I could still feel the guards' tight grip on my arms, their fingers squeezing my flesh as I whipped my head around in an instant. I found myself looking right into a pair of familiar dark eyes that were burning with a fiery blaze.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as we locked eyes.
"Xavier…" his name left my lips in a soft murmur of relief as I looked at him helplessly. I watched as he marched over with his fists balled tightly beside him and his features hardened as he kept his eyes fixated on the guards holding me down.
"How did he… get in here?" I could hear Evelyn's soft voice laced with confusion reach my ears as she turned to look at her father with a puzzled look etched onto her face. "How did he know that she is here?"
"Who let you in here?!" James' voice was loud and clear as he glared at Xavier with anger evident in his eyes but their words fell on deaf ears. "Get out of my house!" His voice boomed loudly this time, an intimidating look was plastered across his face.
"I said let her go!" Xavier demanded through gritted teeth once again. "I'm not leaving until your guards let go of her."
It wasn't more than a second later when he closed the distance between us in a few large strides and threw a punch right at one of the guards who was holding me down. The other guard immediately released his grip on me in shock, pushing me aside roughly and I fell to the ground with a soft yelp that left my lips.
I held onto my tummy and my eyes flickered to the side to see the guard rubbing his jaw and grimacing in pain. Meanwhile, the other guard tried to tackle Xavier but was only met with another punch to his gut, causing him to let out a yell of pain.
Chaos ensued and all hell broke loose before anyone knew it.
The rest were watching the scene unravel before them with wide eyes until a few other guards from outside came rushing in through the door hastily to pull Xavier away and held him back. It took the strength of at least two or three guards to hold him in place as he tried to break free from their tight grip.
There was a frown etched onto his face and he wasn't giving up anytime soon. He continued to struggle while he glared right at James as he drew in deep breaths, his chest rising up and down in a rhythmic manner. If looks could kill, James would be six feet under the ground by now.
James slowly sauntered over with a smug look plastered across his face and a slight smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. He stopped right in front of him, leaning forward so that their faces were now dangerously close to one another.
"How does it feel, hmm?" He taunted, his eyes gleaming with amusement and satisfaction. "How does it feel to be so powerless and weak? There's nothing you can do now," he spat, the words that left his mouth were dripping with venom and a low yet mocking chuckle escaped his lips.
"You are going to regret this, James," Xavier warned, his deep voice dropped to a harsh whisper as they locked eyes.
James let out a scoff. "Regret what? There's nothing a man like you can do to someone like me," he sneered with a triumphant smile etched onto his face. "You should be the one regretting…" He glanced over to look at me, narrowing his eyes into thin slits, contempt evident in his eyes.
"Choosing this woman over my daughter should be your biggest regret," he continued, spitting the words out of his mouth with a disdainful scorn. "You are nothing without us, Xavier Wilder."
Xavier didn't bother arguing or fighting about what James had just said, he was only focused on one thing and one thing only.
"I'm not letting this go if anything happens to Aurelia," he threatened through gritted teeth this time as he clenched his jaw tightly.
A smirk morphed itself onto James' lips, his eyes danced with amusement. "Oh, really?"
I slowly stood up from the ground, pulling myself up. "Let him go!" I demanded as my heart pounded loudly against my chest, threatening to burst out at any second now.
I stepped forward, wanting to go over when I felt someone grab me by my arm, yanking me back forcefully, causing me to stumble backward and almost losing my balance once again.
"Not so fast," Evelyn snapped at me, her sharp voice reaching my ears as she glared at me. "Where do you think you are going, huh?!"
I yanked my arm out of her grasp. "Going to help my husband," I replied, making sure to emphasise on the last two words that left my lips and watched as her cheeks turned red with anger while her features hardened.
"That's not happening," she snarled. Her voice fell to a low hush. "He's supposed to be my husband. I'm not stopping until he's mine," she hissed.
I watched as my mother came rushing towards us in the next second, her brows knitted together to form a small frown.
She placed her hand on Evelyn with a comforting smile playing on her lips. "Evelyn, don't worry. She's not going anywhere," she declared, her voice cold and distant as she turned to look at me like I was just a stranger, an outsider even.
"... What?" The word barely left the tip of my tongue when I felt myself swaying to the side as a sharp pain shot through my body.
Within the next second, the edges of my vision gradually began to darken as the room blurred around me. "Xavier…" I whispered, my voice barely a breath. I didn't manage to finish my sentence when I felt my knees buckled, and the world was fading to black with each passing second.
Before I collapsed onto the floor, I caught a glimpse of Xavier's panicked face as he finally broke out of the guards' grip and rushed towards me in a split second.
Then everything went dark.