Chapter 151: I might destroy you 2
FIA
The healer’s hands were steady on my arm as she helped
sit up. My throat burned where the glass had bitten, and I could feel the warm trickiness of blood still seeping despite the pressure she’d applied. The towel against my neck was soaked through, heavy with what I’d gambled.
Worth it.
I looked down at Hazel. She sat crumpled against the shattered tiles, her broken hand cradled against her chest. Mascara streaked down her face in ugly black rivers. She rocked slightly, lips moving in what might have been prayers or curses. Hard to tell which.
Then I looked up at Aldric. He stood near the doorway, his expression unreadable but his posture tense. Alert. He’d positioned himself between the crowd and the scene, like he was ready to block anyone who tried to interfere. When our eyes t, sothing passed between us. Understanding maybe. Or acknowledgnt of what I’d just done.
The risk I’d taken.
The madness I’d dragged myself through.
Hazel’s head whipped toward the door suddenly, her whole body going rigid. "I was frad!" Her voice ca out raw and desperate. "This is insane! She attacked
first and now she’s making
look like the villain!"
Her head swung back and forth, searching the faces in the crowd for soone, anyone, who would believe her. "You all know her reputation! You know what she’s capable of! She’s been plotting this from the beginning!"
The crowd shifted. Murmured. So looked uncertain.
Then the sea of people parted.
Father pushed through first. His face was a mask of controlled fury, jaw tight, eyes scanning the bathroom like he was cataloging evidence for a trial. My step mother followed close behind, one hand pressed to her chest in that dramatic way she had when she wanted everyone to know she was shocked.
"What the hell is happening here?" Father’s voice cut through the whispers like a blade.
Hazel scrambled toward him as much as she could with one hand hanging useless. "Father! Thank the goddess you’re here! She attacked
and now she’s trying to—"
I didn’t let her finish.
I lifted my phone. The screen was cracked from where I’d hit the floor, spiderwebbed with fractures, but it still worked. My fingers found the recording app. Found the file I needed.
Without another word, I pressed play.
Hazel’s voice filled the bathroom. Clear, damning and unmistakable.
"Your mother and your existence hurt my mother. In a domino fashion, it trickled down and hurt
too. So I swore I wouldn’t be like her. If I had been in my mother’s shoes, I would have taken you and your mother out before you had the chance to even grow."
The crowd went silent. Completely silent. The kind of silence that felt like it had weight.
The recording continued.
"It’s why I had to kill Milo even when I didn’t want to. He still held sothing in his stupid heart for you."
Soone in the crowd gasped. Soone else whispered, "Oh my goddess."
I watched Father’s face. Watched the color drain from it slowly, like soone had opened a tap and let it all flow out.
The recording went on. Every word Hazel had said. Every confession. Every calculated admission about framing , about manipulating Milo, about the pink dress and the sar campaign and the jealousy that had driven all of it.
When it ended, no one moved.
"Is she insane?" soone whispered from the back.
"Who would even do this?" another voice added.
"Wow. Talk about calculated."
Hazel’s eyes were wide, fixed on the phone in my hand like it was a weapon. Then she turned to Father and grabbed at his jacket with her good hand, fingers clutching desperately at the fabric.
"I was just trying to get back at her!" Her voice ca out high and frantic. "For all the crazy things she said to you! I didn’t an a word I said there! I was just trolling her, trying to get under her skin!"
Tears poured down her face. Real ones this ti, not the practiced kind she could summon at will.
"You have to believe ! I would never actually hurt anyone! I was just playing with her!"
Stepmother stood frozen beside Father. Her mouth opened slightly, then closed. She looked at Father, then at Hazel, then back at Father like she was waiting for him to tell her what to think.
Father didn’t move. His eyes stayed fixed on Hazel’s hand gripping his jacket. For a long mont, he just stared at it.
Then he reached down and peeled her fingers away. One by one. Deliberately.
He straightened up as a sound ca out of him. A chuckle. Awkward and wrong, like soone had forced it out of him at gunpoint. He brushed off his jacket where Hazel had wrinkled it, smoothing the fabric with careful precision.
His eyes found mine.
"Are you happy now?"
The words landed flat. Cold.
I blinked. "What?"
