Chapter 154: The Breaking Point
Kayden
A small, bloody smile spread across my face as I listened to him whine. It shouldn’t have surprised me; he had always been like this—crying about the world being against him when he had everything.
Some things never changed.
"Why the hell are you smiling?" he demanded, pulling back his fist to strike my face, but he checked himself. "I want to hit you so badly right now, but I need you. I need you..."
"To win?" I finished for him.
He furrowed his brows in confusion, tightening his grip on my collar so hard I could barely draw air. "What do you know, you piece of shit!"
I made a choking sound, and he finally loosened his grip slightly. I coughed, gasping for air for a few seconds before looking back at him with that same smile.
"There you go again! How dare you smile at me!"
"I can’t smile now? Why? Because you forbid it?" I asked, laughing breathlessly. "What are you going to do about it, Julius? Run off to your fathers and ask them for help?" I chuckled, looking around the empty, derelict room. "Oh, wait. Your fathers aren’t here to help their little rotten boy!"
A blinding slap landed across my face. I tasted the sharp, metallic tang of blood on my lips and spat it out instantly.
"Just as I thought," I whispered, continuing to laugh.
Julius tried to strike me again, but the other two grabbed his arms and pulled him off me.
"Let me go, Mark!" he yelled. "I need to deal with this piece of shit, Idris!"
I groaned, managing to push myself up from the ground. I wiped the blood from my brow and ran a shaky hand through my sweaty hair.
"I know about your dirty deeds, Julius. I know how your team actually managed to get to the Southern finale," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
During my time at Gabriella’s, I hadn’t just been hiding. I had been investigating everything about the Westbridge Falcons. The teams they had played against were some of the strongest in the league. A weak team like theirs, with a mediocre center like Julius, should never have made it this far.
"The Boston Horses—you used their coach’s past to blackmail them out of the way. And the Vipers? They had a doping scandal you used against them to secure your spot. Then you uploaded that edited video of me ’bullying’ you just to gain sympathy. And tonight..." I paused, a wave of agony hitting my head.
The ringing was getting worse.
"What do you know, you idiot?!" Mark yelled at me.
"You’re talking nonsense. We won those games fair and square. Those teams looked down on us, and they got what was coming!" Idris added.
I scoffed. "Oh, shut up, you stupid minions. I wasn’t talking to you." I pointed directly at Julius. "You knew this weak team had nothing against the Avalanche. You knew they’d crush you in the blink of an eye—and they have been, for three games straight." I tilted my head.
"And now you called me here because you wanted to stage another bullying video. You wanted everyone to believe I attacked you here, didn’t you?" I pointed toward the camera in the corner that I’d spotted the moment I walked in, thanks to the red tally light.
Julius let out a scream and lunged, his hands clamping around my throat.
I choked, clawing at his wrists, but he didn’t let go. He was smiling as he tried to squeeze the life out of me.
"Die, you bastard! Die!"
Mark and Idris tried to step forward, but Julius screamed at them to stay back.
"Step back!"
"What about the plan?" Idris reminded him. "If you kill him, we won’t get the footage we need!"
"Then we edit his face like we did in the other video!" Julius screamed. He pulled back and punched me hard in the face.
The world went black for a few seconds. When my vision cleared, I saw his fist coming again, but I was done. I had been bullied by him for years, and in this moment, I knew I had to fight back.
Even if it was just once. Even if it was only until Rhys arrived—if he had even heard me.
"Why do I have to lose to someone as small as you?!" Julius screamed. "The headlines, the brands, the stats—they are supposed to belong to me! My parents only trained you because they took pity on you! Why do I have to live in your shadow?!"
He punched me again and again.
"Die!"
He raised his hand for another blow, but this time, I blocked it.
With a surge of adrenaline, I flipped him over, pinning him to the ground. I sat on top of him and began raining punches down on his face, mirroring every hit he’d given me.
"I have talent!" I yelled. "Why is it so hard for you to accept that someone can be better than you? Why do you think money and connections can buy your way into everything?!" I stopped punching and grabbed his collar. "While you had two powerful, rich fathers, I had to work until my feet bled! I had to train through the pain, survive on—" I caught myself before I said suppressants.
Tears welled in my eyes as I remembered the years of silent struggle. "I did everything I could to—"
My words were cut short as a massive weight hit me from behind. I let out a deafening scream and landed hard on the floor.
I couldn’t move. Whatever had hit my back had paralyzed my nerves. I couldn’t even lift my hands.
It was the base bat and idris had been the one to hit me.
But it wasn’t over. Julius was back on his feet, holding the bat I’d been hit with.
He stood over me grinning wickedly at me.
"Since you’re so talented, how about I destroy your hands? Let’s see you play hockey ever again after this!"
My eyes widened. I tried to crawl, to roll, to do anything, but my body wouldn’t obey.
"I hope you enjoy being a cripple for the rest of your life!" Julius yelled, raising the bat high above his head.
"NO!"
A scream tore through the air. For a second, I thought it was mine, but the voice was deeper. It was Rhys. He was here. He had come for me, just like I hoped he would.
I blinked as I watched the bat begin its descent toward my left shoulder, tears streaming down my face as the silhouette of the man I loved crashed into the room.