I Will Show Everyone Who The Hell I Am
Rhea stared into the distance.
It was over. Liv fucking won.
Dominik had guaranteed Rhea had nothing to worry about. He had held her in their shared hotel room. Whispered into her ear that everything would be ok. That no one could ever be better than her. That he wouldn't choose anyone but her.
But look at that.
He fucking betrayed her. Lifted Liv up and smirked at her, looking at her like he loved her. He looked at Liv the same way he looked at her. Or the way she thought he looked at her.
And he fucking kissed her.
Rhea couldn't help but cry, she loved dominik, she wanted him so bad but Liv got him. Liv got to have him.
Liv fucking won.
And the way Liv looked back at Rhea.
It was odd. Of course, Liv was smirking at Rhea.
But she gave her a look that said so much more than just the fact that she got Dominik.
"I fucking won. I took your man. I took your title. I took everything you wanted and I got to stand on top and smile while I did it. I. Beat. You."
But Rhea noticed something small.
A tiny look in Liv's eyes and a tiny movement- Liv just barely pushed Dom's hand off of her shoulder.
What the hell was that?
Liv went through all of this bullshit just to push Dominik away? What the hell was going on?
Damian was furious with Dominik, desperately asking Finn and JD if they knew anything about this, which they obviously denied.
Now it was his match with Gunther, and it was going well.
He was just a second away from pinning him, that is, until the crowd went silent.
What was happening?
And then he turned his head- Finn. Finn fucking Balor, his bestfriend.
The one Rhea put trust in when she was too scared to leave Edge, the one Damian told everything when he was stressed Rhea would go back to him or that they were falling apart.
He had put Gunther's ankle on the rope, preventing a pin.
He fucking betrayed him. And Damian lost. That night, Rhea and Damian walked up the ramp with no championships, but most of all no family.
Backstage, he found Rhea and gently comforted her, gently pulling her into his arms.
"They...they fucking left us..." Rhea whispered, hugging him tightly.
Rhea would cry for an hour straight, unable to stop or hide her anguish.
Damian was exhausted, but he would never leave his best friend, his practical sister.
He couldn't do that to anyone.
He wondered if it was his fault. If he had just tried harder, could he have stopped this? Stopped Liv fucking Morgan from breaking their entire family?
It was too late to question it now. She had torn them all apart, one by one. Luckily, Liv hadn't gone for him, but he knew Rhea still felt like shit- trusting the Judgement Day as her family after her problems with Edge, only to be betrayed by that so-called family.
Damian went to get Rhea some water, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
That is, until the door opened, and Rhea looked up with those teary eyes, expecting Damian, but no.
It was Liv.
"Ohhhh..." Liv was cackling laughing, looking down at Rheas' sitting form, grinning.
"Aww, you sad? You sad your family betrayed you for me? Are you sad your man chose the better woman? Well, no, the real woman."
Rhea stared at her, the hatred festering deep. Liv was fucking taunting her. She shouldn't be shocked, of course, but still. It fucking sucked.
"I took your family, I took your man, I took your title. I fucking won. I. Beat. You. You're just some pathetic leftover now."
Rhea glared at her, but Rhea internally agreed. She was pathetic, she did fucking lose.
"And you know what the funniest part is?" Liv got closer, grinning down at her, holding her title up in Rhea's face.
"Even if you got this title back, you still wouldn't ever get your family back." Liv cackled loudly, loudly chewing her gum in Rhea's face. But Rhea, even in her exhausted and pissed-off state, was getting tired of hearing Liv speak.
So, she grabbed Liv's face and yanked her close. Liv wanted the real Rhea? Well, why not?
"Liv, if you don't shut the fuck up and get out of my face, you'll see exactly why I'm called 'The Eradicator.' Understood?" Rhea stared down at Liv, smirking at the caught-off-guard look she held as she stared at Liv. Liv's eyes seemed to flash with something else, as she stared at Rhea. Liv seemed surprised, but Rhea noticed randomly Liv's eyes...flicker down to her lips?
Rhea froze momentarily. What was happening?
