Chapter 61 Failed mission

Chapter 61 Failed mission
Zoe's POV

I stepped forward.

Slow. Deliberate. Like I owned the ground beneath my feet.

I had to fake this. Had to sell it. Because if either of these men saw even one crack in my face right now everything would fall apart.

"Mia was planted in Jeremy's life." I said it clean. Controlled. Like a woman who had been in rooms like this before. Like a woman who stated facts like this every day. "And by saying she was meant to get him out you mean... kill him."

Luther looked at me. Then at Benjamin.

Benjamin gave the smallest nod.

"Sit." Benjamin said. He pulled a chair and sat himself. Stretched his legs out like we were about to have a friendly conversation. "Let me explain this properly."

Luther stayed standing. Arms behind his back. Eyes on me.

I sat.

"Jeremy." Benjamin started. His voice settling into something almost like storytelling. "When he pushed me off that cliff." He paused. Smiled. That dark smile that never quite reached his eyes. "He broke. Actually broke. Which surprised me honestly. I didn't think the boy had that much feeling in him."

"He felt guilty." Luther said flatly from behind him.

"Guilty. Grief stricken. Whatever you want to call it." Benjamin waved his hand. "I was told he would go back to that cliff. Again and again. Standing at the edge. Looking down." He tilted his head. "Now. A man who keeps returning to the place he thinks he killed his brother and standing at the edge of it..." He looked at me. "What does that tell you?"

I said nothing. Waited.

"It tells you that man is guilt ridden." Benjamin said simply.

The room was very quiet.

"So we planted Mia there." Luther said. "At the cliff. To save him from himself." No warmth in it. Just fact. "She pulled him back. Talked him down. Made him feel like someone in the world still cared whether he lived or died."

"And after that they became close." Benjamin continued. "She helped him heal. Stayed close. Became everything to him." He smiled again. "Or so he believed."

"But this is not really working for me." I kept my voice even. Tilted my head slightly. Like I was simply working through logic. Not like my heart was hammering against my ribs. "The explanation. Why did Mia need to get closer to him to get him killed? I mean if you want him dead why not just let him fall off the cliff?"

Benjamin leaned forward. Elbows on his knees. "You don't get it. Nothing can kill that bastard. Not falling off a cliff. Not a gun. Not even stabbing with poisoned blades. His immunity is insanely strong." He sighed, stood up and ran both hands through his hair. "When I went over that cliff." He said. "Luther's armies were at the bottom by some miracle. On patrol. They pulled me out. Half dead. More bone than flesh at that point." Something crossed his face. Fast. Gone before I could name it. "Luther took me in. Nursed me back. It was months of nothing but darkness and recovery."

"Since I was already involved." Luther said. Moving for the first time. Coming to stand beside Benjamin. "I wanted to see it through to the end. So I promised to help him get rid of his untouchable brother."

"The plan was simple." Benjamin said. "Mia gets close. Mia finds his weakness. Every wolf has one specific poison that will end them regardless of their strength." He held up one finger. "One. Just one. But it has to be the right one." He sat back. "That bastard wolf is too strong for ordinary methods. You saw the poisoned blades used on him during the attack." He looked at me hard. "Blades that would drop any other wolf instantly. Multiple stabs. He survived all of it."

"So Mia needed to find his specific weakness." I said.

"His specific poison." Benjamin corrected. "The one thing that would end him. And she had every opportunity. Every night beside him. Every private moment. Every vulnerability he ever showed." His jaw tightened slightly. "And she found nothing. Brought us nothing. Because somewhere between saving him at that cliff and sleeping in his bed she started to actually—"

"Feel." Luther said the word like it disgusted him. Like it was the worst thing a person could do.

"She caught feelings." Benjamin said it quieter. "Lost focus. Stopped looking for his weakness and started protecting him instead."

Silence fell over the room.

I sat with it. Let it settle. Let them think I was processing strategy when really I was processing everything at once.

Mia was planted.

The pregnancy. The engagement. The tears at the ceremony tonight. All of it constructed. All of it a mission that had slowly started to slip out of her hands.

I kept my face still.

"So Mia is no longer useful to this mission." I said.

"Mia is compromised." Luther said. Hard. Final. The way a general talks about a soldier who has failed in the field.

"And the attack on Jeremy." I looked at Benjamin. "The poisoned blades. That was you."

"That was a reminder." Benjamin said simply. "That I am not patient forever."

I nodded slowly. Like I was filing it all away. Like none of this was making my hands want to shake under the table.

"So what now." I said and saw both of them turned their gaze to me.