Chapter 17 #3
“She’s in no condition to leave the room!” Cassian snapped angrily. “Are you blind? Look at her! She’s covered in tubes!”
“It has nothing to do with you!” Maverick roared back furiously as he fought against Cassian’s grip. “Let go of me, you fucking asshole!”
He jerked violently, trying to free himself.
Then suddenly, Maverick froze.
His eyes landed on Elias.
The second he saw him, fury exploded across his face.
Maverick roughly shoved Cassian away and stormed straight toward Elias with heavy steps.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” he shouted furiously, his voice echoing through the hallway.
People nearby immediately turned to stare, but none of them dared interfere.
Maverick stopped directly in front of Elias, his chest rising and falling heavily with rage. His face was twisted with fury, his eyes practically burning.
If it had been anyone else standing there, they would have stepped back instinctively.
But Elias remained still.
Maverick pointed a finger directly at his chest.
“Give me a fucking explanation I can accept,” he growled through clenched teeth, “or I swear to God I’ll kill you.”
His voice shook with anger as he stepped even closer.
“You were hiding my sister from me all this time?” he shouted. “All because you were trying to protect your goddamn wife from the consequences of what she did?”
His breathing turned rougher with every word.
“You kidnapped my sister and kept her hidden in this damn hospital just to save your fucking wife!”
The fury in his eyes became even darker.
“What? Were you scared Zoe would send her to jail?” Maverick barked harshly. “Scared she’d expose the fact that your wife hit her with a car and almost killed her?”
“It’s not Amara’s fault,” Elias snapped immediately.
He shoved a hard hand against Maverick’s chest and pushed him back roughly before stepping forward himself, fury blazing in his eyes.
“I was trying to save your goddamn ass!” he shouted angrily. “You were injured in the accident. I was trying to help! Zoe is getting better. She’s improving. She’s going to wake up soon.”
“Yeah?” Maverick laughed bitterly, his voice filled with rage. “That’s what you want me to believe, isn’t it? Do you think I’m a fucking fool?”
Before anyone could react, Maverick grabbed Elias by the collar and yanked him forward violently.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he roared in his face. “You and I have been friends for years, and what did you do? You threw away half your damn life for your woman and turned into her servant!”
His grip tightened harder around Elias’s collar.
“You betrayed me for the woman who hurt Zoe!” Maverick barked furiously. “The woman who hit her with a car! And you still married that bitch!”
The very next second—
Elias’s fist slammed hard across Maverick’s face.
The punch landed with enough force to make Maverick stumble backward. Blood immediately burst from the corner of his mouth, and a dark bruise quickly began forming on his cheek.
But Elias was already grabbing Maverick by the collar again before he could steady himself.
He jerked him upright harshly, his expression terrifyingly dark.
“Don’t insult my wife,” Elias growled dangerously.
His jaw tightened as he stared directly into Maverick’s furious eyes.
“I’m telling you, she had nothing to do with it.”
His voice lowered coldly.
“And I have proof.”
He shoved Maverick back roughly.
“If you were smart enough to track down your sister, you should’ve been smart enough to look into the evidence too,” Elias snapped, his voice cutting through the tension. “Did you even watch the goddamn footage of that accident? Amara had nothing to do with the accident.”
“She had everything to do with it!” Maverick shot back instantly, stepping forward again like he couldn’t stay still. “Why the hell would her car hit Zoe’s if she wasn’t involved?”
His breathing grew heavier with fury, shoulders tense, fists curling at his sides.
“You’re all trying to hide the truth,” he barked, voice rising, “and you’re too blinded by love to see it! You don’t care about anyone except Amara!”
“Yeah? Fuck you.” Elias let out a harsh, humorless laugh and moved in again, closing the distance between them with sharp, controlled aggression. His eyes were cold—warning and anger mixing together. “Amara is not getting dragged into this mess.”
He jabbed a finger hard into Maverick’s chest.
