CHAPTER 124: CHAPTER 124 DARK REVELATION.

On the phone, Draven was on another call. It was his professor — and the news was worse than he feared.

"The makeup test and exams are today. If you can’t make it, I’m afraid you’ll have to step down from the faculty." The words hit him like ice. First it was his parents... now this.

He didn’t know where to start or who to confide in. He would have told Daniel, but what could Daniel do? Daniel couldn’t help him not get married, and his parents needed the money badly.

"Why do they always call me when they need help? Why?!" Draven thought, twisting the problem in his head. Now he was expected to go to school and finish exams he hadn’t studied for.

What would he even write? Dropping out would bring scandal on his parents. He knew he wasn’t good at the course — he’d entered only to make his parents proud — and now he was paying for it: constant failures, rewriting exams, shame piling up.

"Okay, sir. I understand. When is the scheduled time?" Draven asked, praying it wouldn’t be soon.

"Didn’t you see the post sent to your emails? It’s in an hour," the professor announced.

An hour. Draven’s eyes nearly popped out. He was doomed.

"Okay. I’ll be there..." The call ended, and Draven stood frozen, shaking at the bad news. That meant leaving the crew. Leaving Daniel. He didn’t know how to tell Daniel — Daniel was already suspicious, poking too close. If Daniel uncovered everything, it would ruin him.

This is just a setback, he told himself. A bad dream. I’m not getting married to a girl — no way. He steadied himself and prepared to tell Daniel the changed plans.

At the same time, Xylander’s phone was buzzing. He hadn’t checked the call log; seeing the number of missed calls made him frown. His phone had been on silent the whole stay at the villa.

He answered — and the world collapsed.

"Boss... Maxine died this morning. She was murdered in the dark cell by Adrian Valez." The voice on the line was a whisper of doom. Xylander’s knees went weak.

Maxine Wolfe was dead. It couldn’t be. He hadn’t meant for her to die — he threw her in the cell to teach her a lesson, to change her. He never planned to leave her there to be killed.

His stomach turned. She might have tried to harm his fiancée, but she was family — the last of them. He promised his mother he would protect her. Now he had delivered her into death.

He watched as a video arrived: a brutal image, a dismembered head rolling away from a broken body. Xylander turned ice-cold. The sight burned into his soul.

He crumpled to the floor. There goes my last family member, he thought. Adrian Valez had taken her from him.

"Adrian!!!" Xylander screamed, shattering a glass cup in his hand. He grabbed another and crushed it, letting shards slice into his palms until blood ran.

Alexander, who had been about to answer Daniel’s question, froze at Xylander’s scream. Daniel followed immediately; both ran onto the veranda opposite the sitting room. There on the floor lay scattered cups, and Xylander’s hands were marred by countless cuts.

"Oh Xyle, what’s wrong?" Daniel rushed to him. Xylander sagged into Daniel’s arms, knees buckling. Tears tracked down his cheeks like a child’s. Daniel’s heart broke watching him.

"Don’t cry. What’s wrong? Talk to me." Daniel rubbed his back and patted his soft brunet hair.

Alexander, confused, picked up the phone from the floor. The screen was badly shattered but stubbornly on. He scrolled through the last calls and dialed back the number. The news that came through made his face go dark.

Fury pooled in Alexander’s eyes. Those two brothers had bitten off more than they could chew — Adrian still lived, and had done this. Alexander clenched his jaw. He wanted to tear Adrian to pieces and grind his skull to dust. The rage was a living thing in him.

He turned and hugged Xylander from behind. Daniel joined in the embrace. Together they tried to pull Xylander back from the edge, but with his last close family gone, Xylander felt hollow.

"She’s gone. My last family. Maxine is dead, Dan. I am alone... I am alone." Xylander’s voice tore.

"You’re not alone," Daniel soothed, voice steady. "I’m still with you. From now till we part ways — Xylander, you’re my family. I am your family. Don’t cry." He kissed Xylander’s forehead, murmuring comfort.

Guilt doubled Xylander over. He felt unworthy of such love. He would leave — he deserved that much, he thought.

"Daniel, you don’t get me. I’m a mess. I lied. I didn’t tell you everything." Xylander’s confession spilled out.

"Alexander worked in the Raven headquarters because of me," he began. "I wanted revenge for my sister... for what Adrian did. Adrian dated her — an innocent girl — and told her he never wanted love, only pleasure. My sister was naive. She loved him and he dumped her after she gave herself to him." Xylander sobbed harder.

Daniel blinked. "Another sister?" he asked.

Xylander nodded. "Maxine was the younger sister... our last born." He swallowed a sob. "She didn’t listen when I tried to help. She committed suicide. My innocent sister died. That broke me. I wanted revenge so badly. Alex and I planned to infiltrate the house, blend in, and then destroy their home and their people. It worked — that was when Alex told me about you. How Adrian was fixated on you. I knew you were the perfect pawn."

Daniel felt the words sting; pawn, discarded. The truth cut.

"The plan was to get you with me, use you to lure Adrian to the mansion, kill him, butcher him, then discard you wherever you wanted to go." Xylander’s voice was raw. Daniel could feel the betrayal like a physical blow.

"But I never expected to like you, Daniel," Xylander whispered. "I never expected to fall for you. The plan moved so perfectly... until the night my men attacked. I learned about Adrian’s half-sister — and I remembered my own sister. You know what I ordered then?" His voice broke, like glass.

Daniel felt sick but already knew the answer in his bones.

"I ordered her to be sexually assaulted." Xylander’s words choked in his throat. He collapsed, weeping.

"I never wanted it to turn out like this. I never wanted you to know like this. Please... don’t leave me." He pleaded on his knees.

Alexander’s composure cracked; he looked like he might cry. Xylander’s grief was naked and devastating.

Daniel rose slowly and took Xylander’s hand, pulling him up. His face was a hard, gentle thing.

"What you did was thoughtless and despicable," Daniel said quietly. "But if you thought this marriage would be sunshine and rainbows, you were wrong. I love you, Xylander. I saw something in you. Whatever you did in the past won’t change that."

"You showed me I could love someone else — apart from myself. I love my boys so much: you, Alexander, and Draven." Draven, standing at the far edge of the sitting room, heard every word. He felt the urge to cry. Daniel would be crushed if he knew what Draven planned. He couldn’t tell — not now.

Without revealing his own secret, Draven slipped away. He took his small bag, dropped a letter on the sitting room table, and walked out toward the gate.

Outside, Draven let the tears come and go. "I hope we see each other again. I will come back, I promise," he whispered, smiling sadly at the memories.

Back on the corridor, Daniel held Xylander close. "If you thought I’d judge you only by what you did to that poor girl, you’re mistaken. I’m selfish, yes — but my boys come first. Fuck them and the world," he declared, and kissed Xylander’s lips to soothe him.

Xylander had no words. Who was he to have such a groom? He hugged Daniel tighter and finally smiled through tears.

"You’re right," Xylander said. "When you’re with me, fuck the world. That’s why we’re leaving New York City first thing tomorrow. Matt is planning to strike again..."