Chapter 98

Chapter 98
Violet's POV:

After Iris disappeared back toward the elevator and Felix had vanished into the night, the three of us stood alone in Wild Oak's lobby.

"Okay, what the hell just happened?" Sienna demanded, turning to face me fully. "One minute we're waiting for dinner, the next minute Daemon's carrying Celeste out like she's dying, and you're standing here looking like you just watched a predictable play reach its inevitable conclusion."

Lucian's arm tightened around his wife's shoulders, but his eyes were fixed on me with sharp curiosity. "Yeah, Violet. What did you say to make her collapse like that?"

I glanced around the lobby, confirming we were truly alone before answering. "I told her about Aurora Winters."

"Aurora?" Lucian's brow furrowed in confusion. "Who's that?"

I took a breath, feeling the weight of finally sharing this toxic secret with people who might actually believe me. "Aurora Winters was a girl who died years ago—jumped into a river because she couldn't handle losing Daemon. Before she died, she was in the hospital for a few days. They managed to keep her alive long enough to harvest her organs." I paused, watching their faces. "Celeste received Aurora's heart."

The silence that followed was absolute. Sienna's hand flew to her own chest, her eyes widening with shock. Lucian's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again.

"Holy shit," Sienna finally breathed. "So Daemon and Linda are obsessed with Celeste because she's literally walking around with a dead girl's heart?"

"Exactly," I confirmed.

"Wait, wait, wait." Lucian held up a hand, his expression cycling through disbelief. "I'm one of his best friends, and I had no idea there was this whole thing with some girl named Aurora. When did this even happen?"

"Before our mating ceremony," I said. "Daemon loved Aurora. She loved him. But his family forced him to marry me instead for political reasons. Aurora couldn't handle it, so she killed herself."

Sienna's face had gone pale. "Jesus Christ, Violet."

"But here's what I don't understand," Lucian said, leaning forward with the intense focus he usually reserved for complex legal problems. "How did Daemon even know Celeste had Aurora's heart? Did Celeste tell him herself?"

I shook my head. "No, she's been pretending she doesn't know anything about Aurora. I think Linda told him—she must have somehow figured out the connection."

"But how would Linda recognize Celeste as the recipient?" Sienna pressed, her analytical mind clearly working through the logistics. "Hospitals don't just hand out donor information. Recipient families and donor families aren't supposed to meet."

That was the exact question that had been circling in my mind like a vulture, the missing piece that would make this entire nightmare make sense. I felt my frustration building as I voiced it aloud. "I don't know. That's one of the things I can't figure out—how did Linda identify Celeste as Aurora's recipient? And when exactly did Linda tell Daemon about the heart?" I shook my head. "These questions are all connected somehow, but I can't see the full picture yet."

"This is so fucked up," Lucian muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"That's my theory," I said. "And Linda's involved because Aurora was her sister."

"Her sister?" Sienna looked like she might be sick. "So Linda is helping Celeste because of some twisted connection to her dead sister? That's—that's psychotic."

"It's grief," I said quietly. "Grief makes people do insane things."

---

The next morning, Sienna forwarded me a series of voice messages from Lucian. I listened to them while making coffee, feeling a grim satisfaction at the intelligence he'd gathered.

According to what Lucian had overheard at the hospital, Celeste had woken up crying and demanded Daemon explain everything about Aurora. After he finished, she'd conveniently fainted again. Ruby and Mason had also shown up, begging Daemon to leave their daughter alone, completely oblivious to the fact that Celeste had been the one chasing him all along.

But the most interesting detail came in Sienna's final message: "Violet, we got answers to some of those questions! Remember you were wondering how Linda knew about Celeste? Apparently Linda found out when you and she came back for that business trip and ran into Daemon. She investigated Daemon's relationship with Celeste afterward, recognized her as her sister's heart recipient, and told Daemon. Before that, he only knew Celeste had a heart condition."

So my guess had been right. But that still left two critical questions unanswered—how had Linda recognized Celeste in the first place, and how had Celeste learned about Aurora?

I was still mulling this over when my phone rang with an unfamiliar number. I answered to hear Felix's voice, uncomfortable and hesitant. "Violet, can we meet? I need to ask you a favor."

Before I could respond, I heard a scuffling sound, and then Ruby's voice came through, thick with tears. "Miss Goldcrest, you blocked my number and I couldn't reach you. Please, can we talk? You have to help Celeste!"

I kept my voice gentle but firm. "Ruby, I've told you before—I can't help Celeste and I won't."

"Please, I'm begging you," Ruby's voice broke into sobs. "My husband just had surgery, and now Celeste's condition has him sick in bed again. I'm taking care of two patients by myself. Please, have some sympathy!"

She was genuinely suffering, I realized. The sins were her daughter's, not hers.

"Ruby, we don't need to meet," I said evenly. "Just tell me what you want over the phone."

What followed was a lengthy plea for me to convince Daemon to leave Celeste alone, claiming her daughter's heart couldn't handle such emotional turbulence. When she finally paused for breath, I seized the opportunity.

"Ruby, do you know who donated the heart to Celeste?"

"I don't know exactly," she said slowly, "but someone did come looking for her once. I don't know if it was someone from the donor's family... Celeste was still young then. This person wanted to take her somewhere, and I refused. So they gave Celeste a gift and took a photo together, then left."

My pulse quickened. "How old was this person? Male or female?"

"A woman, maybe in her forties."

The pieces clicked into place. Aurora's mother, driven by grief, had found Celeste. And Linda had likely recognized Celeste years later through that photograph.

"Thank you for telling me," I said. "But Ruby, I can't help Celeste. Have you considered that your daughter might be staying with Daemon willingly? That maybe she doesn't need your well-meaning interference?"

