Chapter 423: Ancient History-1 (A Side Story)

Oric stepped forward, pulling the sobbing Willow into his arms. He was fully aware that she was not crying for him, and his best guess was that Jeremy Barnes had told her that he was expecting. When she composed herself and pushed him away, Oric backed up, wanting to give her time before questioning her declaration of hatred.

"What do you mean I sent my friends?" Willow did not hear Oric's question, she was too exhausted to even pretend anymore. She was hurt in many ways, and she blamed Oric.

Willow just wanted to push all the pain away and start over the way she had done before, but this time seemed like it would be a little harder. Jeremy was perfect in every way, and she could not see herself finding another man as good as him. Willow found herself wishing she could be more like Mina, who was so good at burying her pain that she did not even need to try anymore.

"I've told you what you wanted to know. Can you please just leave me alone?" Oric did not leave though. To Willow, he seemed dead set on seeing her at her weakest.

"Did Jeremy tell you?" Willow let out a slight chuckle, because she thought she figured out why Oric was in her room in the first place. He was not looking for Mina, he was looking to rub salt into her wounds. "He doesn't deserve your tears. I heard about him cheating". Willow looked up at Oric, wondering how he knew, and then rage overtook her.

"At least he didn't tell his friends they could f*ck me". Willow pushed past Oric, who grabbed her arm, no longer able to ignore her accusations.

"What are you talking about?" Willow tried to pry his fingers off her arm, but he was too strong, and his grip was tight.

"Don't play dumb. You sent Bastien and anyone else who would listen to torment me. Why do you think I left? It was because I was not safe in this country. All because of you!" Willow shouted.

Oric did not even wait for more words to pass between them. He pulled Willow out of the room wanting to find Bastien, who had already left the main hall by the time Willow started dancing. He guided the woman toward Bastien's room and on the way, they saw Vanya walking past them with a weird expression on her face.

Willow, who had made eye contact with Vanya, panicked, remembering that Mina had not kept her promise to stay put. She rushed ahead of Oric and pushed open Bastien's room door. She was greeted with the sight of a passed-out Mina on the floor, while the man had a visibly impaired Olivia pinned down to the bed.

Willow rushed Bastien, throwing heavy punches at him, releasing all the suppressed anger she had into her blows, but he violently shrugged her off. Unfortunately for Bastien, Oric picked up where Willow left off, only he was not concerned about Olivia or Mina.

"You tried to f*ck Willow?" He asked, punching the man without waiting for a response. "You told her I sent you?" He hit the man again, and Bastien raised his hands to fight back.

"You believe that slut?" Willow had been called a slut so many times that the word meant nothing to her. She was more concerned with Olivia, who had been stripped down to almost nothing. Not wanting anyone to look in and see what was going on, Willow shut the room door.

It felt like the men had been fighting forever when someone started to pound on the door, and Willow opened it, knowing that it was either Connor or Cylus.

Cylus gasped in fear when he caught sight of his cousin on the bed, because it was obvious to him that she was naked. His eyes then drifted to the corner where Willow had managed to pull Mina, before he finally took in the fact that Oric was sitting on Bastien, strangling the man as he released a slew of curses.

Cylus pulled Oric away, and Bastien sputtered for air, holding onto his neck that already looked bruised. He demanded to be told what was happening and Oric explained without mincing his words. He started from why he was looking for Bastien, to what he saw when they barged in. Cylus' face turned red and he stomped on Bastien's stomach so hard that Willow was sure something ruptured.

"Don't kill him, you need to call the police".

"I didn't do anything", Bastien coughed out from the ground. "They were already like this when I came in." Willow looked at Oric, hoping that they had not misread the situation, but Oric seemed enraged by the man's words.

"So, you didn't tell Willow that I sent you to sleep with her?"

"That is ancient history". Oric tried to attack Bastien again but Cylus held him back.

"Let's focus on the girls right now. We don't know what is wrong with them, and if he is telling the truth, we need to make sure we find out who did this to them".

"It was Vanya", Willow offered, and Cylus glared at her, but Oric stepped in the man's line of sight.

"If it was only Mina, I would have considered that possibility, but Olivia and Vanya are friends". Willow worried that she may have jumped to conclusions again, but to her, it looked as though Bastien was trying to take Olivia safety shorts off.

Once things had calmed, Cylus asked Willow to help him dress Olivia. He was relieved when he caught sight of her shorts still intact. He dragged Bastien out of the room, while Oric stayed behind, making sure that no one else came on the off chance that the man had been set to take the fall for someone else.

It was no secret that people thought both Mina and Olivia were easy, and it may have been that someone got cold feet before leaving the women in an incapacitated state. When Willow gave Oric the 'all clear' on Olivia, the man lifted Mina into the bed. Willow disappeared into the restroom to get a cold rag to wipe Mina's sweat drenched face.

"I would never have done that to you", Oric said to Willow. He had been waiting for her to look at him, but she never met his eyes, and he did not think he would get another chance to say it.

"It's whatever", Willow replied, still reeling over the fact that Oric had been right; Jeremy did not make mistakes, he cheated on her, and he had gotten someone else pregnant; worse was that she could not help but to blame herself.

Willow gently wiped Mina's face and the woman flinched from the cold. She asked Oric to crack open the door, knowing that Mina was likely to panic if she thought it was still locked. With the sound, Mina's eyes opened and the first thing she did was look at the door. She broke down into painful sobs that Willow knew were from whatever terror she had faced before they found her.

It took about a minute before Mina stood up to check her body. She then spotted Olivia and Willow was glad they had opted to redress the woman before Mina came to.

"Why are her clothes different?" Mina said in a shaky voice. Oric, who had been standing by the door, closed it.

"We had to dress her", Willow admitted, "but she was okay".

"Who was it?" Mina demanded to know. Her eyes looked heavy, almost as if she were going to pass out at any minute.

"We were hoping you could tell us". Mina shook her head.

"Vanya insisted that you were in this room". Willow looked at Oric, who left to tell Cylus what Mina had said.