Chapter 255

Chapter 255
Serena’s POV

It had taken a lot of gentle words, a few fake yawns, and a reassuring squeeze of his hand to make Hades finally leave after dropping me off at the house. He had wanted to come in, his jaw tight with worry, those blue eyes of his scanning my face like he could read the truth behind my “I’m fine.” I wasn’t even sure what was wrong—only that the message from my mother had used the word urgent. But deep down, another part of me, the logical side, suspected it was nothing dramatic.

Maybe my parents were simply trying to get me to return home before 8 p.m. again.

Goodness, it was just 7:45 p.m. I was barely late. Still, I could imagine Father pacing in front of the clock, convinced his only daughter and child was being kidnapped by rogue wolves or worse, dating past curfew. He could be overly protective, sometimes to a fault. And when he had an idea, Mother usually went along with it, no matter how ridiculous.

I sighed as I stepped out of Hades’s car, waved him goodbye, and watched his vehicle disappear into the darkness. The porch light flickered on as I walked up the stairs.

“Honestly,” I muttered under my breath, “if this turns out to be a false alarm, I’m locking my door for the rest of the weekend.”

The door creaked softly as I stepped inside. Warm light spilled from the hallway. “Honestly, Father, Mother,” I began, tossing my purse onto the side table, “if you guys made me come home because you were worried, it’s wrong.” I closed the door, my voice carrying through the foyer as I kicked off my shoes. “Father, are you seriously—”

I stopped.

The words died in my throat as soon as I stepped out of the foyer and into the living room. My heart skipped a beat.

My parents were there, seated together on the couch, but they weren’t smiling or bickering like they normally did. They looked… tense. Pale. Worried. My mother’s hands were twisted in her lap, and Father’s gaze was heavy, his lips drawn in a grim line.

And then I saw him.

Aeson.

He was sitting opposite them, in one of the armchairs. He rose slowly the moment our eyes met. His expression wasn’t smug like it usually was, but strained, almost haunted.

I froze, the air in my lungs turning sharp. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I took a step forward, anger rising fast. “If you came here to give them a hard time because I rejected you, Aeson, you suck. You really suck.”

He blinked, looking puzzled. “Serena, it’s not what it seems like.”

“Oh, really?” I folded my arms, glaring at him. “Then why are you here?”

He hesitated, his jaw tightening. Then, turning toward my parents, he said, “To tell them the truth. Especially Agatha.”

My mother’s name on his lips sent a shiver down my spine. I looked at her, she seemed frozen, eyes wide, as if she’d just seen a ghost. My father’s face wasn’t any better; he looked gloomy, uncertain, his fingers tightening around hers.

“What’s going on?” I asked, stepping closer. “Mother? Father?”

Neither of them spoke.

The silence stretched, heavy and suffocating. I turned my gaze back to Aeson, my pulse quickening. “What truth did you tell my parents?”

He exhaled slowly, like the words he was about to say carried a lifetime of weight. “I told them the truth about Agatha’s late daughter… Shelly.”

I frowned. “What… truth about Shelly?”

My mind scrambled. I was only ten when she disappeared, and I barely remembered her, just whispers of her name and the occasional photo my mother used to keep tucked in her jewelry box. She rarely talked about Shelly after she vanished. Just said she was gone… and it was because of her.

Once, I’d heard Father consoling her late at night, her quiet sobs drifting down the hallway.

But what could Aeson possibly know about Shelly that my parents didn’t?

He looked at all of us, his eyes dark with something that made my stomach twist. Then he said it.

“Shelly didn’t just disappear and die. She was killed.”

“What?” The word slipped from me in a whisper, but it echoed through the room like thunder.

Aeson turned to me, his voice trembling slightly. “She was killed by Hades.”

My eyes widened. “What?” I pushed him back instinctively, fury flashing through me. “Watch what you say, Aeson. Don’t you dare…”

“I’m not lying!” he interrupted, pointing at the photo frame on the center table. My gaze flicked to it, it was a small, faded photo of a young girl smiling, sunlight caught in her brown curls. “Agatha confirmed that’s her daughter. And I know Shelly. I knew her.”

I looked at my mother, my voice cracking. “Mother?”

She nodded faintly, not looking at me. “That’s Shelly, Serena,” she murmured, her voice trembling. “My… daughter, Shelly.”

“No…” I shook my head slowly, backing up a step. “No. How could Hades kill her? He doesn’t even know her. He couldn’t have.”

Aeson’s gaze was steady. “I know he wouldn’t tell you. It’s a secret buried long ago. Twelve years ago, Hades was still in his horrible teenage phase. We both attended the same high school in his pack, Fang Storm. He was a notorious bully, everyone feared him. Shelly’s father, Dominic, was a loyal gamma in Hades’s pack back then. That’s how they knew each other.”

I felt my chest tighten. “Stop it, Aeson.”

He pressed on anyway, his voice grim. “Shelly had tried to stand up to him one day. That night, she didn’t come home. Her body was found two days later near the riverbank. The council covered it up. Hades’s uncle, who was the acting Alpha then, paid off Dominic to keep it a secret. But years later, when Hades became Alpha, he killed Dominic too, to make sure the truth would never come out.”

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head harder. “This… this is a lie.”

But my voice faltered as my mother broke down beside me.

She buried her face in her palms and whimpered, her shoulders trembling. “I left Fang Storm Pack twelve years ago,” she said, her words muffled through tears. “I came here to Misty Violet Pack to take care of you, Serena. But Shelly… she didn’t want to come. And Dominic, he wanted her there with him.” Her voice cracked, and her body shook harder. “I never thought… she’d end up a victim. And Hades…” She choked on his name, grief twisting her face. “He… killed my daughter. God.”

The room fell silent again, her sobs the only sound.

I felt my knees weaken, my mind spinning. I wanted to scream that it wasn’t true. That Hades wasn’t capable of that. That the man who kissed me like I was the air he breathed, who looked at me like I was light itself, couldn’t possibly have that kind of darkness inside him.

But then I remembered his silence when I asked if he was keeping something from me. The flicker of tension in his eyes. The way he said, I’ll tell you at the right time.

A chill ran down my spine.

No. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t.

Aeson watched me, his eyes softening slightly. “I didn’t come here to hurt you, Serena,” he said quietly. “But you deserve to know who you’re really with.”

I turned away from him, unable to speak, my throat closing up. My mother’s quiet sobs filled the space between us, wrapping around me like a chain I couldn’t escape.

Hades’s laughter, his warmth, his voice whispering I love you, my Luna, all of it echoed in my mind, clashing with Aeson’s words until I couldn’t tell which reality to believe.

And in that moment, as the truth, or what sounded like it, hung in the air like poison, I realized that my world, the love I thought I had, might not be what it seemed at all.