The Lustful Game with the Triplet Alphas

Chapter 71: Chapter 71 The Moment We Chose Wrong

Renzo’s POV

I didn’t realize how quiet it had become until Jade walked away.

Not stormed. Not shouted. Not slammed a door or spat words sharp enough to cut. She just.... passed us. Like we were furniture. Like we were strangers occupying space she no longer needed to acknowledge.

It was the look in her eyes that lodged itself somewhere painful in my chest.

They weren’t burning.

They weren’t wet.

They weren’t even angry.

They were empty.

And that terrified me more than anything else she could’ve shown.

I stood there for a moment too long, watching her retreating back, the way her shoulders were set, too straight, too rigid, like she was holding herself together by force alone. When she disappeared around the corner of the corridor, something inside me shifted. Not loudly. Not dramatically.

Just enough to make breathing feel... off.

“Renzo.”

Ryder’s voice pulled me back, sharp with exhaustion.

“We should get cleaned up,” he said. “We’ve been at infirmary all night.”

All night.

The words echoed unpleasantly.

I nodded, even though my instincts were screaming that something wasn’t right. That this wasn’t just an aftermath of her mourning her mother. That whatever had happened to Jade wasn’t confined to an argument or a moment of rage.

Something big had happened.

And we hadn’t been there.

The room felt too clean when we entered. I scrubbed my hands longer than necessary at the sink, the sound of running water doing nothing to drown out the the images replaying in my mind.

Jade’s face.

The hollowness.

The way she didn’t even look at us.

I tried to piece together the timeline, like that would somehow make it make sense.

Lisa collapsing.

The blood.

The panic.

Being rushed to the infirmary.

Hours passing in that sterile room.

Where had Jade been during all of that?

“She probably went to her room,” Ryder said earlier, like it was obvious. Like it was settled.

Or Alpha Ashford, our father, “handled it.”

I hadn’t questioned that at the time. Why would I? My father was many things, but brutal without cause wasn’t usually one of them.

Still... a cold thought crept in.

What if he had punished her.

I shook my head immediately, as if that alone could banish the idea.

No.

No way.

Father wouldn’t do that.

Would he?

I caught my reflection in the mirror and didn’t like what I saw. The uncertainty. The guilt creeping in around the edges. I dried my hands and turned as Ryder finished buttoning his shirt, his movements slower than usual.

He looked troubled.

“You feel it too,” I said quietly.

Ryder met my eyes. He didn’t deny it.

“She didn’t look angry,” he said. “She looked... she looked like she had given up.”

That word sat heavy between us. freeweɓnovel.cøm

Ronan sighed from where he was pulling on his jacket. “She attacked Lisa,” he said. “Maybe father scolded her for attacking his guest under his own roof”

“I think I might have been more than scolding,” I replied, keeping my voice steady. “I think something happened to her. Something we missed.”

Ronan exhaled sharply. “We didn’t miss anything. Linda almost died.”

“And Jade’s mother did die,” Ryder said, barely above a whisper.

The room went quiet.

Ronan stiffened. “Jade’s mother’s death was an accident. It was not Linda’s fault so it doesn’t excuse what she did.”

“Yes” I said. “It actually does, she’s hurt, she’s broken, her mother was the only family she had left, and now she’s gone too, she probably feels all alone"

Ronan didn’t respond immediately. When he did, his tone was defensive, clipped. “She’s strong. She always has been.”

That was the problem.

We all believed that.

“She shouldn’t have to be,” I said.

The words surprised even me.

Silence followed.

Then Ryder spoke. “We should check on her.”

Immediately, something loosened in my chest.

“Yes,” I said. “We should. Now.”

Ronan hesitated, jaw tightening. For a moment, I thought he’d argue again. Then he nodded once.

“Fine, she is our mate, our responsibility. We should make sure she is fine”

Relief surged through me.

We were fixing it.

We were going to fix it.

We’ll be there for her, just like we are supposed to be.

I stepped toward the door just as hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor.

A nurse appeared, breathless, eyes wide with panic.

“She’s convulsing again,” she said. “Linda. She’s losing consciousness.”

The world narrowed to a single point.

“What?” Ronan said.

“She need you now.”

I felt it then, that sharp, terrible pause where everything balanced on the edge of a choice.

I looked at Ryder. At Ronan.

For half a second, I considered saying it.

Go without me.

I’ll check on Jade.

The words sat right there, burning my tongue.

But Linda was convulsing.

She was losing consciousness.

This was serious. Life threatening.

We didn’t move.

Then, all at once, we did.

We turned.

We ran.

Back to the infirmary. Again.

The corridors blurred as our footsteps pounded against the floor. My heart wasn’t racing from exertion, it was racing from something else. Something heavier.

Guilt, towards Jade.

As we ran, I tried to justify it to myself.

Lisa had been our friend for years.

She’d stood by us through losses, through chaos.

She’d always been there.

I didn’t even like her that much anymore, not really, but loyalty mattered.

And Jade...

Jade was strong.

Jade had survived worse.

Jade would still be there.

We’d go to her after.

We’d explain.

We’d make it right.

A sharp ache flared in my chest, sudden and unwelcome.

What if she won’t be here when we come back?

I shoved the thought aside and ran faster.

Why wouldn’t she be here?

Of course she’ll be here.

She’ll be here, waiting for us.