It didn't seem like Liv knew either, as Liv slowly leaned closer and Rhea felt Liv's hand slowly move to Rhea's shoulder as Liv slowly started to move down, moving her knees downward as she slowly got on Rhea's lap.
"W-what are you doing..." Rhea whispered, looking surprised as Liv slowly leaned in but the second she heard the door open shot up. Liv quickly adjusted her title as Damian entered, glaring down at Liv.
"What the hell do you think you're doing here, sucia?" Damian asked aggressively, over a foot in height difference making her quite literally have to stare up just to look him in the eyes. Liv glared up at Damian, fire in her eyes. Rhea had to admit, Liv always was a feisty, headfirst person, like an overly-persistent chihuahua. Considering it was Liv and Damian, her trying to stand up to him was both funny and impressive. No matter what, Rhea knew that it was probably one of the reasons that she had first fallen in love with the small, confident, determined woman.
"Just to remind both you and Rhea who the actual champ is. You know, it's kinda funny how fast they turned on you two. Especially Daddy Dom. But then again...look at her, and then look at me. I mean, who would choose the killer from Scream over," Liv did a little twirl grinning, "the perfect, life-sized Barbie?"
Rhea went back to glaring, no matter how much she despised Dominik, she couldn't help but still partially want him.
But he wanted Liv, not her.
And no matter how badly she did want him, she wouldn't be able to have him.
However, she was starting to question the want she had for Dominik as she realized she didn't even budge when Liv got into her lap, leaning into her and slowly getting closer and closer.
She didn't move away when she kept getting closer.
And the want for Dominik started to fade into the background as she tuned back into the conversation, hearing Liv STILL going.
"But, anyways, you know, a real woman like myself knows that my man needs pleasure from me, so I hope you both know while you two are wailing, I'll be screaming for my Daddy Dom."
Rhea rolled her eyes, but was grateful she didn't have to respond because Damian did it for her.
"Listen, Rhea's more than 10 times the woman you are. If you want to run around here with Dominik, go ahead. I mean, sucia belongs with suciedad. Now leave before Dominik thinks you aren't interested in Rhea's sloppy seconds anymore."
Liv seemed mad at that but wasn't going to do anything obviously, but Rhea noticed Liv shoot a look over to her.
And it said, "This isn't over."
But Rhea didn't care. She would show everyone who the hell Rhea Bloody Ripley was.
Jey was pissed.
How fucking dare he.
Jey had been watching SummerSlam, and had watched all the matches. He had seen his new storyline partner and now friend, Rhea Ripley, get betrayed. He felt bad, and quickly sent her a text telling her how great she was and how Dominik didn't deserve her.
Soon, it was Solo and Cody's match. He felt proud- even though his little brother had become practically unrecognizable and Jey was hating the person Solo was becoming, he showed Roman he wasn't the only one who could be bad.
Solo also wasn't doing that bad. He had come far as a wrestler, progressing and gaining his own skills.
That is, until that horrific music played.
The music Jey swore he would never hear again, that he was far away from.
That blissful paradise was gone.
Roman was fucking back.
Jey, in his dressing room, froze, staring at the screen and slowly curling in on himself. He wasn't supposed to be back. He swore that Roman would just stay gone, just maybe, but he knew that would never be true.
And now, he was back.
The same man who had hurt him so many times, betraying him.
Roman fucking Reigns, his cousin, was back.
Jey felt himself curling in tighter and tighter, his breathing becoming labored and his heart tightening. No. This wasn't...this wasn't how this was supposed to go. He was supposed to be confident, unafraid of his big cousin.
But no matter what, Roman was still terrifying to him. He had beaten Jey down several times, relentlessly. He had made sure Jimmy and Solo were gone, and told Paul to "play the music".
The "music" was used to drown out the head-throbbing screams that rang out. Roman would fuck Jey up, doing whatever he wants and using whatever he wants to do so. He would use steel chairs and kendo sticks.
The business may have been a competitive yet friendly place, but Roman didn't accept failure. Especially from Jey.
Paul would just watch. Paul just would stand there, watching.
The so-called Wiseman was by far the worst thing that happened to Roman. He made him arrogant and made him think he could do anything he wanted.
And that's what Roman believed.
