The Silver Fighter | ✓

Moment Of Silence For The Big Reveal

Elle tried to feign confidence as she spoke to me, but I wasn't buying that shit. I could see the nervousness in her body language; she was fiddling with her blond hair, her feet were turned inward slightly, and she worried her bottom lip.

Something was different about her.

'Maybe she's on drugs...?'

"About what, Elle?" I drawled sardonically. "What could we possibly need to talk about, hm?" My tone expressed my overall disinterest in what she had to say.

Elle glared at me, but then reined herself in with a deep exhale.

'Wow. Someone's been practicing being a normal human being. Good for her.'

"I'm sorry." was all she said.

Cue the jaw drop.

'...'

'What?'

"I'm sorry. What?" I replied, utterly confused.

'Did we get dropped into a another dimension like the man from Taured?'

Elle rolled her eyes at me as if hearing my thoughts and crossed her arms with a huff.

"I said I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've been such a bitch to you and I'm sorry for being mean, okay?" She reiterates, her tone getting frustrated and defensive.

I glanced at the guys and they were all wearing the same confused look as I was wearing. I then looked back at Elle to say bluntly, "I don't understand."

Elle sighed, clenching her fists, and I could feel her annoyance coming off in waves.

'What in the hell is going on?'

"I've been a bitch to you and I've been taking things out on you when you didn't deserve them. So I'm sorry."

'She's speaking, but she's making no sense.'

Elle took in my baffled expression and sighed once more.

"My dad..." She trailed off, shifting uncomfortably in place, and then gulped nervously, "is Rostard Bertinelli."

My heart stopped right then and there as the pit in my stomach worsened.

'She's...she's lying.'

"Wh-what?" My voice came out as nothing more than a whisper.

"My dad is Bertinelli, the guy who your mom locked up." Elle said gruffly as is she was exposing the fact that she has a secret diary.

Not the fact that her father MURDERED MY MOTHER.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think.

'Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.'

At that time, an inhaler would have been useful.

John stiffened noticeably next to me and Gray sucked in a breath at Elle's hesitant declaration. Ben's jaw dropped just like mine.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" John hissed angrily, but I was too frozen in place to call him on it.

"My father, the guy Grace's mom locked up." Elle repeated in a slow voice as if she was speaking to a child, though she still managed to inject a condescending tone.

Gray growled under his breath, his brow pinched in anger. "You mean the guy who murdered Grace's mom." He countered hotly.

I had never him seen so mad in the...weeks I had known him.

My eyes fluttered subconsciously as my body began to feel weak. Without looking at him, I shakily reached over the table and reached for Gray's hand. I felt Gray take it and it made me feel more stable.

And in that moment, I only had one question.

"H-how?" I whispered softly, but still sharp. If that's possible.

'Elle's dad's name is Robert King. How can...?'

"My..." Elle started awkwardly, then coughed nervously, "father. He went to jail when I was young, so my mom remarried when I was eight. That's why my dad isn't my real dad." She explained and I suddenly had a lightbulb go off in my head.

"Ellen Bitri." I uttered in realization. I lifted my gaze from the table to stare into Elle's hard green eyes. "It's an anagram for Bertinelli." I breathed lightly, everything falling into place.

Fuck, it all made so much sense; why she hated me, why her name was so fucked up, why she was so hateful to her so-called father.

Elle always took any chance she had to take a shit on Robert's name, but I always assumed it was because he cheated on her mom or some messed up shite like that.

"Yeah." Elle replied with a small nod.

"Oh my God." Ben breathed. I wanted to speak, but my throat felt so dry.

Suddenly, John spoke up in an abrasive and gritty tone. "Why?"

Elle fixed a questioning look on him, her blond brow arched.

"What do you-" She began, but he didn't let her finish.

"Why now? Why reveal all this now when you had the chance to for the past two years?" He asked, his voice harsh and cold as his face contorted in anger.

But Elle is not the type to back down from a challenge easily. So, she simply glared at him and replied, "It was only recently that I got a first-hand look at what a monster my father is." Her tone was just as harsh as John's was, but that didn't intimidate him in the least.

"And that was?" He questioned, unconvinced.

'I can't...I can't process all this.'

My breathing began to become irregular as my brain tried to absorb everything that I was just told.

'So...the girl who's hated my guts for fucking YEARS...her father killed my mum.'

'...'

'Well, isn't that bloody brilliant.'

"My father tried to...um...get me involved in the family business." I vaguely heard Elle state, but all I could do was squeeze Gray's hand. He returned the action comfortingly.

'I've always wanted a brother.' I thought to myself offhandedly as I attempted to focus of the touch so that I didn't have a full out panic attack at school.

Something one wants to avoid at all costs.

"And how can we possibly trust that you're telling the truth?" I heard John retort sharply and I appreciated the concern, but that wasn't what I needed in that moment.

Elle snorted at John's question. "You shouldn't. I'm just telling you this before my guilt eats me alive."

'Guilt? So she is human, not just a Heather Chandler wannabe.'

John glared at her words, obviously not taking comfort in her words.

With her words hanging in the air, she spun around and without looking back, she walked away from us like Regina George in-fucking-carnate.

When she was gone, my brain tried to convince itself that everything was fine, though my trembling body said otherwise. As I let out a shaky breath I mused silently to myself,

'I'm sure everything she just told me was a lie.'