“I told you she had nothing to do with it, and if you even think about touching her—”
His voice dropped into something deadly.
“I’ll kill you.”
The threat made the tension around them snap instantly.
Maverick’s expression darkened violently.
Without hesitation, he reached into his pocket.
The next second, a gun was pointed directly at Elias’s face.
Cassian immediately stiffened while people nearby gasped in horror and hurried away from the hallway.
Maverick’s hand was steady despite the fury burning in his eyes.
“I’ll kill you first,” he said coldly. “And after that, I’ll kill your goddamn wife.”
By now, he looked completely out of control.
Before the situation could explode any further, Xavier rushed forward immediately.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” Xavier shouted.
He grabbed Maverick’s arm hard and forced the gun downward while struggling to hold him back.
“Have you lost your goddamn mind?” Xavier barked furiously. “You’re pulling a gun on your friend now?”
Maverick tried to yank his arm free, but Xavier held on tightly.
“Calm the fuck down!” Xavier shouted. “You don’t know the full story yet. You can’t do this!”
But Elias was already furious.
He stepped closer to Maverick again and jabbed a finger hard against his chest.
“Then fucking kill me,” he snapped angrily. “I was trying to save your ass!”
His voice echoed through the hallway as his temper finally exploded.
“You could barely walk after the accident!” Elias barked. “Did you seriously think you were in any condition to take care of your sister when you couldn’t even stand properly on your own feet?”
His breathing turned rough with frustration.
“That’s why I hid it from you,” he growled. “Because you would’ve destroyed yourself trying to do everything alone. You wouldn’t let anyone help you.”
His eyes burned with anger as he stared directly at Maverick.
“So yeah, go ahead and kill me for trying to save your life,” Elias mocked harshly. “You’ve completely lost your fucking mind.”
He dragged a frustrated hand through his hair before shouting again,
“Where the hell did your common sense go? Don’t you understand? I know Zoe is important to you, but I was trying to save her too!”
Maverick let out a humorless laugh, his expression twisted with fury and disbelief.
He was still struggling against Xavier’s grip, but Xavier had already snatched the gun from his hand and shoved it into the back of his waistband before gripping Maverick’s shoulder tightly to keep him away from Elias.
But Maverick kept pushing forward, his rage refusing to settle.
“You?” Maverick barked bitterly, glaring at Elias like he was something beneath him. “You were going to take care of me and my sister?”
He let out a harsh, disbelieving laugh, shaking his head slightly as if the idea itself was insulting.
“You’re the same man who didn’t give a fuck when your wife was dying from a brain tumor in a hospital bed!”
His voice rose with every word, cracking with fury as he stepped closer again, shoulders tense, fists still clenched at his sides.
“And you want me to trust you with my sister?!”
He stopped just short of him, breathing hard, his face twisted in hatred and disbelief as he stared Elias down, mocking him without a shred of restraint.
“You expect me to trust the same bastard who was off having a fucking holiday in Australia with his girlfriend while his wife was almost dying on an operating table?”
Elias’s brows immediately furrowed in confusion.
The fury on his face flickered slightly.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he asked sharply.
He stared at Maverick with narrowed eyes.
“Say that again.”
Maverick roughly shoved Xavier off him and stormed straight toward Elias.
Without hesitation, he punched Elias hard across the face.
“You want me to trust you, motherfucker?!” Maverick roared furiously.
The force of the punch made Elias stumble slightly before straightening again.
“The woman you’re trying so hard to protect was dying while you were busy enjoying yourself with another woman in Australia!” Maverick shouted. “And now you’re acting like some fucking hero trying to save everyone!”
His chest rose and fell violently.
“What the hell is wrong with your head?” he barked. “Do you think you’re some kind of god?”
But Elias was already seeing red.
The next second, he lunged forward violently and shoved Maverick hard before punching him back across the face.
