Chapter 295
I didn’t understand any of it None of I made sense
I huffed, dragging my hands over my face. “Ellie,” I muttered, “why did you do it?”
Vivian stirred beside me at the sound of my voice. Her eyes fluttered open.
“Dominic?” she whispered.
“I’m here”
She reached out blindly, and i took her hand. Her fingers were ice cold.
“It hurts,” she said.
“I know”
Her face crumpled, and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. “My mate,” she sobbed. “He rejected me. He’s gone.”
I squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry.”
She turned her face into the pillow and cried harder. I didn’t say anything, because there wasn’t anything to be said. Vivian didn’t seem to want Colt before, but it didn’t change the fact that it hurt like hell for anyone to be rejected by their mate.
After a while, her crying slowed once more. She turned back to look at me, eyes red and puffy from her tears.
“Ellie can’t be trusted.” Her voice was thick and hoarse, but firm in its conviction. “You see that now, don’t you?”
I pressed my lips together.
“She did this on purpose,” Vivian went on. “She brought him here to hurt me. She made that perfume. She orchestrated everything. And it’s only going to get worse from here, Dominic. She’s dangerous.”
I wished I didn’t think she was right about that. The Ellie I knew wouldn’t have hurt someone so severely. She wouldn’t have manipulated people like this. But lately, I didn’t know who she was. Not herself, that was for sure.
My mind went back to the moments leading up to it all, and I remembered something. “What did Colt mean about the letters?” | blurted out.
Vivian blinked.
“He said you asked him to deliver letters,” I clarified.
Her face went pale. “I don’t know what he was talking about.”
“Vivian.”
“What? I don’t!” She pulled her hand out of mine and pressed it to her forehead, shutting her eyes. “Ellie probably made up some lies to turn him against me. She’s good at that. Creating drama where there isn’t any.”
I studied her face. She looked sincere enough, but Colt had been right about one thing: these sisters weren’t entirely different from one another. I didn’t know who to believe, or who to trust out of the two of them. Maybe neither
For now, I decided to drop the subject. No good would come of interrogating Vivian, not when she was in this much pain Instead, I filed the matter away for later and stood.
“You’re leaving?” she whimpered.
“I’ll check on you later. I have to handle something.”
Vivian pushed her lower lip out, but I turned anyway and left, quietly shutting the door behind me.
+30 Bonus
I made my way back downstairs. My Beta was waiting in the foyer with his arms folded, leaning against the banister. He straightened when he heard me coming.
“Where’s Ellie?” I asked.
He winced at the mention of her name. “I think she left.”
My shoulders sagged. “And you just let her?”
“She took off,” he muttered, shrugging. “And don’t forget I’m still technically her subordinate.”
I sighed, passing my hand over my face. “It’s alright. Did she say where she was going?”
“The academy.”
Right. The academy. Her favorite hiding place.
I glanced at the door, honestly considering going after her. I wanted to talk about today. Not just the incident with Colt and Vivian, but everything that had happened leading up to it. And despite what she’d done, I still wanted to finish the conversation we had started earlier.
Damn me and my foolish heart. I still wanted to keep my promise. One more chance, just until the full moon. Maybe by then, I could convince her to open up and tell me everything. Why she was acting out. Whatever “trauma” she’d mentioned before.
I just wanted to understand.
Rather than going after her, though, I decided to wait for her to return.
But she didn’t come home at all that night
212
