Chapter 38

Lucien

“Olivia, wait!”

I broke into a near-sprint, wondering how possible it was for a pregnant woman to walk this quickly. Shit. How had I not noticed she was right there? Her presence was one that I always looked forward to, never unnoticed.

“Olivia. How on earth are you walking this fast? You can barely stand.”

She kept walking in silence, not even a grunt or hum. Somehow, that made it worse. I followed her out of my study, up the staircase and into the east wing, grateful that she was heading for our room. At least, it was away from prying eyes.

“What are you staring at?” Before I could stop myself, I roared at two female servants who stopped to stare after us like they hadn’t seen a couple arguing before. I immediately felt terrible; it wasn’t their fault and I shouldn’t have lashed out at them.

But there was no time to render an apology as I heard the room to our room close with a heavy bang.

Sighing, I started ahead, bracing myself for the impact. One of the reasons Olivia was so difficult to reason with was her stubbornness. It was even worse when she was pissed. The last time she’d been this angry at me, I’d almost lost my inheritance.

I opened the door to see her sitting at the edge of the bed. She met my eyes and I could see the pain and anger swirling in her brown orbs. My heart squeezed for the second time today. It seemed like I was in the business of hurting the ones I loved. At this point, it would shrink to nothingness.

“Just let me explain.” I sighed, walking closer to her. “It isn’t really what it looked like.”

“You weren’t shoving your tongue down another woman’s throat? Because that is what it looked like to me.” Her words were sharp and it felt like they actually left a cut.

“Okay. You’re exaggerating.” I deadpanned.

“Am I? You better have a good reason for what I just saw or I swear I’ll cut off your favorite appendage and feed it to you.”

On a normal day, I wouldn’t have taken the threat seriously. I would’ve laughed and told her to do her worst but there was nothing funny about the look on her face. I feared she would make good on her threat and I was not going to push her.

I licked my lips, wondering where to start. Did she need to know all Elena had said? How much had she heard? “She said she’d loved me for a very long time.”

Olivia snorted. “What else is new?”

My eyes widened. “You knew?”

“Who didn’t? She stared at you like a puppy longing after a bone.”

Olivia didn’t sound jealous. It hurt my pride because female wolves were known to kill out of jealousy. The angry mask that had rested on her face earlier was now faded to a sneer.

Now I was offended. Was I really the only one who’d been in the dark about this? My legs carried me to where she was and I fell on the bed next to her. “I had no idea. Why did you never say anything?”

“Would you have believed me if I did?”

Probably not. I mean, it was out of the ordinary, to think Elena loved me. I was beginning to rethink everything I’d ever thought true. Nothing made sense anymore.

“It was just a goodbye kiss.” I pinched the bridge of my nose as the memory of the forlorn look in her eyes flashed through my mind. “She’s gone.”

“Gone?” Olivia sounded shocked. “How do you mean?”

I shrugged. It felt weird to even think that I wasn’t going to see her every day anymore. While I knew she wouldn’t be by my side forever, I’d just never thought it would be anytime soon.

“She said she couldn’t bear the thought of seeing me with someone else so she can’t live here anymore.”

“Oh,” Olivia murmured. “That explains the hostility. However, I was hoping to ask her why she was walking out of the underground cells at midnight.”

My head snapped to look at her. “What?”

“Yeah. I woke up because I was so thirsty that I couldn’t sleep but when I went down to get a glass of water, I saw her traipsing out from the underground cells somewhat stealthily.”

No. It wasn’t possible. No. I didn’t want to even think about it, to consider the possibility that Elena had been…. No.

“Are you sure?” I asked, feeling a cold wave overtake me.

“I’m not a child.” Olivia retorted. “I know what I saw.”

But it couldn’t be. Not Elena. Yet even as I pondered the possibility, it made perfect sense. She certainly had the motive to want to cause me harm, judging from her revelation a few minutes ago. It had been two weeks since Mason was captured. Something at the back of my mind had been eating at me that something was wrong. Why hadn’t anything happened? Why hadn’t anyone come for him?

Because they had been here all along.

I ran. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me to Elena’s room. Throwing the door open, silence hit me in the face. She wasn’t here. She couldn’t possibly have left the ground. It had only been a few minutes. She had to still be here.

Sydney. Of course. Next door, I opened Sydney’s door only to see her sitting on the bed, sobbing.

“Where is she?” I thundered.

Sydney immediately stood to her feet. “She just left. I can’t even—”

I swung on my heel and headed downstairs, with no time to spare. I had to stop her before she left or I was back at square one. My heart was beating beneath my chest like a techno beat and adrenaline flowed through every inch of my body.

Could love really have been her driving force? How long had she been scheming with my half-brother behind my back? How long had she been eating at my table, with the knowledge that she would soon take everything from me?

Betrayal spread through me. Anger blinded me.

By the time I got downstairs to the front door, disappointment it me harder than it ever had. I’d come so close and yet I’d failed again. Panting, my chest heaved as one of the guards at the front door reported that Elena wasn’t in the villa.

She was gone.