"What?" Ruby sounded genuinely confused.

I hung up without further explanation.

---

Since Celeste wouldn't be returning to Lupine Sovereign University anytime soon, I decided to enjoy a few days of peace. I was in the backyard doing my strength training routine when my phone rang again.

"I'm asking you—what will it take for you to stop hurting Celeste?" Linda's voice was sharp with accusation.

I stretched out on the lounge chair, popping a dried apricot into my mouth. "Simple. Have her disappear from my sight permanently."

"Shouldn't you be the one disappearing?" Linda shot back coldly.

At that moment, I heard the sound of a car engine outside the front gate. I walked over to find Daemon's vehicle pulling up to my parents' estate. What was he doing here instead of staying at the hospital with Celeste?

He stepped out of the car, surprise flickering across his face when he saw me at the gate. As he approached, I held up a finger to my lips.

Daemon's eyebrow lifted in question, but he remained silent.

I turned my attention back to the phone. "Why should I be the one to disappear? Even though Daemon and I are unbound, I was his Luna. Celeste is nothing but a mistress."

Daemon's expression shifted at my words.

"Violet Goldcrest!" Linda's voice rose to a shrill pitch. "You're the mistress! You're the one who should die! If you hadn't mated Daemon, would Aurora have jumped into that river? And now you're targeting Celeste, deliberately making her life hell. If anything happens to her, you should die to pay for what you've done to both of them!"

"Linda, I'll say this one last time," I said, staring directly at Daemon's face. "When I mated Daemon, I had no idea your sister even existed."

"So what?" Linda spat. "Couldn't you feel that Daemon didn't love you? He refused the marriage initially—only agreed because of his grandfather's condition. If you had any shame, you would have walked away. My sister wouldn't have felt so hopeless!"

She certainly had detailed information about everything.

Before I could respond, Daemon reached through the gate and took my phone from my hand.

"Aurora's death has nothing to do with Violet," he said, his voice carrying a steel edge I rarely heard directed at Linda. "You can blame me for not being firm enough, you can blame your sister for being impulsive, but don't harass Violet again. Understood?"

I stared at him in shock. This was Aurora's only sister, the last connection to the Winters family.

"Daemon, do you hear yourself?" Linda's voice cracked with disbelief. "Why are you at Violet's place? Celeste is still in the hospital—how can you abandon her like this?"

Daemon apparently had no interest in continuing the conversation. He hung up and, right in front of me, blocked Linda's number.

I watched this unfold with growing confusion. I'd expected him to come here for a confrontation about revealing Aurora's existence to Celeste, about causing her to faint. But his behavior suggested something else entirely.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral across the iron gate.

"Lucian told me something," Daemon said, his blood-red eyes studying my face. "I came to verify it."

I waited.

"Is it true what Celeste said that day?" he asked. "What Lucian overheard?"

I laughed humorlessly. "You don't believe Lucian, so why ask me?" I paused, then decided to push further. "What if I told you not only is that true, but Celeste has known about Aurora all along? That she knows Aurora's mother, knows Linda's identity, and has been pretending ignorance this entire time—would you believe that?"

Something dangerous flickered in Daemon's eyes. "Why would she pretend not to know? What would she gain from it?"

"If I had known about Aurora before our mating ceremony and pretended I didn't, what would I have gained?" I countered mockingly. "People who do terrible things always need excuses. How could Celeste admit she's just a replacement?"

Daemon's jaw tightened, his gaze boring into me as though trying to detect lies. I knew he wouldn't believe me. But I didn't really care anymore whether he believed or not.

There were other things I wasn't willing to tell Daemon—not yet. When Celeste finally returned to Lupine Sovereign University, I'd make sure everyone else knew the truth. His belief was irrelevant.

At that moment, my mother emerged from the house. When she saw Daemon, she looked like she'd seen a ghost and immediately rushed over to pull me back inside without saying a word to him.

---

A few minutes after we retreated into the house, I heard Daemon's car drive away.

"Violet, why was he here?" My mother's face was tight with worry. "Don't see him anymore. If your father were home, he'd chase him off with a broom!"

"He came on his own, Mom. I have no idea why," I assured her. "But don't worry—he just wanted to ask about something. Nothing more."

My mother looked skeptical. "Are you sure?"

I raised my hand in mock solemnity. "I swear. Once I finish dealing with everything here, I'm planning to travel the world. Who knows? Maybe I'll bring home a handsome son-in-law for you!"

My mother laughed despite herself. "Still a romantic at heart, aren't you? After everything Daemon put you through, you're already thinking about marriage again? Not planning to stay single?"

"Definitely not," I said firmly. "I'm not giving up an entire forest for one rotten tree."

My mother patted my arm, her expression softening with relief. I knew both my parents hoped I wouldn't let Daemon ruin my chances at future happiness.

---

Over the following week, Sienna kept me updated on Celeste's condition through Lucian's hospital reconnaissance. Celeste had remained bedridden for about a week before showing signs of recovery, surrounded by caretakers—Daemon had hired professional nurses, while Linda, Ruby, and Mason rotated shifts. Apparently even Riley, Celeste's devoted fan, was planning to fly back from Silver Ridge.

What I hadn't expected was that Evan would return even faster.

I had no idea how he'd managed to cut short his overseas work and get back so quickly, but when I walked into the hospital for a routine checkup and saw him in the hallway, I was genuinely surprised.

He stood there in his white coat, taller than everyone around him, his bearing upright and commanding, his pale green eyes sharp and alert. When they landed on me, he paused.

His gaze dropped to the medical forms in my hand. "What's wrong? Are you sick?"