146

146

Alex's POV

I was still thinking about the incident with my father and I was on my way home when something unusual suddenly happened to me. Maybe because I'm too weak and I allowed it to happen at the same time. Because I never expected it and I was a bit shocked.

It happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to react. I was just walking through the dark alley, heading to my car, when the world around me shifted. Strong hands grabbed me from behind, pulling me into the shadows before I could even think about fighting back. My heart raced as panic surged through me, but I told myself to stay calm. I had to. I had no choice. I was too far from help, and I couldn't afford to make a mistake.

The men were quiet, their grip firm and unrelenting. They didn’t speak, didn’t even look at me, but I could feel their eyes on me, watching every move I made. I couldn’t tell who they were or what they wanted, but I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be good. My mind immediately went to my father. Was this another scheme of his? Was this the enemy I had been waiting for—the one who would finally give me answers? No, this felt different. I had a sinking feeling in my gut that told me this wasn’t about my father.

They pushed me into a black van, the doors slamming shut behind me, and everything went dark. I didn’t know where they were taking me, but I kept my thoughts focused. I wouldn’t let myself panic. I had to stay sharp. Whoever these people were, they weren’t going to get the best of me. I was used to danger. I was used to being hunted. But this was different. They weren’t just after me—they had a purpose. And I needed to figure out what it was.

The drive felt endless, my mind running through all the possibilities. Maybe they were working for my father, trying to get information out of me. Maybe they were a new threat, someone connected to the past I had tried to forget. But as the van slowed to a stop, my gut twisted. I had no idea what was waiting for me on the other side. When they opened the doors, they didn’t say a word. They just dragged me out and marched me down a narrow path, taking me to a secluded building. It felt like a trap, and every step I took made my heart beat harder.

They shoved me inside a cold, dimly lit room. The air was thick with tension, and I could feel my nerves starting to get the best of me. There was something off about all of this, something I couldn’t quite place. I tried to steady my breath, but it was getting harder to focus. I needed to keep my wits about me.

And then, he stepped into the room.

I didn’t know who he was at first. He was tall, with dark hair and sharp features. But there was something about him, something familiar. As he approached, my mind raced, trying to put the pieces together. He looked at me with cold eyes, his face unreadable. But there was something in his gaze—something that made my blood run cold.

He stood in front of me, studying me with an intensity that made my skin crawl. And then it hit me. He looked exactly like my mother. My heart stopped. My breath caught in my throat. This couldn’t be real. It couldn’t be. But there was no denying it. The way his features were shaped, the sharpness in his jaw, even the way he carried himself—it was all too familiar. It was her.

"Who are you?” I demanded, my voice shaking despite my attempts to sound strong. “What do you want from me?”

He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he just stared at me, his eyes cold, calculating. For a moment, I thought he might not speak at all. But then, his lips parted, and when he finally spoke, his voice was low, almost soothing. “You have so many questions, Alex. But the truth isn’t always what you want to hear.”

I stood there, stunned, unable to process what he was saying. This man—this person who looked like my mother—was saying things that didn’t make sense. My mind couldn’t catch up with his words. What did he mean? What truth?

“Let me go,” I demanded, my voice growing louder. I wasn’t afraid of him, but I wasn’t going to let him toy with me either. “If you don’t let me go right now, I swear I’ll make you regret it.”

The man didn’t flinch. His face remained expressionless as he crossed his arms over his chest, clearly unbothered by my threat. “You think you’re in control here?” he said. “You have no idea what’s going on, Alex. But that’s about to change.”

He stepped closer, and I took a step back, my heart pounding in my chest. I didn’t know if it was fear or something else, but I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me. Not now. Not after everything I’d been through. “What do you want from me?” I asked again, my voice tight with frustration.

The man looked at me, his eyes narrowing slightly. “I want to tell you the truth. About your mother. About everything.”

My stomach dropped. The words felt like a slap to the face. The truth? What could he possibly know that I didn’t already know? My mother had died when I was young, and I had spent my entire life trying to figure out why. But I had never imagined that someone like him could be involved in the answer. I wanted to scream, to demand more, but something told me to wait. I needed to know what he had to say.

He spoke again, but this time his words weren’t as direct. He spoke about things I had never heard before. Things about my mother’s past, things about her family that I had never known. He told me about a pack—my mother’s pack—and how she had left it behind when she came to my father. He told me about the betrayal, about the people who had been hunting her, people who had never forgiven her for abandoning her roots.

. And then he dropped the bombshell.

"Your father wasn’t the only one responsible for your mother’s death,” he said, his voice cold. “It was you. And I’ve been the one behind all the attacks with your girlfriend. All these years, I’ve been watching you, waiting for the right time. You're idiot who is helping the person who killed your mother!”

I couldn’t breathe. My mind was spinning, the words hitting me like a freight train. All this time, I had blamed my father. I had convinced myself that he was the one who had killed my mother. But now, here was this man—this stranger who looked like her—telling me that it wasn’t just my father. It was him, too. He was part of it.

21\. “You’re lying,” I snapped, desperate for the words not to be true. “You’re just trying to confuse me. Trying to make me think my father wasn’t responsible. I know what he did. He killed her!”

But the man only shook his head. “No, Alex. Your father played a part in it, but it wasn’t just him. Some of the pack members you've respected a lot were in on it. And I’ve been waiting for you to figure it out.”

His words stung like a physical blow. My whole life, I had believed in one thing—that Stella was the reason my mother was gone. But now, I was staring at a man who was telling me a different story, one that made me question everything I thought I knew.

“Why?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. “Why would he do that?”

The man sighed, as if he were tired of explaining himself. “Because your father chose to side with the people who killed my sister, he was also the main culprit. And I couldn’t let that go. I had to make him pay. And you were the perfect target, Alex. You were always going to be part of my plan.”

My head spun as I processed everything he was saying. My father, the man I had spent my whole life defending, the man I had sworn to avenge—he wasn’t the only one responsible for my mother’s death. The truth was so much darker than I had ever imagined.

"Now that you know the truth I'm going to give you an opportunity to redeem yourself. You better join me in bringing down your father or you are going to pay for it with everyone you love and everyone you care about. And there's nothing you can do about me. I'm going to give you a little bit of time to think about it."

With this said he left me there and walked away with his me.  I didn't even know what I was looking at until they finally left.

I was left standing there, speechless, my heart heavy with the weight of what I had just learned. The man in front of me—my uncle—had been behind everything. And now, I understood why he had done it. It was all about revenge. Revenge for a sister he had lost. Revenge for a betrayal that had cut him to the core.