"Now that you’ve dragged this family through a new fresh hell to prove your innocence." He gestured vaguely at the crowd, at the blood on the floor, at the recording that still sat paused on my cracked screen. "Are you happy now?"
I couldn’t breathe. The pain in my throat was nothing compared to the hollowness that opened up in my chest.
"I cannot believe this." My voice ca out steady sohow. Steadier than I felt. "Your perfect daughter just confessed to the things you blad
for. I’m showing you that you played right into her hands. And you still find a way to bla ?"
I pointed at my throat. At the blood still seeping through the bandage the healer had pressed there.
"She even tried to kill !"
Father looked down at . His expression didn’t change. There was not a flicker of concern. Not a hint of remorse. Just that sa cold disdain he’d worn when he’d told
things. Horrible things.
He turned away from
and faced Cian instead.
"I apologize for both my daughters’ actions." His voice was formal now. Diplomatic. "I hope we can settle this as an extended family in private rather than carrying our dirty linen outside."
The whispers started imdiately.
"Does he have favorites?"
"Well, she is an Oga. Better protect the better gene, right?"
"Still, it isn’t right."
Cian stepped forward. His face was carved from stone, every line of it hard and unforgiving.
"I’m afraid we cannot."
Father’s jaw tightened.
"This was not done on my territory," Cian continued. His voice carried across the bathroom, clear and absolute. "So as much as I want to be kind to family, I cannot. This was attempted murder on the grounds of the Knight Estate and under the Night banner pack. I have no sovereign power here."
He paused, letting that sink in.
"Who you should be apologizing to is your daughter Fia, and Alpha Julius Knight for what your ward just pulled at his wedding."
Father’s throat worked. He swallowed hard. I watched his shoulders rise and fall with a breath he was trying to control. Then he turned back to .
For a second, our eyes t.
I saw nothing there. No recognition. No guilt. Just the sa emptiness that had been there when he’d told
shit to my face.
He turned away from
again and towards Alpha Julius, who stood at the edge of the crowd with his arms crossed and his expression unreadable.
Father dropped to his knees.
"I am begging for your rcy and forgiveness for the sake of my daughter Hazel."
"Father, no." Hazel’s voice broke. "Please don’t."
The healer touched my arm gently. "Let us take you sowhere quiet and change the bandage so I can stitch you up properly."
I looked at Father one more ti. At the way he knelt there on the blood-stained tiles. At the way he refused to look at . At the way he’d chosen, even now, even with the truth laid bare and undeniable.
Sothing inside
died.
Sothing small and stubborn that had still been holding on. So tiny piece that had believed, despite everything, that the truth would matter. That proof would change things. That he would see what Hazel had done and finally, finally understand.
But he didn’t want to understand.
He’d wanted
to suffer for things I’d never done because it was convenient. Because it was easier than facing what his precious Luna daughter actually was. And now that the truth had co out in the most inconvenient way possible, when Hazel had ruined and burned her own life down without care or kindness for anyone else, he still couldn’t bring himself to acknowledge it.
Because that would an admitting he’d been wrong.
The healer helped
to my feet. My legs shook but held. She kept one hand on my elbow, steadying
as we moved toward the door.
Cian fell into step beside
imdiately. His hand found the small of my back, warm and solid.
"Are you alright?" His voice was low, ant just for .
I touched the bandage at my throat. Felt the rough texture of gauze and the sting of the herbs the healer had put in. "Yeah. I’m fine."
We made it three steps into the hallway before I heard footsteps behind us.
"Fia!"
It was Isobel’s voice. It was sharp and insistent.
"We need to talk!"
Cian moved before I could. He stepped between us, his body a wall blocking her path.
"No." His voice was flat. Final. "I don’t think you two need to talk."
Mother’s expression shifted. Hardened. "This is a family matter, Alpha Cian."
"I concur." Cian didn’t move. "My wife doesn’t need to talk shit with you."
I put my hand on his arm. Felt the tension coiled there, ready to snap if Mother pushed any harder.
"Cian." I kept my voice quiet. "It’s fine. I’ll talk to her."
He looked down at . His eyes searched my face, looking for sothing. Certainty maybe. Or permission to tell her to fuck off.
I nodded slightly.
Only then did he step aside.
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