Chapter 70 ALLY REVEALED

Chapter 70 ALLY REVEALED
Caden's POV

I didn’t bother knocking. I pushed Garrison’s office door open and stepped inside, my pulse still uneven from the walk down. The place smelled like dust and old paper, shelves packed tight with records, journals stacked in uneven piles. Garrison stood by his desk, already watching me, his expression grim like he’d been expecting this moment.

“You finally came,” he said, closing the book in his hands. “I’ve been waiting weeks for you to start questioning.”

I shut the door behind me, jaw tight. “You knew?”

“I suspected,” he replied calmly, gesturing to the chair across from him. “Sit. You look like hell.”

“I feel worse,” I muttered, dropping into the chair but leaning forward immediately. “I don’t have time for slow explanations. I need answers. Now.” He didn’t argue. He just nodded, settling into his seat across from me.

“What do you want to know?” he asked.

I dragged a hand through my hair, trying to steady my thoughts. “Can memories be manipulated?” I asked, my voice rough. “Changed. Rewritten. Completely.”

Garrison didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

The word hit harder than I expected. “How?”

“Dark magic,” he said, folding his hands on the desk. “Compulsion spells. They don’t just alter memory—they reshape perception. The victim believes the false version is real. Completely.” He paused, watching my reaction. “It’s not common. It requires blood sacrifice, a physical anchor, and continuous reinforcement.”

My stomach dropped. “Continuous?”

“Yes. The spell has to be maintained. Reinforced over time, or it starts to fracture.”

I let out a shaky breath. “It’s fracturing,” I said quietly. “I… remembered something tonight. Not clearly, but enough.” I looked up at him. “Something was wrong. The way I treated her. The way I spoke to her. It didn’t feel like me.”

“It wasn’t,” Garrison said.

I stilled. “You’re sure?”

“I’ve been documenting your behavior for months,” he replied, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a worn journal. He slid it across the desk toward me. “Look.”

I flipped it open, my eyes scanning the entries. Dates. Observations. Notes written in his careful script.

Alpha shows increased emotional detachment.

Avoids previous close contacts.

Displays rigid adherence to duty over personal instinct.

My grip tightened on the pages as I flipped further.

Behavioral shift began immediately after Aria Winters’ disappearance.

I froze. “The timing…”

“Matches exactly,” Garrison finished for me. “You changed overnight. Not gradually.”

I slammed the journal shut, my chest tightening. “So you’re saying I’ve been under a spell this whole time?”

“I’m saying your behavior suggests it,” he replied evenly. “And tonight, with what you’ve discovered, it aligns too perfectly to ignore.”

I pushed back from the desk, pacing the small room. “This doesn’t make sense,” I muttered. “Why would anyone do that to me? What’s the point?”

“To control you,” Garrison said simply.

I stopped, turning to him. “Control me for what?”

“For power. For influence. For alliances.” He leaned forward slightly. “Think about it, Caden. Who benefits from you being distant? From you rejecting Aria? From you aligning yourself with someone else?”

My jaw tightened. “Vivienne.”

The name felt heavy in my mouth.

Garrison didn’t say it. He didn’t need to.

“She’s been here the entire time,” I went on, pacing again. “Close to me. Trusted. Always around.” I shook my head, frustration building. “But that doesn’t prove anything.”

“No,” he agreed. “But it fits the pattern.”

“I can’t…” I stopped, gripping the back of the chair. “I can’t believe that. She wouldn’t—”

“Wouldn’t what?” Garrison cut in. “Manipulate you? For power? For a strategic alliance? You’ve seen how she operates, Caden.”

I clenched my fists. “That doesn’t mean she’d use dark magic.”

“Doesn’t it?” he asked quietly.

I didn’t answer.

Because part of me wasn’t so sure anymore.

“I need proof,” I said finally. “Not theories. Not suspicions. Something real.”

Garrison nodded slowly. “There is something.”

I looked up sharply. “What?”

“The spell needs an anchor,” he said. “Something physical. An object tied to the caster. Usually something they wear constantly. Jewelry, an amulet, something infused with their magic.”

My mind raced. “If we find it…”

“We destroy it,” he finished. “And the spell breaks.”

Relief surged for a second—then faded as his expression shifted.

“But?” I pressed.

He hesitated. “If the spell is tied to the caster’s life force… breaking the anchor could kill them.”

The room went silent.

I stared at him. “Kill them.”

“Yes.”

I exhaled slowly, running a hand over my face. “So I either stay under their control… or risk killing them to break free.”

“That’s the reality,” Garrison said.

I turned away, pacing again, my thoughts spiraling.

“If she did this…” I muttered, my voice hardening. “If she took my memories, my choices—”

“She didn’t just take them,” Garrison said quietly. “She replaced them.”

My chest tightened painfully. Aria’s face flashed next. The way she’d looked at me. Hurt. Angry. Betrayed.

“You mean nothing to me.”

The words echoed in my head, wrong and hollow.

“That wasn’t me,” I said, more to myself than him.

“No,” Garrison agreed. “It wasn’t.”

I stopped pacing, turning back to him. “If destroying the anchor breaks the spell… then that’s what we do.”

“You understand the risk?” he asked.

“I do.” My jaw clenched. “And I don’t care.”

“Caden—”

“If someone stole my memories, and my will” My voice dropped, sharp and steady. “Then yes. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Garrison studied me for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “Then we need to move carefully. We can’t act without confirming the anchor.”

“The gala,” I said suddenly.

His brows lifted. “What about it?”

“She’ll be there,” I said, pacing again but faster now. “In full view. Dressed up, showing off, playing her role. If she has an anchor, she’ll be wearing it.”

Garrison nodded. “That’s likely.”

“Three days,” I said. “That’s all we have.”

“Then we use it,” he replied. “We observe. We confirm. And when the moment comes…” He trailed off, but I knew what he meant.

We break it.

No matter the cost.

I exhaled, tension coiling tight in my chest. “We’ll need a plan.”

“We’ll make one,” Garrison said.

I nodded, my mind already racing through possibilities.

Behind the door, something shifted.

I stilled.

“Did you hear that?” I asked, my voice low.

Garrison frowned. “Hear what?”

I moved toward the door slowly, every instinct on edge. “Someone’s out there.”

I reached for the handle, yanking the door open.

The hallway was empty.

Silent.

Too silent.

I stepped out, scanning both directions, but there was no one. No footsteps. No scent strong enough to catch.

“Nothing?” Garrison asked from behind me.

I frowned, stepping back inside. “Maybe I imagined it.”

But the feeling didn’t go away.

Someone had been there.