Chapter b203 /b

    E

    +15 bBONUS /b

    The look on Alexander’s face when he opened that envelope told me everything I needed to know.

    He didn’t deny it. He didn’t look confused or shocked or angry that someone was trying to frame him. He just stared at the papers with an expression that was nothing short of guilty.

    I felt like such an idiot. All those moments I’d treasured recently, all those little instances of tenderness that had led my foolish heart to believe that he was actually starting to fall for me, had been nothing but lies.

    It was all just a beautiful performance designed to keep me close while he gathered information on my family.

    And I’d fallen for itpletely.

    b“/bI need to go.”

    “Wait.” Alexander suddenly moved to block my path. “You need to let me exin.”

    “Exin what? That you’ve been spying on me since the day we got married? That everything between

    us has been fake?”

    “It’s not fake.”

    “Bullshit.”

    I tried to walk around him, but he grabbed my arm.

    “Please. Just let me exin.”

    There was something in his voice that made me stop. Alexander never sounded panicked. Ever. Especially not with me. But he sounded panicked now.

    “Please,” my wolf sighed, sounding just as panicked as Alexander. “He’s our mate. Hear him out.”

    My jaw clenched, but I knew she was right. The least I could do was hear what he had to say. “Fine,” I said. “Exin.”

    Alexander hesitated for a long moment. So long, in fact, that I wondered if he was going to say anything at all or if he was just stalling for time. I considered leaving again, but then he finally blurted out, “Your parents killed mine.”

    I blinked. “What?”

    “My parents‘ car ident all those years ago. I found out that it wasn’t an ident. Your father paid

    someone to cut the brake lines.”

    +15 bBONUS /b

    “That’s impossible,” Iughed incredulously. My father was a lot of things, but a murderer definitely wasn’t one of them. Sure, he was cold and selfish and had never treated me like his real daughter, but to have another Alpha and Luna killed? What would he even stand to gain from that?

    But now that I thought of it… The money my father was desperate to have… The way he ignored my death sentence just so he could get more…

    I supposed that it wasn’t that far–fetched for him, was it?

    Alexander then pulled out his phone and showed me a photograph. In it was a man I didn’t recognize, but the caption underneath read “Thomas ck–Groundskeeper, Stormhollow Estate.”

    “This man confessed,” Alexander exined. “He’s been working for your family for years. Your father was the one who paid him to cut the brake lines on my parents‘ car.”

    Furrowing my brow, I stared at the photo. The face meant nothing to me, but something about Alexander’s certainty made my stomach twist with an ufortable feeling.

    I looked up, and found that Alexander’s face was hard now, eyes glimmering like emeralds in the dim light. A muscle jumped in his jaw, indicating that he was controlling himself. And the way he was

    looking at me…

    He was testing me to see what my reaction was.

    He thought I was in on it somehow, wasn’t he?

    “Do you think…”

    “Just tell me, E,” Alexander said quietly, eyes shing, “if you’re a spy.”

    The words felt like a gunshot in the quiet air.

    “I can’t believe you,” I muttered, taking a step back. “You’d actually think that I’d be a spy after everything? You think I’d willingly work for my family? My father and stepmother treat me like I’m less than dirt. Even if they did send me with the intention of getting something out of you, I had no knowledge of it.”

    Alexander tilted his head. “What about the checks I sent for five years?”

    “My father just told me to stay married to you because Stormhollow needed the money. That’s all I know about that.”

    “So when you told me to stop sending money to Stormhollow-”

    “That was because I didn’t want to be attached to him anymore! I was tired of being stuck in a loveless marriage just so my father could get checks out of you!” My voice was rising now. “Would a spy defy the

    orders of their spymaster so openly?“

    the

    orders of their spymaster so openly?”

    To his credit, Alexander didn’t argue with that. What argument could he possibly have, anyway? Unless my father wanted something else and the money was just a red herring, I couldn’t imagine a scenario in which it would make sense for his own spy to tell Alexander to stop sending the checks.