“Don’t curse my wife!” Elias roared furiously.
His voice turned terrifyingly cold as he grabbed Maverick by the collar again.
“She doesn’t have a tumor,” he snapped through clenched teeth. “And if you keep standing here talking about her dying—”
His eyes darkened dangerously.
“I’m going to make you regret the fact that I kept you alive.”
Maverick let out a loud, disbelieving laugh that had no humor in it at all, his shoulders jerking slightly with the force of it before he suddenly shoved Elias backward with brutal strength.
“What a fucking fool,” he snapped, his voice sharp with contempt.
The impact hit Elias hard in the chest, sending him stumbling back several steps before his footing completely gave out. He crashed onto the ground with a rough thud, one hand hitting the floor to break his fall while the other scraped against the surface as he steadied himself.
For a second, there was only silence except for the sound of uneven breathing.
Elias quickly pushed himself up on one arm, his jaw clenched so tightly it looked like it might crack. His eyes snapped up, blazing with fury. “You think I’m the fool here?” he barked, his voice low and rough. “Have you completely lost your mind? What the hell is wrong with you?”
His chest rose and fell sharply as he glared up at Maverick, disbelief written all over his face.
Above him, Maverick took a slow step forward again. His hands were still curled into fists, his shoulders tense, rage still burning hot in his expression, clearly ready to strike again.
At the same moment, Elias pushed himself up from the floor, rage burning across his bruised face as he moved forward to swing at Maverick too.
But before either of them could reach each other, Xavier quickly stepped between them.
“That’s enough!” Xavier shouted.
He grabbed Maverick tightly by the shoulders and forcefully held him back.
“You want to take care of Zoe, right?” Xavier said quickly, trying to pull him out of it. “Then come on. Let’s go see her—we’ll talk to the doctors and figure out if she can be discharged so you can take her with you.”
Maverick still struggled furiously against him.
“Let go of me!” he roared. “I’m going to kill him!”
But Xavier refused to release him.
“You just found your sister again,” Xavier snapped firmly while dragging him backward toward Zoe’s room. “Don’t waste your time fighting here when you could be with her.”
Maverick continued fighting his grip, but Xavier forcefully shoved him toward the hospital room anyway.
A few seconds later, both of them disappeared inside Zoe’s ward.
The hallway finally fell quiet.
Cassian walked over to Elias just as Elias wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. Blood still dripped slowly from the cut beside his eyebrow, caused by the ring on Maverick’s hand, while bruises were already beginning to darken across his face.
When Cassian called for a doctor earlier, one had immediately rushed over.
Now the doctor carefully cleaned the blood from Elias’s face before applying medicine to the cut near his eyebrow.
Elias sat there silently through the treatment, his jaw tight with restrained anger.
Once the doctor finished and stepped away, Cassian moved closer.
Elias immediately looked at him and barked angrily,
“Keep him under control.”
He pushed himself to his feet while wiping the remaining blood from his lip again.
“I’ve tolerated his bullshit and tantrums for over a year,” Elias snapped irritably. “But he’s getting out of hand now. He’s completely losing his fucking mind.”
His breathing was still uneven with anger.
“What the hell is going on inside his head?” he growled. “Did the doctors forget to check his brain while treating his damn legs?”
Cassian stayed silent for a moment.
Then he finally looked at Elias seriously.
“He’s not cursing Amara,” Cassian said quietly. “He was telling the truth.”
Elias froze.
“What?” he asked sharply, confusion immediately covering his face.
Cassian sighed before continuing carefully.
“I started digging into Amara because of what we talked about before,” he admitted. “You know… when we thought she might have another man.”
Elias frowned harder.
“But I didn’t find another man,” Cassian continued. “I found something much worse.”
Elias immediately stepped closer to him.
“What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded.
Cassian looked directly at him before speaking.
“Amara had a brain tumor,” he said seriously. “She went through surgery while you were in Australia for those three months.”