Chapter 6

"You've changed, big brother, you've changed…" Fiona mumbled. Then she covered her head with her hands and sank to the floor, crying softly. "She ruined you. She ruined us. I just wanted you back the way you were. The you that was only mine."

Damien didn't say anything else.

He didn't have time for Fiona. He grabbed his coat, planning to coax me home first, then talk about withdrawing the charges.

Less than five minutes after he left the office, his assistant came running after him, out of breath.

"Alpha Kane, we have a problem. Several partners have suddenly broken their contracts."

"What?" He stopped.

"The new projects we were about to sign yesterday, they all pulled out this morning. Some are withdrawing capital, some are freezing backup investments."

"Which direction are the projects in?" Damien ground out.

"Southside commercial district. Two towers in the Finance District." The assistant's face was pale. "All of those partners have long-term ties with Hart holdings."

His stomach dropped.

Hart.

Hart Pack.

This wasn't a coincidence.

I'd done this.

He sat back down behind his desk. His mind moved fast.

Given my position in Hart Pack, if I truly wanted to destroy Kane Pack, there were far worse tools.

He couldn't let me go that far.

Not just for the Pack. For me.

If I hated him this much, he'd never have a chance to get me back.

The Hart estate was silent.

I dragged myself into the study and locked the door behind me. I pulled the backup laptop and phone from the drawer, connected an external drive, and started restoring the cloud evidence.

The files I'd backed up long ago. The timestamps of Fiona going in and out of the ward.

I packaged everything and sent it to my lawyer.

【I want the most serious charges. I will not accept a settlement.】

After I sent it, I carefully copied everything to two external drives and one encrypted USB, and hid them in three different places.

Fiona. You're going to spend the rest of your life paying for this.

I'd just shut the laptop when the room went black on me. Every color drained out of the world. My legs gave out. I dropped to the carpet.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a familiar ceiling. My mother's swollen eyes. My father's dark, furious face. My brother's hard stare.

I froze for a second, then sat straight up. "Evie!"

I threw myself toward the urn in the corner, the one I'd carried back myself. It was still there. Still sitting quietly where I'd left it.

I knelt on the floor and lifted it with shaking hands, and my voice tore apart as I cried.

"Evie. Mommy's sorry. Mommy's sorry…"

I don't know how long I cried. My mother took me into her arms and patted my back. "Cry, Sel. Mom's here. Mom knows everything now."

My brother stood to the side. His face was dark enough to drip ink.

"Sel," he said in a low voice, "did Damien do this to you?"

I didn't answer. I just kept crying until my whole chest hurt.

The reason I hadn't come home all these years wasn't because I didn't trust them. I didn't want them worrying. I didn't want to drag them in.

But now, they were all I had.

I bit my lip and, piece by piece, I told them everything from the last several years.

"Evie. Fiona killed her. She was afraid I'd use Evie to win over Damien, so she'd been wanting to kill her. She lured Evie to Crescent Lake, held her under the water, called me on video to threaten me. I told her I'd leave, I agreed, and she still kept pushing Evie's head down. Evie kept crying for me. I wasn't fast enough. By the time I got there, she was unconscious, in a coma. And Fiona wouldn't stop even then. She got into the ward and tampered with the equipment. She pulled Evie's lines."

"After that Fiona locked me in a closet. I sat in there and listened to Evie's heart stop. And I couldn't do anything."

"I lost two pups. The healer said… I probably can't conceive again."

"I—" I couldn't hold it. My whole body curled up. I cried until I was in spasms.

Mom's arms tightened around me. She was shaking. "They deserve to die. Those animals."

My brother turned sharply and drove his fist into the bookcase. The heavy glass shattered. Shards flew across the floor.

"That dog Damien. I called him a brother, and this is what he does to you? He must be tired of living."

"Tristan, don't—" I caught his arm. "You can't do anything rash right now. I'm afraid of what else he'll pull. He threatened you too. He said he'd put wolfsbane in your drink."

My brother turned like he'd been struck by lightning. His eyes went red. "What did you say? Damien dared to threaten you with me?"

I nodded, slow.

"And I heard them in the medical wing. I'm just a front, cover for what they have going on between them. Damien lied to all of us from the start. He never loved me."

"A front?" My father spoke for the first time. His voice was like ice. Each word cut. "A Hart daughter as his cover. Who does he think he is?"