Reading into my public display of care for her and building a case out of it.

Especially Dorian. In a twisted way, I was almost glad it had come to this ... because now he’d shown his hand. He wasn’t just a member of this crew. He was someone who wanted to see me fall.

"For now, we lay low," Rex said, addressing everyone. "We figure out how to protect each other before we do anything drastic. But one thing is certain ... the Glocks are going to get everything coming to them from me."

I didn’t agree with the timeline. The heat inside me wasn’t interested in patience. Revenge needed to come fast, not slow. But I kept my mouth shut and nodded along like I was on board.

The medic finished up and we all moved to where Jade lay.

"She should be fully active within three days," the medic said. "Until then, complete rest. No strenuous activity whatsoever."

We all nodded. She packed her things and left.

I helped Jade sit up from where she’d been laid. At least now she could speak clearly. She wasn’t as bad as before.

"I’m fine," she said to Rex when he asked.

"We have a lot to catch up on," Rex replied. Then he turned to the room. "But before that ... Jade doesn’t cook or serve anything for the next three days. Gia handles that. Viktor, I need security tighter than it’s ever been. We need it now more than ever."

Everyone dispersed.

I helped Jade to her room, Camila on the other side steadying her. While I walked that hallway, my mind wasn’t quiet for a single second.

I was already building the clapback in my head ... brick by brick, move by move.

They were not going to do this to Jade and walk away clean. Not while I was still breathing.