CHAPTER 214: _ THE CASTELLS SHOWDOWN?

"What are you going to do? Make me breakfast?" Heidi sheepishly tries to make a joke, but it is met with Lucan’s discouraging facial expression

Sometimes, she fails with options on how to act around him. He’s the one with the simplest personality in the pack, and yet, the hardest to understand and deal with.

Lucan’s jaw tightens. He doesn’t answer. He just leads her through the wide, echoing corridor where tapestries hang like ignored histories. The aroma of coffee and something eggy and warm drifts ahead, signaling that the kitchen is alive. The house is up and moving. Voices mute and small rise and fall like waves. Someone is singing an off-key hymn in the kitchen.

They walk into the dining room and both Castell parents are there. Mrs. Castell is in a glittering robe. Mr. Castell sits at the head of the table with folded hands and an old cardigan thrown over one shoulder. He gives the room the kind of smile that would have been kind in another life. His eyes are warm and legalistic, truly the opposite of his wife.

At once the air stiffens. It’s a court more than an ordinary breakfast.

"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Castell." Heidi courtesies.

The man’s voice warms the room like sunlight. "Good morning, everyone." He nods at Heidi in the kind of acknowledgement that is oddly polite for someone who lives with his own wolf of complicity. "Heidi, I’m glad you could join us."

Mrs. Castell’s slippered foot taps like a metronome. "Honey, did you summon everyone this morning? Even the Moon Blessed? Now, look what’s happened. The noises in the corridor disturbed our peace."

Before the man can even give a reply, Sierra arrived and takes that as her cue to ramble. One can easily guess she’s already been rehearsing this speech since last night, Heidi knows. Her voice is high and theatrical.

"Mom! I have to tell you—yesterday, that girl, Heidi, she..." her mouth works, hungry for a story. "She stripped me and my friends at school. For... For blackmail. And she tried to force us to keep silent about a porn video she made for her boyfriend!"

The sentence drops like a bomb. The maids gasp. Mr. Castell’s fork clinks against porcelain. Mrs. Castell flares like she and her daughter hadn’t spent the whole evening planning this the day before. Heidi’s stomach drops through her pelvis. Her phone is a weight at her hip.

Heidi’s mind operates in a pocket of cool. She knows the lie; Sierra’s big, stupid, cruel lie. The recording, the forged footage, the staged "evidence." It all points at her. The room watches her like a jury.

Her wolf growls angrily. "Rip the bitchy mother and daughter a new throat," it offers.

Instead, she breathes. "That did not happen," she counters. "You cannot accuse me of something I did not do, Sierra. I won’t stand back and watch you soil my name."

Mr. Castell’s eyebrows knit. He’s not a madman; he believes in basic fairness. He asks softly, "Heidi, is this true?"

Heidi looks him in the eye. He’s not a monster yet. She swallows and speaks the truth as carefully as she breathes. "No, Mr. Castell. I never stripped anyone for the purpose of any porn video. I had gone to Sierra to destroy a private video of me that she cynically shot. However, her friends and she wouldn’t let us resolve it amicably and would instead resort to violence. Everything that followed was a result of the fight. I have no idea where those claims came from."

Sierra’s face contorts. The story is flashing now; she sees an opening, an audience. "We have proof," she says, too fast. "Video. Screenshots. I didn’t want to..." She breaks her performance. "I didn’t want to make a scene, but the school is already talking."

Mrs. Castell, who has probably rehearsed this with her daughter beforehand, places a hand over her mouth in fake shock. "Are you serious, Sierra? You need to show us NOW!"

Sierra launches into a rapid, prepared explanation. "Actually, Mom, she broke my phone, so I can’t show you right now unless I call one of the girls. They each have the video saved on their phones."

Heidi’s jaw drops.

"I took a group chat screenshot, there was a video exchanged, and... she sent it to someone—her boyfriend. We told Master Corvin after she came to fight us like a wild dog. We were ashamed. We didn’t know who to tell." Sierra finishes, her face falling at the last words as if she were truly pained.

Just when Heidi thinks Sierra is done with her shameless lies, "B-But I have another evidence, Daddy. And... It’s right in this house."

Another evidence? Sierra is still on that? What could tie darn evidence possibly be? Heidi can’t help but wonder.

One of the maids, the same woman who had knocked on Heidi’s door, moves as if to fetch something and she does it gently. A servant’s loyalty is a different currency in this house. The servant moves with a measured look at Mr. Castell. He does not like to be forced to act on the stage of his wife’s cruelties.

There is a shift. He and Lucan, still at the table exchange looks. Mr. Castell’s mouth tightens. He is a man who hates conflict but he also understands that the world requires managing.

He clears his throat. "Please, Sierra, bring the evidence to the table. If there is a private video, we will review it later and take steps. But right now..." he gestures calmly, "...we must ensure this room is a place for facts, not gossip."

Sierra’s eyes flash anger. She is a performer who believes the stage belongs to her. "Why would I lie?" she asks, with the exact outrage of someone who has memorized the lines that cover a lie.

Because your story helps you, Heidi thinks, bitter and bright. Because you learned long ago that cruelty is easier than competence.

She really wishes she could say those words out loud. However, she’s just too dumbfounded to even form a coherent sentence.