Chapter 131: Xander's Mind-Game

(Xander POV)

I would love to tell you that hearing about the passcode and phone call was all it took for me to fully appreciate how wrong I had been to trust Ellis.

It wasn’t.

Of course, Leo’s words planted deep seeds of doubt in my mind. But I am a stubborn male, and my hatred of Leo ran deep. Trusting Leo over Ellis was not something I would easily do.

Ultimately, accepting that I had been played by Ellis would not come until I was forced to face reality in a horribly devastating way later, when I returned to Blue Ridge.

So what happened instead?

Well, instead of immediately accepting the deep sh&t that Ellis had gotten me into, I experienced about 120 seconds of shock while I processed the information Leo had given me. During those 120 seconds, I really did entertain the possibility that Leo was telling the truth, and that this whole thing had been a set-up. It made me feel numb and betrayed and at a loss for what to do next.

But then —as I stood there, with Piper just behind t