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Chapter 222
DEREK
I stood outside the heavy reinforced door, my arms crossed, my wolf pacing just beneath my skin.
I hated this.
ミ
Every instinct screamed at me to be in there, standing beside her. But Elena had asked to speak to Maggie alone, and I understood why.
Maggie would never talk freely with me sitting across from her. I was
The man who had signed Pierce’s–and her–exile papers.
law. Worse–my father’s son.
So I waited. Jaw clenched, fists tight at my sides, the harsh fluorescent hallway buzzing around me. Watching the monitors. Listening to nothing but the occasional crackle of the comms between guards.
I hated this. Hated not being able to protect her.
And then I heard it.
A shout. A frantic cry.
“Help! Help!”
My heart stopped.
I slammed through the door without thinking. The door handle banged against the wall and bounced back at me as I rushed in, my vision narrowing.
Elena lay crumpled on the floor, her body limp, hair fanned out like a halo.
I moved before the guards even reacted. Dropping to my knees beside her, I brushed her hair back from her face, feeling for a pulse–steady, thank the Goddess–and gently patting her cheeks.
“Elena,” I said urgently. “Come on, baby. Come back.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Maggie straining against her chains, eyes wide with panic.
But she was still shackled–hands, ankles, chair. There was no way she could have touched Elena.
“What happened?” I barked, glaring at her.
Maggie was pale, shaking.
“She fainted,” she said hoarsely. “After I told her-”
The door slammed open behind us, the guards finally spilling in. Their radios squawked.
“Do we need to call an ambulance?”
one asked.
“No,” I said sharply. “Stand down. Give her space.”
Elena stirred with a low groan.
Relief washed through me so hard I nearly sagged,
“Elena,” I whispered, cupping her cheek.
“I’m okay,” she mumbled, trying to sit up. She was disoriented, unsteady.
“Slow,” I urged, helping her into her chair. “Take it easy.”
Chapter 222
“I’m okay,” she said again, more firmly, blinking rapidly to clear her vision.
“Someone get her water,” I snapped at the guards.
They hesitated.
“Water! Now!”
One finally scrambled off.
I dropped into the seat beside Elena, taking her cold hand in mine
Maggie sat motionless across the table, eyes flickering between us, her whole body tense with worry.
Elena exhaled shakily, squeezing my hand back.
“Maggie said you fainted,” I said gently. “She didn’t hurt you?”
“No,” Elena said quietly.
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I could see it now–Maggie’s genuine fear, her horror when Elena collapsed. Whatever had happened, it hadn’t been an attack.
I looked at Maggie.
“You said it was after you told her something,” I said carefully. “What did you tell her?”
Maggie looked at Elena, waiting for her nod.
Elena’s fingers tightened around mine.
“Tell him,” she said hoarsely.
Maggie swallowed hard, her voice shaking.
“The doctor who’s been treating her for memory recovery…” She looked helplessly at Elena.
“Dr. Emmerich,” Elena supplied, her voice small.
Maggie nodded.
to
“He wasn’t trying to help her recover her memories,” she said. “He was trying keep her from remembering.”
My heart stopped.
“What?” I said sharply. “Why?”
Maggie hesitated, and in that hesitation I already knew the answer wouldn’t be good.
“Because,” she said finally, her voice cracking, “because Logan paid him to.”
The world seemed to stop.
Logan.
The man who’d been standing at Elena’s side.
The man who’d claimed to love her.
The man who’d helped raise her son.
I couldn’t find words. Couldn’t find breath.
“Why in the hell would he do that?” I finally demanded, my voice rough with disbelief.
ELENA
Chapter 222
I could still feel the blood draining from my face.
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Everything around me blurred–the walls, the guards shifting nervously at the door, even Derek sitting solid and steady beside
- me.
Only Maggie remained sharp in my vision.
Maggie, chained and pale, her wrists trembling against the cold steel. How had it come to this? How had we gotten here?
The answer, apparently, was Logan.
Logan had done this.
The weight of it was staggering.
The Logan I had trusted. The Logan who had stood by me when I was broken and lost. The Logan who had held Aiden when he was sick, who had promised to help build a life with me, even if that promise had always felt a little hollow around the edges.
He had paid Dr. Emmerich to keep my memories buried.
Not to protect me.
Not to help me.
But to silence me.
A sick feeling crawled up the back of my throat. I pressed my free hand flat to the table to steady myself, breathing shallowly through my nose. I took a careful sip of the water Derek had insisted the guards bring me.
Next to me, Derek’s hand tightened protectively over mine, but even that grounding touch couldn’t fully stave off the rising tide of devastation.
I stared at Maggie, my mind spinning.
The betrayal felt bigger than I could hold.
Derek’s voice cut through the thick fog of my thoughts.
“Why in the hell would he do that?” he demanded, rough and disbelieving.
My head jerked up to look at Maggie.
She wasn’t meeting my gaze. Her head was bowed, dark hair falling forward, hiding most of her face. But I could see her hands- fisted so tightly in her lap that her knuckles had gone white. The chains rattled softly with the effort it took her just to stay still.
She didn’t answer right away. The silence stretched between us, thick and humming with things neither of us wanted to say.
My heart pounded painfully in my chest.
I thought of all the times we’d spent together–the nights we’d stayed up talking about a future that never came, the bruises we patched up in secret after training, the reckless laughter after too much whiskey at Moonstone festivals.
The fights. The forgiveness. The way she’d always been there–hadn’t she?
Maggie had been my stalwart friend. My family when I thought I had no family to speak for me or to me or anyone out there but
her.
Hadn’t she?
“Maggie,” I said, my voice raw, almost breaking. “Why?”
Still, she didn’t speak.
Her breathing hitched–once, twice–and when she finally lifted her head, I sucked in a sharp, involuntary breath.
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Chapter 222
Her face was wrecked. Crumbled under guilt so heavy it seeme barely hold herself together.
Our eyes locked across the table.
I saw everything there.
The regret. The fear.
The unbearable sorrow.
And underneath it all–love
The desperate, broken kind you can’t cleanly sever, no matter h
Maggie opened her mouth–and for a terrifying moment, I thot That she would twist the truth one last time, to protect herself,
But then-
Her chin trembled.
Tears spilled freely down her cheeks, unchecked, unstoppable.
And in a voice so shattered it was barely a whisper, she said:
“Because of me.”
Chapter 222
+25 BONUS
Her face was wrecked. Crumbled under guilt so heavy it seemed to bow her slight frame, her mouth trembling like she could barely hold herself together.
Our eyes locked across the table.
I saw everything there.
The regret. The fear.
The unbearable sorrow.
And underneath it all–love.
The desperate, broken kind you can’t cleanly sever, no matter how much it hurts.
Maggie opened her mouth–and for a terrifying moment, I thought she would lie to me.
That she would twist the truth one last time, to protect herself, or Logan, or maybe even to protect me.
But then-
Her chin trembled.
Tears spilled freely down her cheeks, unchecked, unstoppable.
And in a voice so shattered it was barely a whisper, she said:
“Because of me.”
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Chapter 223
