Chapter 42 Wesley's Truth (Wesley POV)
I'd been avoiding Tyler's room since the funeral. Three days of packed belongings still sitting in boxes by the door, waiting for our parents to come collect them. Three days of that door staying closed because opening it meant admitting he was really gone.
But at 2:14 a.m., unable to sleep, unable to stop seeing Rowan's face when she'd said I didn't do it with such absolute conviction, I found myself standing in front of that door with the key the RA had given me.
My hand shook when I turned it.
The room looked exactly as Tyler had left it. Bed made with military precision… he'd always been weirdly neat for a sixteen-year-old. Desk organized with color-coded folders. Lacrosse stick propped in the corner. Posters of bands I'd never heard of covering one wall.
And on his desk, untouched by the packing I'd started and abandoned: his research notebook. The black one. The one I'd found weeks ago and barely glanced at because the grief was too fresh, the anger too consuming.
I sat in his desk chair. Opened the notebook.
Really read it this time.
Tyler's handwriting covered every page… cramped, urgent, the penmanship of someone racing against time. Dates. Names. Arrows connecting disparate points. Questions scribbled in margins.
Page 1: Transfer students, 2007-2010. Why no forwarding records? Where did they go?
Page 3: Hannah Kimura… last seen 2009, age 7. Silvercrest. Official record says "transferred to European academy for advanced studies." But no European academy has record of her enrollment. Parents told not to contact her for "adjustment period." Never heard from again.
Page 8: Gabriel Cross… Nightshade, transferred 2008. Same pattern. No records. Parents deceased (car accident, 2009… SUSPICIOUS TIMING).
Page 15: PROJECT CHIMERA… referenced in encrypted files on school server. Couldn't crack encryption but got fragments. "Suppression protocols." "Long-term viability study." "Asset development."
My stomach turned. Tyler had found it. Had been piecing together Project Chimera months before it exploded in the Eclipse Chamber.
I kept reading.
Page 23: Tried to talk to Hendricks about Ashford's admission file. He refused. Said it was sealed by Alpha order. Why? What's in her file that needs sealing?
Page 29: Mom and Dad's accident. Checked police report again. No skid marks. No sign of brake failure. Car went off cliff at high speed on straight road. Driver (Dad) had 30+ years experience on that route. Makes no sense.
The words blurred. I blinked hard, forced myself to keep reading.
Page 31: Dad worked as contract researcher for Thornhaven 2007-2009. Medical consultant. Left abruptly. Never explained why. Mom said he "had ethical concerns" but wouldn't elaborate.
Page 33: THEORY: Dad discovered something at Thornhaven. Something bad enough to quit. Something related to the missing transfer students? To Project Chimera? Did someone kill our parents to silence them?
The notebook fell from my hands.
I sat there, staring at nothing, while my entire understanding of the past seven years rearranged itself.
Our parents hadn't died in a random accident. They'd been murdered. Killed because Dad had found out about illegal experimentation on children. Killed to protect a conspiracy that had been running for decades.
And Tyler… brilliant, stubborn Tyler who couldn't leave a mystery unsolved… had figured it out. Had been gathering evidence. Had been preparing to expose everything.
So they'd killed him too.
Framed Rowan Ashford. Made it look like a feral Turning gone wrong. Silenced the investigation before it could go any further.
I stood abruptly. The chair fell backward with a crash. I didn't pick it up. Just grabbed the notebook, shoved it inside my jacket, and ran.
The administrative building was mostly empty at this hour. Emergency lights cast everything in red. Guards stood at strategic positions, but they recognized me… Tyler Morrison's brother, the grieving kid… and let me pass with sympathetic nods.
I found her on the third floor, in a small conference room that had been converted to a temporary holding space. Two guards outside the door, rifles at ready. Inside: Rowan Ashford, sitting at a table, staring at nothing.
She looked up when I entered. Her eyes… silver-rimmed, reflecting the light wrong… went wide with surprise. Then wary. Probably expecting me to attack her again, like I had in the Eclipse Chamber.
I couldn't blame her.
"Wesley," she said carefully. "What are you doing here?"
"I need to show you something." I pulled out Tyler's notebook. Set it on the table between us. "I found this. His research. I read it before, but I didn't really read it. Not until tonight."
She looked at the notebook like it might explode. "Okay?"
"Tyler was investigating Project Chimera. He figured out that transfer students were actually suppressed children being disappeared. He found evidence that the program was funded by all three Alphas. He discovered that our parents… " my voice cracked, " …were killed because Dad knew too much. Worked as a medical consultant here. Found out what they were doing to kids. Tried to quit. Got murdered for it."
Rowan's expression softened slightly. "I'm sorry."
