Chapter 180 CHAPTER 180
Michael’s POV
The news hit like a punch to the gut. On the TV screen was a picture of my mother taken a while ago and there was a picture of a car in a bush that I recognized. It was the spot where we had found her and Anna Trent.
“What the hell is this?” I heard Evelyn say.
The meal in my stomach was turning sour and my intestines were churning. I looked at her. She was looking at me for answers. I didn't have the answers.
“Tamara was just telling me that Flora was missing, and that her uncle was poisoned,” she said and the words swam in my head.
How did the news of my mother get out? And why was she being framed? Did she actually attack Flora? She had attacked Rosaleen before. I tried to recall if there was anything strange that night. The blood we had seen. They were from her injuries, weren’t they? Did something else happen that night that Anna Trent didn’t tell us? Was it Flora who had come to the house? Was she really attacked?
My mind was in a mess.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I picked it up. It was the Chief Security Officer.
I answered immediately.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Alpha Michael,” he said, voice tight, “the police are here.”
My body went still. “For what?”
“They have a warrant. They want to inspect the premises and question your mother.”
The world narrowed into a sharp, controlled focus.
“On what grounds?” I asked even though I had just seen the news. Why the hell was it being aired on the news?
“They’re linking her to the disappearance of Flora Dover and the poisoning of Jon Dover.”
For a moment, I didn’t speak.
Then, very evenly, “Who authorized this?”
“They say it’s city-level.”
Of course it was.
I glanced at Evelyn. She was already watching me, reading the shift in my posture.
“I’m on my way,” I said, and ended the call.
I stood abruptly.
“They’re at the house,” I told her.
Her face paled. “For Philly?”
“Yes.”
“I’m coming with you,” she said.
“No,” I began instinctively.
She held my gaze. “Don’t. I know Philly too, and my mother is part of this.”
Again.
There was no time to argue. We left cash on the table and were out the door in seconds.
The drive back felt longer than it should have. My hands tightened around the steering wheel as my mind ran through possibilities.
By the time we reached the estate gates, there were two patrol cars outside. My jaw tightened. I parked and stepped out before the engine had fully cut. Uniformed officers stood near the entrance. More were inside. I walked straight through them.
“I want to see the warrant,” I said.
One of the officers handed it over without argument.
Search of premises. Questioning of residents. Suspicion of involvement in attempted homicide and obstruction of justice.
Evelyn stood just behind me, silent but steady.
“Where is she?” I demanded.
“In the sitting room.”
We entered together.
Philly stood near the fireplace, arms crossed, eyes blazing but chin lifted defiantly. Anna was beside her, pale but composed.
Officers moved through the house methodically, opening drawers, scanning shelves.
“This is absurd,” I said coldly.
An officer approached. “We have reason to believe Miss Philly had access to a toxic botanical substance used in the poisoning of Jon Dover.”
“She is not a criminal,” I replied sharply.
“That’s what we’re here to determine.”
Before I could respond, another voice cut through the tension.
Alpha Raymond.
He entered the room with controlled urgency, eyes scanning the scene.
“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded.
One of the senior officers stepped forward.
“Alpha Raymond, we also need to question you.”
“For what?”
“For misinformation regarding your wife’s death.”
The room went still.
“You publicly declared her deceased,” the officer continued. “We now know that was untrue.”
Raymond’s jaw hardened. “I will not answer questions without my lawyer.”
“Noted,” the officer replied.
The house felt like it was shrinking.
Then one of the officers hurried in from the garden entrance.
“Sir,” he called to his superior. “You need to see this.”
We followed them outside.The garden was already being cordoned off with tape. My stomach dropped. I hoped they had not found something incriminating. They were gathered near the violet dusk-flowers.The rare ones Raymond had been so proud of.
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
The officer crouched near one of the plants, gloved hands carefully holding a small evidence bag.
“Preliminary testing confirms the presence of cardiac-arrest inducing compounds in the seeds,” he said. “Matches the toxin found in Jon Dover’s bloodstream.”
Evelyn inhaled sharply beside me.
“That’s impossible,” Alpha Raymond said.
“Are these cultivated intentionally?” the officer asked.
He hesitated. “They’re rare. Imported.”
“Who tends to them?”
Silence.
Philly’s voice broke through from behind us.
“I do.”
Every head turned.
She stepped forward slowly. “I asked for them to be planted. I like them.”
The officer stood. “Miss Philly, you’re coming with us.”
I stepped between them instinctively. “On what charge?”
“Suspicion of attempted murder and kidnap.”
“This is ridiculous,” Alpha Raymond snapped.
She lifted her chin. “I didn’t poison anyone.”
“You can explain that at the station.”
They moved quickly then. Too quickly. One officer produced iron cuffs, not ordinary restraints. Suppressors that were designed to contain a fox’s abilities. My blood ran cold.
“You will not put those on her,” I said, my voice dropping dangerously.
“It’s protocol.”
“She has done nothing.”
“She has access to the plant used in the poisoning,” the officer replied. “And she was presumed dead while she’s been linked to the disappearance of Flora Dover who was last seen in the vicinity of where she lived.”
The narrative was already written. Philly resisted at first. Anna Trent grabbed her hand, whispering something urgently.
Alpha Raymond stepped forward. “This is an abuse of authority.”
“Then contest it legally,” the officer said flatly.
They secured the iron cuffs around Philly’s wrists.The metal glinted harshly against her skin.I felt something inside me fracture. Her fox would be suppressed. Silenced. Humiliated. And more than that, she was presumed guilty already because she was a fox. I felt exactly what Evelyn and her mother felt for many years.
“This is wrong,” Evelyn whispered.
I didn’t answer. Because I didn’t understand. None of it made sense.
The flower. I had known about it in that garden for years. It was just pretty to us. Not something that could be poisonous.
Flora’s disappearance at the house made no sense too. That night we had not seen a car there. I tried to remember. I realised that we never asked about how Philly got wounded. We just assumed that she got injured while running away from Viktor Calderon.
Someone was planning this. And it was well planned.
Philly was led toward the patrol car despite Raymond’s objections and my own barely restrained fury. She didn’t cry. She didn’t beg. She only looked back once. And in her eyes, I saw pain. Maybe this had happened to her before. Maybe it was better if we had left her in the hospital.
When the cars finally pulled away, the estate felt hollow. Alpha Raymond stood rigid, phone already pressed to his ear. “Get me my lawyer. Now.”
I ran a hand through my hair, trying to think. Evelyn touched my arm lightly.
“This must be a very big misunderstanding,” she said quietly.
“I know.”
I just didn’t know how.
By evening, the fallout began. The Council convened an emergency session. News had spread like wildfire. Alpha Raymond was being asked to step down as Mayor of New York pending investigation.
There were many speculations. Some said that he had openly threatened Jon Dover days ago during a council meeting over insubordination.
Now Dover was poisoned and a rare flower from his garden matched the toxin. The narrative was convenient. It was easy to point fingers at him. When I asked him if he had actually threatened to kill Jon Dover, he shrugged.
“I’d said that more times than I can count. I never meant it.”
I knew he didn’t do it. I was sure someone was fishy. Something had happened that night that we didn’t know about and the only person that could provide answers was Anna Trent. I had also seen her in the garden just a few hours ago. Was she up to something?
I walked out of the sitting room and headed towards her room.