“Fuck you…”

“And now,” Damien continued slowly, “he’s got her locked in his cell. He says he’s finally going to fulfill that promise. But…”

The moment we stepped into the living room, Lennox barked, his voice sharp and filled with anger.

“He told me he made a vow on her grave. That one day, he’d kill the daughter of the woman who destroyed their family. Which is Olivia.”

My heart sank.

And this time, no one was leaving this room until every secret was dragged out into the light.

“So… Rebecca’s head,” I said, piecing the puzzle together.

“But?” Levi snapped, his eyes blazing with anger. “He doesn’t want to kill her anymore.”

“Mother! Father! Damien!” he roared, loud enough to shake the walls. “Get in here—NOW!”

“How dare you!” I spat in rage. My wolf growled angrily inside me.

None of us moved. The pain in the room was thick.

My eyes widened slightly.

His chest was heaving, his fists clenched, and his eyes were glowing with rage.

“I didn’t know who Olivia was when I first saw her at that auction. I bought her because she looked so much like Sofia–I couldn’t stand the thought of some bastard having her. The plan was simple at first: keep her as bait, use her to draw Sofia out. But then I found out she was your mate. And that’s when everything changed. I realized I could use her for my own revenge on you three…” He paused to drag in a breath. “I thought you three betrayed me–told Sofia I couldn’t father a child–so I swore I’d make you feel my pain. I’d make Olivia abandon you so you’d know what betrayal felt like.”

A moment of silence hung in the air before he continued. “It was after Olivia left to stay with Gabriel that your father… my brother, told me who Olivia really was.”

Lennox growled at him. “You could have informed us… we could have waged war on them and easily saved Olivia, but you didn’t.”

“They cut it off, thinking it was Olivia’s dead body. And then… Gabriel had it delivered to your border for you three to find.”

Damien met his eyes. “He told me the truth… or at least, his version of it: that Olivia’s real mother was the one who murdered his mother.”

He swallowed hard. “Rebecca was like a sister to me.”

“He’s confused. He’s tormented, stuck between love and loyalty,” Damien added. “He knows killing her would honor his sister and satisfy the pack that still cries for revenge. But keeping her alive… would betray them all.”

“He’s fallen in love with her.”

“Her neck had been sliced clean through. A knife. No bite. No mark. Just a blade.” He looked away. “I didn’t know what to feel. I hadn’t seen her in years. She vanished, and now she was just… gone.”

Damien nodded once. “I know. I’m sorry for that.”

He looked at us sharply.

Damien didn’t move. He just looked at her–his expression tight with guilt, pain flickering in his eyes. Slowly, gently, he took her hands and pulled them off his shirt. “After Gabriel told me everything,” he continued, “I told him I needed to go. That I’d return. I warned him not to touch Olivia, not to make a single move until I came back.”

We looked back at Damien.

Just then our eyes fell on Sofia, who had been silently stunned. Her eyes were wide open. Damien looked at her with concern flashing in his eyes before he turned away and looked back at us. “While I was still with Gabriel, my men reached out to me and informed me a dead body was seen at my pack territory. And they said the body looked like Rebecca… Lady Sofia’s friend.”

Her eyes were wild, filled with fear and pain, and her lips trembled as if the words themselves were hurting her. “She can’t be dead… She can’t…”

“I told Gabriel the plan,” Damien cut in firmly. “Told him I’d bring him a dead body that looks just like Olivia. That it would be enough to satisfy his sister’s rage, enough to calm the cries of the pack.”

“So I made a choice.”

“Gabriel’s sister was furious. She demanded the dead body’s head still be chopped. She wanted you three to see her in a miserable state.”

Lennox scoffed in anger. “I believe now you know we didn’t do it.”

His jaw clenched slightly. “That was when Gabriel reached out to me.”

Louis’s POV

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.

Damien nodded grimly.

There was a brief silence–one that carried both sorrow and anger.

He looked at each of us slowly, almost as if he was weighing our reactions. “When I got to my pack… they had already brought the body in.”

My chest tightened.

I stared at him, the pieces finally fitting into place. My voice came out low, sharp.

We needed answers.

He continued. “Through what your father said, he made me realize we were related to Olivia, and he thinks she is the special one.” Damien shifted slightly, then exhaled–his voice calm. “After your father told me who she really was, everything changed.”

My glare deepened. My wolf howled, rattling my bones, but I forced myself to stand still and listen.

Damien nodded. “I could have done that… but her enemies were too much.”

“You changed Olivia’s face with Rebecca’s and made us believe she was dead! You bastard!” I spat with pain and anger. It hurt so much that our favorite uncle could stab us this way. “You knew who Olivia was all this while, didn’t you? Speak! Fucking speak!”

I yelled.

“Olivia…” he said her name softly. “She’s the daughter of the family we were sworn enemies with, the very bloodline our kind was taught to despise.”

Damien pulled my hand away from his collar and arranged his shirt before darting his eyes between me and my brothers. “I’ll go straight to the point without cutting corners,” he said casually.

“But that,” he went on, “wasn’t what concerned me. What mattered more was the fact that our relatives wanted her dead. And I…“ He hesitated. “I couldn’t let that happen.”

We stared at him, frowning.

My blood turned to ice. My wolf growled with jealousy.

But Damien didn’t flinch; he didn’t even look startled–like he’d been waiting for this confrontation all along.

He inhaled deeply, as if finding the courage to say what he did. “I used the body. I had one of my witches–one of the most powerful illusionists–perform a spell, a trade of appearance. We made Rebecca look like Olivia.”

Damien ran a hand through his hair and exhaled, his voice cracking slightly now.

Levi and I stood beside him, silent, but equally seething. We knew exactly what this was about.

“That’s when the thought came to me,” Damien said at last. “If Olivia stayed with Gabriel, she’d die. His sister’s demand for her head wouldn’t disappear just because he fell in love. The pack still wanted revenge.”

“And he agreed?” Lennox snapped.

Of course.

“So… you killed Rebecca?”

Sofia collapsed onto the floor, sobbing loudly.

His eyes met mine again, conflicted and heavy. “So he asked me: What do I do?”

It all made twisted, painful sense now.

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

He drew in a long breath. “So I returned to Gabriel’s pack, took Olivia from the cell, and Gabriel placed Rebecca’s dead body there… made it look like Olivia had taken her own life by slitting her throat.”

My brows furrowed. “What choice?”

I shot him a glare that could have killed him where he stood. He looked down, then straightened, meeting our eyes again.

Footsteps echoed on the stairs. Damien appeared first. I didn’t waste a second–I attacked him and smashed my fist into his face.

Damien nodded. “He did. He was torn, but he agreed.”

He paused, his voice tight. “It was really Rebecca.”

My brothers and I turned and glared at our father. His turn was coming.

Our parents, who had just entered, froze in shock, but before Damien could even stumble back from the blow, I grabbed him by the collar, yanked him forward, and snarled right into his face.

“No!” Sofia cried out, her voice raw with disbelief, as she rushed at Damien. She grabbed him by the collar, her hands trembling. “Tell me you’re lying… Tell me Rebecca isn’t dead!”

Levi groaned. “Keep your fucking sorry to yourself and keep talking.”

Damien’s eyes darkened slightly, but he shook his head. “I didn’t. Someone else did.”

My wolf growled.

“What did he want?” Lennox growled.

We blinked.