I led my mother straight to my office, bypassing the common areas and guards with a single nod. The door closed behind us with a click.
Helen took the chair across from my desk without being invited. I remained standing for a moment, watching her. She looked composed, elegant as always, but I could see it now–the tightness around her eyes, the way her fingers rested too carefully on the armrest. She was alert…
calculating.
We sat in silence for a moment.
Not the awkward kind. The deliberate kind. The kind where both people knew the conversation coming could not be undone once it began.
Finally, she spoke.
“I didn’t ignore your calls to be cruel, Alex,” Helen said calmly. “Or dismissive.”
I leaned back in my chair, folding my arms. “Then why?”
“Because I had a hunch my phone was tapped,” she said.
That got my full attention.
I straightened slightly. “A hunch,” I repeated.
“Yes,” she said. “And before you ask–no, I don’t have proof. Not yet. But I’ve lived too long to ignore
instincts like that.”
I watched her closely, weighing her words. “So instead of warning me, you went silent.”
“I was being careful,” she corrected. “There’s a difference.”
She exhaled, then continued. “When I noticed one of your men trailing me today, it confirmed something for me. Not that you were suspicious–of course you were–but that you wouldn’t wait.”
Her lips curved faintly. “You never have been patient when it comes to family.”
I didn’t deny that.
“I knew,” she went on, “that the moment you got word of my location, you’d come yourself. And I
needed that.”
I frowned, but I didn’t interrupt.
“Because if I’d come here alone,” she said evenly, “anyone watching me would’ve followed. And I didn’t want to lead them to the conclusion that I might be aware of the game.”
Chapter 239
That sent a chill down my spine.
“So you waited for me,” I said slowly. “Used my lack of patience as cover.”
Of course she did.
She inclined her head. “Exactly.”
I held her gaze. “You said you were onto something What is that?”
+25 Points
She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she looked around my office–the walls, the windows, the
door–as if checking the space itself.
Then she looked back at me.
“You want to know what I know about the attack on Faye, at my mansion,” Helen said quietly.
My jaw tightened. “Yes.”
“I’m going to tell you the truth,” she said. “All of it.”
I waited.
“When those wolves were killed in my house,” she began, “I examined them myself. Thoroughly.”
I felt my shoulders tense.
“There were markings,” she continued. “Subtle ones. Not obvious unless you knew exactly what to
look for.”
“I knew then,” she said, her voice low, “who they were.”
My chest tightened painfully. She saw something after all. “And you told Faye you saw nothing.”
“Yes.”
Anger sparked hot and immediate, but I forced it down. “Why?”
“Because panic makes you reckless, Alexander,” she replied. “And if you’d known Shadow Fang was responsible, you wouldn’t have stopped at investigation.”
She met my eyes. “You would’ve gone to war.”
She wasn’t wrong. That was the worst part.
“I called Brad… one of the men you saw,” she went on. “He’s Shadow Fang. So I asked him directly if he knew anything about why Shadow Fang wolves would target my home. My son’s mate.”
“He denied it,” she said. “Convincingly.”
I let out a sharp breath. “You believed him. Since when do you believe people just like that?”
“I wanted to believe him,” she corrected quietly.
24
Chapter 239
That admission hit harder than any excuse could have.
Helen looked down for the first time since we’d started talking. “I didn’t think he was evil, Alexander. I thought he was… sometimes careless, political at times.”
She lifted her gaze again. “I didn’t think he would go that far.”
+25 Points
に
“And that’s why you destroyed the evidence,” I said flatly. I couldn’t believe it, no matter how much I
wanted to.
“Yes,” she said.
“So you lied to Faye. To me… Mom, how could you?”
“Yes.”
The room felt too small suddenly.
“You let a lover cloud your judgment,” I said, unable to keep the edge out of my voice. “Enough to deceive me. Enough to put Faye at risk.”
“I know,” Helen said softly. “And I’m not proud of it.”
Silence stretched again, thick and heavy.
“I realized last night,” she continued, “that something didn’t add up. Shadow Fang wolves don’t make moves without information. They knew Faye was in my house. They knew the timing. They
got in too easily.”
My blood ran cold.
“That’s when it occurred to me,” Helen said, “that the information may have come from inside.”
At this point, I really wanted to say something, but I held back.
“Or from someone close to me,” she finished.
Brad.
“I began to wonder if my house was compromised,” she said. “Bugs. Listening devices. Even my
phone.”
Her gaze hardened. “And if that’s true, then Brad didn’t just stumble into my life. He positioned
himself there.”
Rage flared sharp and violent in my chest.
“And you didn’t come to me,” I said quietly.
“Because if I was right,” she replied, “and he realized I was onto him too soon, things could escalate–for you, for Faye… the entire territory.”
<Chapter 239
I pushed back from my desk and stood, pacing once across the room before stopping.
“You put yourself in danger,” I said.
She smiled faintly. “I’ve been in danger before.”
“That’s not the point,” I snapped.
“No,” she agreed. “The point is that I made a mistake.”
She stood as well, meeting me eye to eye now.
+25 Points)
“I won’t make excuses,” Helen said firmly. “I underestimated him. And I overestimated my ability to
keep emotion out of strategy.”
That hurt to hear–because it was true.
“But I won’t let it slide,” she added. “If my suspicions are correct….I’ll deal with Brad myself.”
I didn’t respond to that. I didn’t even need to.
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