Cecilia’s pov
Harper laughed, shaking her head at Nicole’s request. "Why are you so afraid of him? "
Nicole kept her head down, her cap shadowing her face. "I... I don’t know. He just makes nervous. There’s sothing about him that feels... different from the rest of us."
"Fine. I’ll get rid of your big bad wolf," she promised with a gentle squeeze of Nicole’s shoulder.
When we returned inside, Harper casually ntioned that we were planning to explore the countryside, heavily implying that Alpha Sebastian could return to the farmhouse.
Alpha Sebastian checked his watch with calculated casualness. "Yes, I should be going."
As he stood up, he leaned close to , his lips brushing against my ear.
I felt a shiver run down my spine, and my earlobe turned red from the unexpected intimacy.
Alpha Sebastian smiled and gently patted the top of my head. "I’ll see you later. Don’t get into too much trouble."
With that, he left, and I found myself watching his retreating figure until he was out of sight.
Once he was gone, Harper revealed that Nicole had discovered three suspicious locations that matched our description.
We imdiately headed out.
On the way, Nicole sidled up to , her eyes curious. "What did Alpha Sebastian whisper to you back there?"
I gave her a teasing smile, allowing a hint of coyness into my expression. "That’s between him and . Do you really want to know?"
Nicole’s eyes widened in understanding. "Oh! He was being... romantic. Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked."
"It’s fine," I replied with a smile.
We visited two of the locations, but neither matched exactly what we were looking for. Sothing was always slightly off.
By six in the evening, we were heading to the third location, which was farther than the previous two.
As we drove, the weather changed dramatically.
The wind picked up suddenly, dragonflies flew low, and dark clouds gathered overhead. Within minutes, a heavy downpour reduced visibility to almost nothing.
I asked Tang to pull over to a small side road.
Through the curtain of rain, I spotted a flashy red Porsche Cayenne slowing down in the distance.
"That’s Cici’s car!" Harper exclaid.
I looked in the direction she was pointing.
Sure enough, on another road there was an unmistakable red vehicle. "It really is her. What a coincidence."
Our exchange caught Nicole’s attention. Her expression turned to shock. "...You know Cici? You know the classmate I was talking about?"
Harper turned to face her. "At this point, I might as well be honest with you," she said gravely, dropping her pretense entirely. "I’m not Mason’s cousin. We’re like you - victims of Cici’s cruelty. We ca here to find evidence of her murder."
Nicole’s eyes widened with surprise, but she quickly accepted this revelation. Looking at the red blur through the rain - like a pool of fresh blood - her eyes grew disturbingly empty and lifeless. "Yes, we have to catch her and bring her to justice."
As the rain gradually lessened, the red car sped up.
I instructed Tang to follow.
After trailing for a while, Tang observed, "This is heading toward our third location. I think we’re on the right track this ti."
Neither Harper nor I responded. Nicole remained quiet as well. Levan seed confused but kept his questions to himself.
My phone vibrated in my palm.
I didn’t check it imdiately, waiting several minutes before looking at the screen.
It was a ssage from Luna Dora: Mrs. White’s mother had an old family ho in the Boulder countryside. It was abandoned until a few years ago when Mrs. White suddenly decided to renovate it and bought a large piece of land around it to turn into an orchard.
Below the ssage was the orchard’s location.
I read it without responding, then put my phone away, watching as the sky darkened prematurely.
Author’s pov
On the highway, a black Rolls-Royce Ghoste cruised along.
Luna Dora and Alpha Xavier sat in the back seat.
"Why are we going to Boulder?" Alpha Xavier asked.
"Don’t ask now. You’ll understand when we get there," Luna Dora replied. "After tonight, our pack might return to its proper path."
Alpha Xavier thought for a mont before simply answering, "Alright."
Luna Dora squeezed his arm sympathetically.
She had visited the White family under the pretext of discussing wedding details. There, she’d learned about Mrs. White’s orchard in Boulder countryside and discovered that Mrs. White had taken Cici there to pick fruit today.
Her heart had raced at this news.
Why today of all days?
Connecting this with other information she had, she realized the White mother and daughter might have walked into a trap.
She decided to see for herself - partly to discover what kind of person had managed to lure the White won to Boulder, but primarily to witness Cici’s capture. If necessary, she would help things along.
----
Cecilia’s group followed the red car to the village they had already planned to visit.
The vehicle disappeared into a three-story red building with a specially paved driveway.
Tang parked in a spot that was both concealed and offered a good view of the building.
From a distance, they watched as Cici and her mother exited the car, accompanied by a driver and bodyguard.
Cici wore a sullen expression.
Mrs. White looked nervous, frantically scanning their surroundings as if expecting an attack at any mont.
After they went inside, there was no activity for a long ti.
Cecilia’s group waited impatiently in their car.
Nicole reached into her bag and took out a box of mints. She ate one herself before offering them to the others. "Would anyone like a mint?"
Cecilia took one first. "Thank you."
Everyone else followed suit.
Nicole watched carefully as they all consud the candy before looking away.
Finally, there was movent at the red building. The White won erged.
Mrs. White instructed the bodyguard to retrieve a cloth bundle and a suitcase from the trunk. After giving so instructions to the driver, she pulled Cici toward the orchard behind the building.
The orchard was vast.
Cecilia’s group followed for seven or eight minutes, continuing deeper into the property.
Harper had already started recording video on her phone, capturing footage of pear trees, grape vines, and peach trees as they passed.
At last, the White won stopped.
Before them lay a large pond with a small mound of earth beside it. Wild flowers and grasses grew abundantly in the sumr season. A small white house stood at the edge of the pond, surrounded by fruit trees.
The scene matched Cici’s description perfectly.
The only difference was that the pond wasn’t the oval shape they had seen along the way, but a perfect circle with a crescent-shaped piece of land in the middle, also covered with fruit trees.
Mrs. White entered the small house.
Monts later, the bodyguard brought out a long wooden plank and placed it between the shore and the island in the center of the pond.
The group hiding behind the house held their breath.
Mother and daughter walked across the plank. The bodyguard followed with a shovel and the suitcase.
Mrs. White pointed to a flat peach tree, instructing the bodyguard to dig.
Harper tightened her grip on her phone.
Just as they were about to capture crucial evidence, a voice ca from behind them: "Why aren’t you all unconscious yet?"
The voice wasn’t loud, but it made everyone freeze.
Mrs. White suddenly stopped. "Who’s there?"
Cecilia’s group turned in shock to see who had spoken.
Nicole had removed her mask. Her scarred face looked even more terrifying in the dim light cast by the small house. Her expression was blank as she whispered, "I’m sorry."
One by one, Cecilia and the others began to lose consciousness.
"The mints... they’re... drugged," Tang managed to say before he too collapsed.
Cici returned to the house.
When she ca around to the back, she saw the unconscious bodies and Nicole standing over them. Her expression shifted from surprise to excitent.
She burst into laughter. "Nicole, after all these years, you’re still the sa dark, selfish, despicable person you’ve always been. You haven’t disappointed at all."
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