"Don't." I held up a hand. "Don't apologize. Just listen. Tyler was killed because he figured it out. Because he was about to expose everything. The killer framed you to cover it up, to make it look like a Turning gone wrong instead of calculated murder."
I pushed the notebook toward her.
"I've been directing my grief at you. I wanted you dead. I stood in the Eclipse Chamber and demanded your execution. I called you a monster." The words tasted like ash. "But Tyler wouldn't want that. He'd want the truth. He died trying to find it. The least I can do is make sure it actually comes out."
Rowan picked up the notebook. Started reading Tyler's entries, her expression growing more intense with each page.
"He was close," she murmured. "So close to putting it all together."
"He would have gotten there. If he'd had more time." I sat down across from her. "I need to know… are you really innocent? Did you actually not kill him?"
She set down the notebook. Met my eyes directly. "I didn't kill your brother. I didn't kill Professor Hendricks. I didn't kill Guard Carter. My brother… Julian Cross… did. He framed me to force the conspiracy into the open. To make the Alphas choose between executing me and admitting their complicity."
"Your brother." I processed that. "The chimeric wolf. Elena Hale's son."
"Yeah. He's been planning this for years. Your brother was collateral damage. A threat that needed eliminating." She paused. "For what it's worth, Tyler sounded brave. Smart. The kind of person who'd risk everything for what's right."
"He was." My throat closed up. "He was the best person I knew."
We sat in silence for a moment.
"I testified against you," I said finally. "In the Eclipse Chamber. I told them you were guilty. I pushed for your execution. I need you to know… I was wrong. And I'm sorry."
Rowan studied me. "You were grieving. Angry. Looking for someone to blame. I get it."
"That's not an excuse."
"No. But it's an explanation." She slid the notebook back across the table. "What are you going to do with this? Tyler's research?"
"I want to testify. At the Concordance, or wherever they're holding the final proceedings. I want to present Tyler's evidence. Show what he discovered. Make sure people know he died trying to expose the truth." I met her eyes. "And I want to help prove you're innocent. However I can."
"Why?"
"Because Tyler would want justice, not revenge. He'd want the actual killer caught, not a convenient scapegoat executed. And because… " I swallowed hard, " …because I've been carrying this anger for days and it's eating me alive. I need to direct it at the right target. The people who actually killed my family. Not the girl they framed."
Rowan was quiet for a long moment.
Then she stood. Walked around the table. Held out her hand.
I stared at it.
"I'm not forgiving you," she said. "You accused me of murdering your brother. You demanded my execution. Those aren't things I can just forgive and forget."
"I know."
"But I'm acknowledging that you're trying. That you're choosing truth over comfortable anger. That takes courage." She kept her hand extended. "So. Truce? You help me prove Julian's guilt. I help you get justice for Tyler. We work together instead of against each other."
I took her hand. Her grip was strong… unnaturally strong, wolf strength bleeding through even in human form.
"Truce," I said.
She released my hand. Sat back down. "Tell me everything Tyler found. Every detail. If we're going to stop Julian tomorrow at the Concordance, we need to understand the full picture. And your brother got closer to it than anyone except Declan."
I opened the notebook. Started walking her through Tyler's research… the transfer students, the suspicious deaths, the encrypted files he'd partially accessed, the theories he'd been building.
As I talked, Rowan took notes. Asked questions. Pointed out connections Tyler had missed. Her mind worked fast, pulling threads together, building a comprehensive picture of the conspiracy.
"Your brother was brilliant," she said when I finished. "If he'd had another week, he would have cracked this wide open."
"Instead he got killed for it."
"Instead he gave us the foundation we needed to finish what he started." Rowan tapped the notebook. "This is evidence. Real, documented evidence that the conspiracy ran for years. That people were murdered to protect it. That the Alphas knowingly participated. Tomorrow, when Julian tries to force chaos, when he triggers those seven suppressed students to shift simultaneously… "
"We counter with this," I finished. "We show that the real criminals are the ones who created the system, not the victims of it."
"Exactly."
A guard knocked on the door. "Time's up, Morrison. Miss Ashford needs to rest before tomorrow."
I stood. Tucked the notebook back inside my jacket.
"Thank you," I said to Rowan. "For listening. For not telling me to go to hell."
"I considered it," she said with a slight smile. "But you're more useful as an ally than an enemy. Plus, Tyler sounds like he was a good person. He deserves better than having his death used to execute an innocent girl."
"He was. And he does." I turned to leave.
I left before my voice could break again.
In the hallway, I leaned against the wall and let myself breathe. Really breathe. For the first time since Tyler's death.
The anger was still there. The grief. The rage at the system that had killed my entire family.
But it wasn't consuming me anymore.
It was fuel.