Chapter 57 Chapter 57. Zephyr Spares His Betrayer
"Is that so?" Zephyr’s eyes darkened, cold and murky, like a blood-red moonlit night.
"Faye, you know I like an obedient female who doesn't lie, right? Even though the video’s audio was damaged, I found an expert who can read lips."
Faye’s pupils shrank. She lowered her head, her lips trembling uncontrollably. She didn’t even dare breathe too loudly. The moment Zephyr saw her reaction, he knew his suspicions were correct. He ground his teeth and let out a scornful laugh.
That single laugh was enough to make Faye’s legs go weak. Zephyr clearly knew everything now. As long as he followed the trail of that video, he would uncover how she had framed Zoria—and how she had bribed a doctor to forge documents and take away the baby in Zoria’s womb.
What Zephyr hated most was deception. Faye’s face drained of all color, her heart pounding as if it were about to burst out of her chest. She had been careless—no, she had underestimated Zoria’s place in Zephyr’s heart, and overestimated how much he cared for her.
Zephyr was still gripping her chin, using so much force it felt as if he might crush her bones. Faye was so frightened she didn’t dare cry out in pain.
"Faye, haven’t I treated you well enough?"
Faye swallowed her tears and shook her head. Zephyr stared into her tear-filled eyes. In the past, whenever he saw her cry, he would want to place everything good in the world before her, just to make her smile again. But now, her tears looked nothing but false to him.
"I know everything you did to Zoria," Zephyr said as his fingers brushed along Faye’s chin. "You burned her hand. You made everyone in the villa isolate her. And before her wound had even healed, you dumped all the heavy work on her and made her do it alone."
His movements were gentle, yet they made Faye’s skin crawl. Her throat tightened, her breathing completely out of rhythm.
"Faye, I can indulge you without limits," Zephyr said. "But you never should have touched the baby in Zoria’s womb."
Zephyr’s eyes turned a deep, violent red, like a beast on the verge of losing control. He flung Faye to the floor.
Faye broke down completely, collapsing to her knees as she clutched Zephyr’s ankle.
"Zephyr, I was wrong! I did it because I loved you too much! I really—" Her voice choked off at the end, dissolving into sobs, leaving only panicked, broken gasps.
Zephyr lowered his head and looked at Faye’s fingers, pale and bloodless, clinging tightly to his ankle. For a brief moment, his gaze wavered.
A blood-soaked image of Zoria flashed through his mind. Back when he’d ordered the bodyguards to take away that dead fetus, Zoria had looked just like this. She had gone limp on the floor then, trembling as she clung to his ankle with her fingertips, begging him to give the baby back to her.
Zephyr couldn’t put words to what he was feeling now. It hurt so much he could barely breathe. Just moments ago, he’d been reminding himself not to grow attached to a “toy.”
Faye pleaded in a hoarse voice, “Zephyr, I was wrong. Please—just this once, let me go. I won’t dare again! I won’t touch Zoria anymore.”
Zephyr crouched down and looked at her from above. “I’ll have Zoria move out. This villa will be yours—by yourself.”
Faye’s eyes reddened. “Then what about you?”
Zephyr replied, “Faye, I’ll still treat you well. I told you I’d take care of you for the rest of your life.”
Faye didn’t understand. He said he would treat her well, said he would take care of her for life—so why had he flown into such a rage over Zoria, even going so far as to be violent with her?
Zephyr seemed to see straight through the question in her eyes. He reached out and wiped away the tears at the corner of her eye, his voice dropping low. “I’m still the same. Everything I promised you, I’ll do. Including letting Zoria give you a baby.”
Just as Faye started to think she still had a way out, she asked in a trembling voice, “Then what about cutting the bond with Zoria?”
“Anything but that! Faye, I’m not cutting the bond with her.”
It was the first time Zephyr had said it plainly to Faye: he would not cut the bond with Zoria and choose to complete the mate bond with Faye. Honestly, hadn’t she already guessed it long ago?
As for who Zephyr truly loved, maybe even he didn’t know. Faye wanted desperately to ask what she was to him. But there were some things—once spoken out loud—that would become a humiliation she could never bear.
“Think it over carefully. If you can’t take it, I’ll take you away.”
One by one, he pried off the pale fingers that were gripping him. Faye stared blankly as Zephyr walked away without looking back. Her tears pooled beneath her into a small puddle.
At the doorway, Zephyr heard sobbing behind him—laced with laughter.
The truth had surfaced. He didn’t need to investigate anymore. In fact, he’d understood it all a long time ago; the only reason he’d asked today was because he couldn’t believe that the “purely kind-hearted” Faye he’d seen could do something like this.
Even after learning what Faye had done, Zephyr still didn’t punish her. He felt guilty toward Faye. They had grown up together since childhood, and Faye’s parents had once repaid a great debt of kindness to Hawthorne pack. Faye had lost her parents early, and she also had leukemia. Zephyr had taken care of her for more than ten years, and he had sworn he would care for her for the rest of her life—and that he would mate with her.
If he hadn’t stayed by Zoria’s side for the sake of revenge, maybe he and Faye would have been together a long time ago.
Now that his revenge was finished, he still couldn’t bring himself to cut the mate-bond with Zoria—couldn’t let her go and pair up with Faye instead. Just imagining Zoria by another male’s side made his insides twist with discomfort.
“Boss, I’ve found a few good plots at the cemetery. Do you want to take a look?”