Chapter 282

Hannah

“I just can’t believe it… So they were working together all along, with your father at the helm, no less.”

I paced the living room as I spoke, running my hands nervously through my hair. Each stroke seemed to pull out more tiny hairs, but if I went bald, then I didn’t care right now. All I cared about was protecting my daughter

Melody was in her playpen, playing with a pile of blocks and gurgling softly, while Noah was sitting on the armchair nearby. Now, more than ever, I was glad our daughter was too young to know what was going on right now.

But how could I one day break the news to her that her own grandfather had attempted to kill her? That he’d not only attempted to kill her, but to keep her from ever being conceived to begin with?

“You’re sure that Zoe’s story lines up?” I asked, turning to Noah. I’d already asked him this same question a million times tonight, as if he would suddenly admit that it was all just a practical joke and that I had nothing to worry about.

But just as he had all those times before, Noah nodded and pursed his lips. “Yes,” he said solemnly. “It’s true. Zoe told me everything.”

I cursed under my breath and began pacing again, my steps even quicker now.

Earlier that day, while I had been interrogating Alvin at the prison, Noah had been performing his own interrogation. He’d made a visit to Zoe.

Of course, Miss Zoe wasn’t quite as keen on sharing her plot with Marcus as Alvin had been. But after some convincing and some well-deserved threats, she finally spilled everything.

She told him that Marcus had approached her before our wedding all those years ago. He knew about her obsession with Noah and he was the one who’d given her the idea to cut our mate bond and alter Noah’s mind.

Scopolamine.

That was the poison she’d used to alter Noah’s memories. It had worked like a charm, carefully carving the memories of me out of Noah’s head. It hadn’t been some ‘ancient potion’ like we’d thought, but rather a simple drug slipped into some fragrant tea.

And why did she do it, you might ask? Because Marcus had promised her something. Something huge. Something that she wanted more than anything else in the world.

If she kept us apart, then Noah would be hers. Not just Noah, but all of Nightcrest. Their child would be named heir and she would be named Luna Regent until their child was old enough—and manipulated enough—to take over.

Marcus didn’t care if Noah died in the end. So long as their kid became the Alpha of Nightcrest.

Or Adam, if they didn’t manage to have a baby of their own. It was as if Adam was some sort of…

Backup.

I shuddered at the thought. “Why did he want your kid with Zoe to become the Alpha of Nightcrest so badly?” I whispered. “Why not just let us have an heir?”

Noah shook his head. “I haven’t got a clue,” he murmured, passing a hand over his face.

He looked just as weary as I felt, which came as no surprise. Neither of us had gotten much sleep last night, between the scopolamine poisoning and our frantic preparations to keep our daughter and ourselves safe.

Speaking of safety, our house was currently surrounded by guards. No one—not even us—could get in or out without explicit permission. It felt suffocating, but also necessary.

I grit my teeth and sank down onto the couch, thinking deeply for several long moments. Neither Alvin nor Zoe seemed to have the slightest clue as to Marcus’s motivations behind doing this. Not even Doctor Patel, who’d known Marcus for decades, knew why he wanted to do any of this.

“Your father is smart,” I mused, leaning my head back against the plush couch cushions. “He kept all of his accomplices in the dark.”

“And promised them all the things they wanted most,” Noah replied.

I nodded, shutting my eyes for a moment.

Doctor Patel had been greedy for money and gifts, and was bound to Marcus through years of trust.

Alvin wanted to become Silvermoon’s Alpha, and wanted to ensure that there was no way I could take that from him.

Zoe wanted power of her own. She seemed to be under the impression that she could weasel her way into ruling an entire pack from behind her son.

And all three of them had gotten too caught up in the scheme to pull out by the time Marcus started threatening them with death or torment. He’d terrified them all so much that they didn’t even dare to tell the truth about him in court, because they knew that he’d find a way to harm them even in prison.

Money. Things. Power. Fear.

Marcus had played them all like fiddles. He had played us like fiddles, too, right under our noses for years. And all this time, we hadn’t even once thought to look to him as the source of our pain, because he’d been smart enough to keep himself quiet and out of the way.

No wonder he was always out of the country, going on ‘business’ trips and avoiding every holiday and important moment in our lives. No wonder he never called, never wrote, never visited.

He wanted us to forget about him, and we had done just that.

And now here we were, locked up in our own home, unsure of our next move while there was a shark circling us in the water.

“We can’t just arrest him,” I said softly. “He’s too smart. He’ll find a way out of it—find some way to remove himself from blame.”

Noah nodded and moved to the couch, plopping down beside me. He placed his hand on my thigh, a comforting feeling despite everything. “He was an Alpha for many years; a lot of the Alphas on the Council will sympathize with him if it goes to trial,” he said.

“We’ll need more solid proof, then. Confessions from a few people who have already proven to be untrustworthy won’t be nearly enough. We need a confession from him.” I turned toward Noah and bit my lip. “But I’ll be the first to admit that I have no fucking clue as to how we’re going to get that.”

My mate was silent for some time, his green eyes sweeping back and forth across the rug as if he could find some sort of answer in the pattern.

“He’s supposed to leave the country again in a week,” Noah said quietly after several long moments. “Who knows where he’ll go or how long he’ll be gone.”

“Which means we need the confession before then.” My eyes flicked to our daughter, who was happily cooing to herself while she hugged a stuffed unicorn to her chest.

Suddenly, an idea struck me.

Unicorn.

I shot to my feet, surprising Noah. “What’s wrong?” he asked, sitting upright.

I pointed at the stuffed animal, my hand trembling. I was so excited that I couldn’t even form words just yet—I could only turn to Noah, my mouth working uselessly.

But I didn’t need to say it out loud, because he picked up my implication loud and clear. He slowly rose to his feet, his green eyes widening.

“You’re sure that would work?” he asked, turning to look at me.

“I… I haven’t the faintest fucking idea,” I breathed. “But we don’t have much time to figure anything else out, do we?”