Paul was proud of Roman taking control of his family, showing his family that he was the head of the table. Jey thought the first time, Paul was concerned by the surprised look on his face.
He called out for him when Roman wouldn't stop, but when he looked up he saw Paul staring at Roman with a grin, adoration and pride in his eyes.
And Jey realized Paul wanted this.
He started to realize Paul wasn't saying Roman in a way to tell him to stop, he was saying Roman to give him more confidence in it.
He was encouraging it.
And Roman loved beating down Jey. He threatened to do the same to his brother if he wouldn't submit. And he knew it would work. Jey would never put his brothers in his place, hell, most times he took those beatings.
It became nonstop, Roman pulling Jey away, beating him down, and finally manipulating him into staying silent and convincing him if he just always stayed in line like a good puppy, it would all be ok.
The worst time Roman did it was when he saw Sami and Jey getting too close.
-Flashback-
Jey thought he had been quiet. He thought the stolen touches, the secret words were too small for Roman to see.
But of course, Jey had miscalculated.
Like always.
Because, at WarGames, Jey had gotten too happy, hugging his family and suddenly, instinctively picking up Sami. He would realize his mistake, but played it off by doing the same thing with Jimmy.
But Roman also had Paul whispering in his ear, watching everything the other members of the Bloodline would do, but specifically Jey.
Paul had been keeping a tight gaze on everything between Jey and Sami.
He stayed behind Roman but had connections- people keeping a close eye on Jey. He should've been more careful. He should've kept him far away from Roman in the first place, told him what he did to him. He should've told Sami everything.
But he didn't.
And that was the biggest mistake he could've made.
He thought it wouldn't matter, that he could be secretive enough to keep his feelings for Sami secret.
He had believed it wouldn't be a problem, that he wasn't stupid enough to let Roman find anything between him and Sami.
But he should've known that the real problem would be the Wiseman.
After all, anything that Paul knew, Roman knew directly. And anything Roman wanted to know about, Paul could get it.
And Jey found himself terrified backstage, frantically texting Sami as Sami seemed to not respond at all, concerning Jey. Sami always responded to him.
Until Roman and the Wiseman entered, the Wiseman holding up Sami's phone.
He must have taken it at some point.
Fuck.
He froze, staring at the phone.
"Jey, Jey, Jey..." Roman murmured, sighing disappointedly as Jey watched Roman lock the door.
"I've known. For weeks. I just needed full proof. I'm disappointed, cousin. You thought you could hide this from me? Oh, you little naive thing...I've been tracking your location and had your calls watched. The Wiseman here took Sami's phone when he fell asleep after a match. And I found so many texts. "I love you", "What if Roman finds out", "It doesn't matter as long as we feel this way". Now I know you didn't actually believe that, did you?"
Jeys eyes flickered to the door, as Roman tutted at him.
"I'll assure you, there's no chance in hell or heaven that you're leaving until I'm done with you. You knew I wouldn't let my favorite cousin date someone who isn't good enough for him. But you hid it from me. I would expect this from Sami, he's not blood, but you Jey? I thought I taught you better than that. Trust doesn't exist. It's a weakness, and you gave that trust to him out of all people?"
-
Jey remembered that night so vividly. The fear that ran through him, the pain that rippled through his body as Roman beat him down, attacking him, burning the lesson into his head.
"You'll never be stronger than me, and you'll never be smarter. You can't trust anyone. Not me, not your brothers, and never Sami. I'll make sure of the last one."
Jey remembered the terror that ran through his body, beaten down, traumatized truly as he heard Paul openly encouraging Roman.
The fucking snake.
Jey curled in tighter, eyes squeezed shut as he grabbed the remote quickly, shutting it off.
No.
Roman would never be in his life again.
He wouldn't let himself be used again.
He wouldn't be Roman's fucking puppy anymore, he wouldn't be a fucking pawn, a yesman, just a tag guy.
No.
He would show them all. He would show them exactly who he was.
He was on top.
He was the one the fans shrieked for.
He was gonna get to be a damn champion. He was gonna become #1 contender, get that Intercontinental Championship.
He was going to teach everyone who the fuck Main Event Jey Uso was.