Maximus:
"What are we going to do there?" Lamar asked us.
I had been speaking with Lamar for two days. I realized that if I wanted to win Helanie back, I might as well befriend her friends. Even if it would be a little awkward since I’m their professor, I didn’t care anymore.
"So—Byron needs to talk to him," I pointed at Byron, who nodded.
"I feel kind of guilty for him ending up like this. And it’s not like I bullied him just to be a bully," he added quickly, not wanting to seem like the bad guy. "I just didn’t like that he was hanging around those guys."
He finished just as we arrived at the house. But when we turned around, we saw Benita rushing toward the house like a headless chicken.
"I’m sorry, don’t you have a café to take care of?" Byron asked as he watched her open the main door for us.
"No, not really. The waitresses will handle it. I have sothing to do at ho anyway," she said, hurrying in before us, clearly trying to make sure her son wasn’t alone when we got there.
"Benita, my dear," Byron gave her a smirk and turned to her. "Why don’t you go wait in the café? You can co back and finish your business here later. It’s your pack alpha’s order."
The way Byron glared at her while keeping his voice cheerful must’ve been enough for her to realize her ti was up.
Did she really think she could hide her son and the problem would just go away?
Especially when her son didn’t even want to stay hidden?
"Then let speak with him first," she said, her body language full of hesitation and nerves—enough to make us eager to know what was really going on.
"Sure," Byron replied, giving her the space. She rushed straight downstairs.
"Are we going to wait for her to co back up?" Lamar asked, and I exchanged a glance with Byron before starting to chuckle.
"Of course not. Let’s go catch her red-handed," I said, and we followed her down to find her quickly trying to unchain her son. She had him tied to a bed, with wolfsbane needles all around the room.
"What a heartless mother," Byron muttered, making her jump and step in front of her son like she could block our view.
"Step aside, lady," Byron gestured with his hand. I let him do most of the talking—I wanted to save my energy for now.
"But he’s my son and he wants in the room," she stuttered, clearly panicking.
"Or maybe not," I added, stepping forward and walking up to Kaidon.
I guessed that after his last outburst, she had chained him up and drugged him so much he couldn’t even fight back. As if he even could escape those chains.
It was just so heartbreaking.
"Kaidon! Do you want this lady in the room?" I asked as I crouched down next to the boy in distress.
"No! I want justice—against myself and the others—for that girl whose life we ruined," he said without even taking a breath, then broke into tears.
"There you go, witch! He doesn’t want you around," I stood up straight and gave her a harsh look, though my voice stayed fake and sweet.
"But he’s my son, I know him—" she began her rambling, but Lamar stepped in, wrapped his arms around her, and led her to the door, then up the stairs.
"Your son is not your problem anymore."
With that, he let her go, ca back, and shut the door behind us. We unchained Kaidon and offered him so water. However, we noticed Byron staying unusually quiet throughout the process. He wasn’t as talkative as he usually was.
There was a hint of guilt in his posture as he leaned against the wall, silently watching us prepare Kaidon.
Once Kaidon was settled in a chair, Byron cleared his throat and said, "Hi."
The way Kaidon raised his eyes to look at him gave us the sense that the two had once been best friends.
Before we ca here, Lamar wanted to talk to Byron about that night in question. Byron had promised he wasn’t there.
But then we rembered the live stream, and it made sense—Helanie hadn’t seen Byron that night in person. She had seen the videos Roo and the others played on their phones, using Byron’s clips to mock and provoke Kaidon.
That’s where she recognized Byron from.
"I guess I should thank you— for always trying to pull away from that group. But I was so dumb, lost in the fa that ca with hanging around them, that I ignored how shady they really were," Kaidon started speaking again, once more showing his guilt.
I just couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for him. He had been part of the reason Helanie suffered, and my emotions were—-complicated.
"Well, you got what you craved so badly—fa and attention. But I guess my way of helping you wasn’t right either. I started bullying you, pushing you to leave them instead of staying close and making sure you didn’t ss up," Byron admitted, slouched over, head down.
"You being nice wouldn’t have changed anything. My mother would never have let us stay friends anyway. She wanted to fight you and take the alpha title," Kaidon probably realized how toxic his mother had really been.
"Anyway-—I want to ask if you’re ready to help us. To help the victim," Byron straightened his back and looked Kaidon in the eyes.
Kaidon nodded right away. But the mont he glanced at , I looked away.
It just wasn’t easy for to see his face and not want to punch it.
"Tell us anything that might help. It’s just Darius and Roo left now," Byron asked. Without hesitation, Kaidon started talking.
"Roo was the one who ca here and helped my mother tie up. And during that ti, we’ve been talking. He’s shared so stuff about himself. One of those things... is his interest in Charlotte—he’s liked her since they were really young."
My ears perked up the second I heard her na.
’I guess she’s going to make herself useful after all,’ I muttered to myself.
Reviews
All reviews (0)