Accusation And Humiliation

GIANNA

“Have you lost your mind, Helena? Why would you even think of something like that?” I said to her immediately.

She looked surprised, and she should be. The Gianna she grew up with was the old me. The old me would have never tried to speak back at her. I would just be quiet and allow her to throw her tantrums, because I knew that retaliating would only get me in trouble. 

As the favourite child, Helena could get away with murder, and our parents would still be happy for her. The same wasn’t true for me. I always had to be careful not to make their precious daughter cry, or I would get punished. But the new me no longer cared. I was with my real family now, and they loved me more.

“First of all, you never had a diamond necklace. Your parents may be rich, but they’re not that rich.”

“How would you know that? After getting mated, you no longer lived with us. Mum gifted me a new necklace. I told you about it because I was happy, and I brought it to the picnic because you insisted I show it to you. It was your idea for us to go so far away from our pack boundary for a picnic. I’m sure you planned it all to steal my necklace. There is no other explanation.” She said haughtily, while looking around for support from other guests.

“You must really be desperate since you have stooped low to throw around baseless accusations.” I snapped at Helena after she accused me of stealing a necklace that she never had. “If I wanted to steal from you, why would I arrange to be kidnapped as well? Why not just take it from you when you’re unaware? You’re the one who led me to the picnic site because you wanted your pictures to look great. Maybe I should be suspicious of you.”

“You’re the one who’s desperate. I’ve been to this event in previous years, and others can vouch for me. What about you? Who can vouch for your presence?” Helena asked, but before I could respond, my brother did.

“Me. I can vouch for her. This is my pack after all, and I invited her. Her name is on the list of attendees and was also approved. You can confirm by yourself.”  

“Your testimony doesn’t count. She’s obviously deceiving you. She’s not who she says she is. She must have lied to you to make you pity her, and bring her here. Or maybe she didn't even lie. You just pretend not to be aware of her bad deeds because she's giving you what you want.” Helena responded.

“Don’t you dare try to ruin his reputation or mine. Your accusation doesn’t even make any sense. If I had such an expensive necklace during the picnic, the rogues that kidnapped us would have taken it.” I said to her and she scoffed.

I expected her to give up, but Helena was a master manipulator who only cared about getting her way.

“Maybe they didn’t see it.”

“They searched us, in case you forgot. Also, if you truly had that necklace, you would have offered it to the rogues to set yourself free.” I said and she smirked like she just lured me into a trap.

“That must be how you freed yourself. You paid them off with money from selling my necklace, because no one agreed to pay the ransom for you. You just basically admitted it.” Helena replied.

“That’s impossible, because I was unconscious and injured. The rogues would have killed me if the Blood moon patrol didn’t rescue me. How would I possibly have sold the necklace?”

“Everything she just said is true. And if you doubt it, you can go ahead and question my warriors and other pack members. Almost everyone was present when she was rescued, so all your accusations are baseless.” Alpha Enzo spoke up.

This time, the crowd turned against Helena, and began to whisper about her.

“How dare she accuse the Alpha?”

“She must be jealous.”

“She’s such a liar.”

Helena’s face turned red out of embarrassment, and she tried to think of another lie to tell, but she just kept stuttering. She saw that Marco was close to her, so she decided to switch tactics in order to gain sympathy. She fainted into Marco’s arms. Her plan worked perfectly because he had no choice but to catch her, and other guests were concerned for her health.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Is she sick?”

“Oh poor thing.”

Even Marco was concerned because he knew she had a medical condition, though he wasn’t sure what it was. He had just heard about it in his pack.

“We need a pack doctor to check if she’s okay.” He spoke up, but I intervened before any of the doctors could be called.

“She’s faking it. She always does something like this whenever she dooesn’t get her way.It’s just a trick.” 

“How can you be so sure?” Marco asked with a suspicious look.

“I lived with her for years. I know all her silly tactics. I just put up with it all those years because I thought I didn’t have a choice.”

Marco got furious after I responded to him, so he dropped Helena to the ground, and she immediately opened her eyes.

“Marco, why would you hurt me? I’m not feeling well. You know I have a medical condition.” Helena whined, and tears gathered in her eyes.

I just rolled my eyes, because I knew it was all fake. 

“Shifters have a strong immune system, and rarely get sick, yet you claim to have a medical condition that has never been verified. You were spoiled so much that your family accepted every word from your mouth, and never bothered to have you checked. It also brought more sympathy to them from others, so they were fine to play along.”

She began to cry more. “How can you be so cruel to me? You’re supposed to be my sister. And you can’t even have a little pity for my condition.”

“The easiest way to settle this is to get confirmation from the pack doctor.” Marco said, and others agreed.

Helena tried to protest, but there was nothing she could do to stop Marco. I watched her closely, and smirked when I saw the fear in her eyes. She must be thinking of what new tactic she could use to get out of the situation. Fainting would not work again, and no one would pay attention to her tears either.

The doctor arrived and everyone stepped aside for her to examine Helena. I told them to get a female doctor just in case Helena tried to stop the examination by claiming she didn’t want to be touched by a male. I saw her trying to speak to the doctor, but her voice was too low for anyone to hear. The doctor just smiled at her, and shook her head before standing.

“There’s nothing wrong with her. She’s just a little overweight, which causes shortness of breath sometimes.” The doctor announced, and Helena hid her face in shame.

No one would believe her lies now that she had been exposed.

“I hope everything is settled now.” I asked, and Marco nodded.

Helena shrieked as Marco dragged her by the hair, trying to take her away from the event.

“Let me go! This is all Gianna's fault. She has changed. She caused this. I only did this to avoid confronting her about the necklace.” She was screaming at the top of her voice, and trying to fight Marco so he wouldn’t take her away.

The doctor walked calmly to me. “She tried to bribe me to fake her examination results.”

So if the doctor was greedy, she would have fallen for Helena’s scheme. I just thanked her, and then walked inside the pack house to retrieve something. When I returned, Helena was still causing a scene, so I tossed the sack of jewels in her direction.

“Take this and leave. Stop disturbing the peace of my pack.” I said to her, as the contents of the sack spilled over.

Helena’s eyes widened as she saw the rubies, diamonds and emeralds I took from the Romano family collection. It was my family now, so I was entitled to it as well. This was just a tiny part of what was left in the treasury. It was a small price to pay to get Helena out of the event, so they could proceed.

But as the jewels glittered, other guests began to go after them. Everyone who was close wanted to get a piece of expensive jewel. Helena shrieked and began to yell.

“These jewels are mine. Get your filthy hands away. Keep off!.”

She was ignored, so she had to fight to pick some jewels for herself. She didn’t care how embarrassing it was. The jewels were expensive. She wanted them.

I stared at her, and shook my head before returning to my brother.