Free Web NovelChapter 118: I hope you don’t hate me
Nico
Silence.
The silence inside the car was so heavy it felt suffocating. I didn’t know if Alaric was giving me the cold shoulder or if he just flat-out didn’t want to talk to me, but I couldn’t help but feel like he wanted absolutely nothing to do with me after what had just happened in that dining hall.
Why had he not said a single word even after finding out the truth?
He hadn’t even spared me a single glance since we got into the vehicle. We were riding right behind my uncle’s car, the taillights cutting through the dark, misty night.
When we had finally left my grandfather’s estate, my uncle and Sophia had decided to ride together, leaving me alone with Alaric.
"I think you two need each other right now, so I will ride with Anderson," Sophia had told us gently before she moved to join my uncle.
At the time, it seemed like a kind gesture, but now I realized it was the worst possible option. Alaric just wouldn’t talk to me. He kept his eyes glued straight ahead on the road, his jaw clenched so tightly the muscle was twitching under his skin.
Did he find me disgusting now? Did he hate me?
I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in his head, the thoughts spinning around in my brain until I felt dizzy. I was desperate, furious, and fiercely curious, caught in an agonizing loop of wondering whether he loathed me for the baggage I carried or if he was just repulsed by the sight of me.
But why the hell did I even care so much about his opinion right now?
I questioned myself bitterly, letting out a deep, ragged sigh that shuddered through my chest. I turned away from him, pressing my shoulder against the passenger door and staring out the window at the passing shadows of the trees.
Fine. If he wasn’t going to talk to me, then I would just wallow in my pity alone. That was exactly what I deserved anyway.
I closed my eyes tightly, forcing myself to swallow the thick lump in my throat as I tried so hard to fight back the tears that desperately wanted to stream down my face.
Suddenly, the smooth rhythm of the ride broke. Alaric violently swung the steering wheel, veering the Maybach off the main road and slamming on the brakes. He killed the engine, plunging the interior of the car into a dark, heavy stillness beside the deserted road.
"Alaric..." I muttered, raising my head from the window.
I turned toward him, my voice cracking, but he didn’t look back at me. Instead, a sudden wave of violence seemed to take over him. Alaric raised his fists and began to punch the steering wheel of the Maybach over and over again.
The heavy, thudding sounds of his knuckles slamming against the leather ring echoed brutally inside the small space. He kept striking it with such raw, unfiltered fury that a spike of panic hit my chest.
I became terrified that he was going to break his wrist—an injury like that would completely ruin his hands and affect his upcoming match on the grid.
Alaric heaved a ragged, agonizing sigh, his breath coming in hot gasps as he prepared to strike the wheel again.
I scrambled across the console, throwing my hand over his to pin his fist down against the steering wheel. "Please stop," I begged him, my voice trembling. "Alaric, stop it."
"How could anyone do that to a child?To anyone!" he suddenly yelled, his voice tearing raw as he gripped the wheel so tightly his knuckles turned stark white, as if he were trying to choke the life out of it. "Why did you have to suffer for it? Why..." freeweɓnøvel.com
He demanded the answer from the universe, but his eyes remained fiercely fixed on the dashboard, refusing to turn and face me.
I reached up, placing my trembling palm against the side of his face. I gently forced his head around, turning him until his gaze was locked directly onto mine.
"I... I judged you so badly without realizing that you have suffered so much," Alaric’s voice broke completely, the anger melting away into a wave of grief. He reached out, placing both of his hands firmly on my shoulders, his grip heavy and tight. "I am so sorry that happened to you, Nico. I’m so sorry you didn’t have a single person on your side back then."
The dam inside me broke. The hot tears that had been flooding my eyes finally spilled over, streaming down my face in endless tracks.
I lowered my head, my shoulders shaking violently as my heart pounded hard against my ribs.
Hearing those exact words come out of his mouth made my chest ache with a sudden, overwhelming emotion. He was right. After all, I had no one on my side from my own bloodline. My family had left me to rot in the dark.
But seeing Alaric all those years ago on a screen had changed everything for me. It made me realize that, in a strange way, he had always been by my side—even though he didn’t even know I existed. freёwebnovel.com
I broke into heavy, loud sobs, my entire body shaking at the thought of him feeling sorry for me. For the first time in my entire life, I allowed myself to become completely vulnerable in front of him. I had never acted this way around anyone, let alone my fiercest rival, and the terrifying weight of it was making my heart race uncontrollably.
A flood of desperate questions rushed into my head all at once, and unable to keep the suffocating thoughts trapped inside anymore, I just let it all out.
"I hope that you don’t hate me," I told him, sniffling as I wiped at my wet cheeks, looking up at him through blurry vision. "I hope this... what you heard tonight doesn’t change how you see me. Because if you do, it will ruin me so much. I... you were one of the only things that helped me survive all those years."
