Chapter 165
The door suddenly swung open with a bang and Preston and Adam ran in the room. When they saw me, they immediately rushed to get Cole off me but before they could touch Cole, I brought up my hand to halt them.
I took Cole's thumb that was squeezing the life out of my neck and twisted it abruptly away from my neck while he was distracted by the boys. I shoved him away from me so that I could breathe again.
"Cole, calm down and listen to me. I'll explain everything." I croaked out, my throat already feeling bruised from the pressure he applied to it.
Cole was about to pounce on me again but the two brothers stepped between us and held him off.
With the boys between Cole and I, I tried catching my breath and calming down, giving Cole a minute to sort his shit out.
"Cole, I want to help you." I looked at him, trying to show him that I'm being honest. Cole simply glared at me and at the boys that were standing between us.
I didn't make a move to tell the boys to back off because I didn't think I'd be able to take another beating for the night.
"Just hear her out. All you need to could do is listen!" Adam snapped as he glared back at Cole.
"Exactly why I don't trust her! I threatened everyone she loves, why the fuck would she want to help me?" Cole raised his voice as he glared at Adam as fiercely as Adam was glaring at him.
"That's what I wanna know too," Preston muttered angrily, glaring at Cole.
"She's different! She joined this competition to save our mother after only knowing us for a matter of months!" Adam defended, giving Preston a pointed look.
"Why am I supposed to trust you?" Cole bit out and I rolled my eyes at all the fuss that I was going through just to help this asshole out.
"Because the money will help take care of the huge ass burden on your family's shoulders," I told him with a ‘duh' tone.
I know I was acting like an immature teenager but I've had enough of all this.
"Just take the money and leave so we all can go home," I told him after another round of silence.
I waited for him to make a move to leave so that I could pack my bags and leave too but he didn't move an inch.
Finally, he spoke up. "How did you know about my family?" he asked.
"I saw you a couple of times with the kids in the park. Then I met your mother in the store. She told me about you and your brother." I told him earnestly.
I pushed the boys aside so that I could speak properly to Cole.
"Look, I understand why you don't trust me. I might not understand the pain and anger you feel while watching what your brother is going through and while I can't do anything to fix your brother, I can at least give you the thing that you were fighting for." I said, trying to convince him.
"I had an older brother once and I knew that if it was me who got hurt, he'd hunt that person down and made them hurt them 10x worse. So I understood why you did what you did even though I don't like it." I explained slowly, trying not to upset him again.
I could feel Preston and Adam staying close to me in case there's a sudden shift in Cole's mood.
"I just want to help," I raised my hands and bent down to take the bag of money before handing it to him.
Cole looked at the bag before looking at my face. I let out the breath that I didn't know I was holding when Cole finally took the bag from me and muttered a quiet ‘thank you'.
Cole didn't look at any of us after taking the bag and showed himself to the exit as he left.
When Cole was no longer in sight, I turned to the boys with a relieved sigh.
"Thanks for having my back there, guys." I gave them a weak smile and offered each of them a hug.
I was just glad that this part of my life had come to an end.
My eyes caught Adam's and I sent him a grateful smile as he nodded at me.
Adam was the only person who knew about my plan to give the prize money to Cole.
The night that he sought me out after my fight with Cole, we sat in a park and I told him that I wasn't planning to stop fighting.
"Look, I need to win that money." I started off but Adam immediately cut me off.
"No, you don't, Case. You're loaded," Adam pointed out and I rolled my eyes.
"It's not for me. I don't think my parents would appreciate me asking a hefty amount of money to give to the guy who threatened their lives."
This time Adam looked at me like I've lost it, and maybe I have lost it. Maybe I took too many blows on the head and my brain is permanently upside down.
"You mean to say that you're going to risk your life further to give the prize money only to give it to the guy who wants to make you suffer by killing everyone you love?" Adam trailed off.
Well, when he puts it like that...
"Adam, I don't expect you to understand but yes, basically that's what I'm doing." I told him slowly.
Adam shook his head at me. "You're right, I don't understand."
I tried to straighten up from my slumped position on the park bench and face him properly. I know I needed to tell him the whole story to make him understand.
Although it's been a long night and I wanted nothing more but to go home, have a nice warm shower and drifting off to a deep sleep, a part of me wanted Adam to understand and back me up on my decision.
I needed to feel like someone was supporting me because I simply didn't know how much of that sheer willpower I had left in me.
So I told him everything.
