Chapter 73 First Move

Chapter 73 First Move
Zoe's POV

I left the safe house with my head full and my chest heavier than when I walked in.

The night air hit me the moment I stepped outside. Cold. Clean. I stood there for a second just breathing it in.

Natasha's voice was still running through my head.

All of it.

My father. My mother. Luther. Vincent. The forbidden forest. The attack. Mia's fake pregnancy. And the last thing she had told me before I stood up to leave.

Benjamin.

She had told me everything about Benjamin too. Who he really was. What he really wanted. Where he fit in the middle of all this tangled rotting web of betrayal and jealousy and stolen thrones.

I walked.

Fast. Head down. Taking the east wing back the way I had come. Checking behind me twice.

Nobody following.

I got back to my chamber. Locked the door. Sat on the edge of the bed.

And just stayed there for a moment.

I had come to Lakewood to kill one man.

Jeremy Dylan.

His father had helped murder mine. That was the beginning and the end of it. A straight line from my childhood to this room.

But nothing about this was simple anymore.

Luther. The man who looked exactly like the photograph in my locket. My father's own blood. His older brother. The one who had been jealous enough to help burn everything down just because the moon goddess chose the wrong son.

Mia. Planted. Fake pregnancy. A whole constructed life built on a lie just to get close enough to finish what Luther started.

Benjamin. Dead but not dead. Pulled from a lagoon. Rebuilt. Patient. Burning with his own version of a story that I now understood far better than he knew.

And me.

Sitting in the middle of all of it. Pregnant. Masked. Running out of time before my stomach made all my decisions for me.

I pressed both hands over my bump.

"I know." I whispered. "We need to move."

I stared at the ceiling for a long time.

I needed a plan.

Not pieces of a plan. Not reactions to other people's moves. Not following Benjamin's timeline or Luther's agenda or anyone else's strategy.

My plan. Mine alone. Something that cut through all the noise and brought everything into the open in a way that nobody could bury or threaten into silence.

All of this information. Everything Natasha had given me tonight. It only confirmed one thing.

I was out of time.

I needed to speed this up. All of it. Before my bump showed. Before Benjamin made his move. Before Luther sent another army. Before Mia's lie went any further.

And now I knew what I had to do next.

The plan came to me that same night.

Simple. Clean. No elaborate strategy.

Just fear.

Melissa.

The kitchen chef. The one who had given me the spice to add to Jeremy's food and then gone ahead to claim I had wanted to kill the Alpha.

She knew everything. And now I knew who had masterminded it all.

Mia.

What I needed was simple. I just needed to give Melissa a reason to speak. Every detail of what Mia had made her do. Every instruction she had been given. Every lie she had carried and kept quiet about while I stood above those flames.

She just needed a reason to let it out.

I would give her one.

I waited until the pack house was completely dark.

Then I made my move.