Tasting

98-Ryker Played Me

Nora:

“Or, I’ll check the footage and let you all know, how about that?” Ryker suggested but was met with a sharp head shake from Silas.

“No! It’s either all of us sit down and watch it or-I’m pretty clear, you all know who could have stolen it,” he insisted, looking

smug.

“Okay! Let’s go and watch it. And if I see any of you come to her room and place it here, I’m taking harsh measures this time,” Lord Atwood cut in with ce nty, “now, someone take me to the basement where the footage is. I don’t remember when was the last time we checked those,” he sounded so tired and exhausted.

I felt bad that he had been dragged into the middle of this drama. But I was even scared of how he would respond to finding so much unfold before his eyes in the footage. I couldn’t help but be afraid of his reaction. He would never believe me again.

“I will get the keys myself,” Silas began to walk away, confident that he wasn’t the culprit.

That’s when something happened that left me stunned. Ryker took a deep breath and stepped between us to state loudly, “there will be no need to check the footage.”

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Silas stopped and turned to stare at his brother, giving him an exhausted look for dragging the outcome for so long.

“Because I know who placed this bottle here,” Ryker lowered his head once everyone gasped and gathered around him with. Intrigue. He was in the center, and all eyes were on him.

I was watching his face in disbelief too until I began to remember something. If he knew the bottle was here, why didn’t he inform me and get rid of It? Who was in my bedroom all night? Ryker!

“Who did it?” Lord Atwood yelled at him, and he took another deep breath. The way he stood with his hands down and no pride in his body language, which he usually had, made me see him in a guilty light.

“I did,” he confirmed, and our hearts dropped in our chests. At least mine did. I shook my head and blinked my eyes excessively, watching his face and waiting for him to raise his eyes to look at me and answer the same question again.

“You did. Why would you do it? You were defending her,” Lord Atwood questioned, and once again, I hoped he would say that he was lying.

“Because I realized I made a mistake,” Ryker added and finally raised his head. As he stared into my eyes, he confessed, “I was angry at her about something. So when she left her bedroom last night to fetch snacks, I snuck into her bedroom and left this bottle here. I wanted her to realize she needs to listen to us and obey us or else she will keep getting herself in trouble. I just didn’t know Silas would find out before I told her somebody had. left the bottle under her closet. I just wanted to prove a point and warn her that we are the only ones who can protect her–,”

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De Ryker Mayeit kla

Ryker was explaining everything, and it all made sense.

But his words were cut short when Lord Atwood raised his hand and slapped him so hard that the entire room filled with the noise of it.

“Dad!” Nash angrily stepped between them, becoming a wedge and glaring at his father.

“I can’t believe my son would stoop so low just to make her believe that he is her ultimate protector,” Lord Atwood screamed, prompting Cain to grunt and step up.

I expected him to take my side, but Cain’s body language showed a different side to him.

“He made a mistake and he admitted to it. It should not be held against him,” Cain uttere ently placing his hand over Ryker’s chest to calm him down. Ryker hadn’t left his father’s gaze all this time.

“You did it?” Silas asked his brother with a hint of disappointment.

“Brother! If I had lost this, I would have been in trouble,” his tone wasn’t so loud with Ryker though. The way he was ready to rip my head off my neck was a different aggression than what he was showing his brother for the same mistake.

“You all are being kind to him because he is not Nora. I am beginning to realize my mistake,” Lord Atwood panted as he avoided looking into Ryker’s gaze, “I gave him so much importance that he lost his mind. Even you all, you all treated him as if he was a little one. Someone who we needed to protect just because of some trauma he faced in his childhood.

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But look at him now, he is traumatizing others,” he kept yelling, and with every harsh word, Ryker’s eyes started to get filled with

tears.

“Dad! That is enough. He admitted to his mistake,” Nash was no longer speaking softly.

“I am sure he did it because he didn’t want her to go taking Brody’s team. That must have provoked such a harsh action from him. Still wrong, but he didn’t do it out of malice,” Cain glared at his father in the eye for yelling at Ryker.

“No! I won’t listen to you all this time. He has crossed all the boundaries now. If I don’t punish him, you all will continue pestering Nora for your own agendas. Hence, I have made up my mind—” Lord Atwood even stunned me with how harsh he was with Ryker this tim ut I didn’t mind. He deserved it. Now

I realized why he was in my bedroom last time. He was angry that I spent the whole night with Cain so he left that sample under my closet. He was going to use it to make me believe he was so kind and protective of me. But in reality, he lost all the respect in my eyes. I couldn’t even bring myself to look him in the eye anymore.

“He is going to be staying in the woods and working on catching monsters instead of getting himself caught in teenage drama,” his father declared the punishment, prompting a headshake from the brothers.

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