Chapter 136

Chapter 136
Knox’s POV

I could not get Autumn’s face out of my head after she left the room. The way her eyes looked at us before she walked away, it burned my heart like fire. I never thought I would feel this much regret, but it hit me all at once. We completely messed up.

We were fools in the previous life. We never believed her when she was accused of so many crimes. We thought she was guilty of things she never even did. And because of that, we made her suffer so much.

I remembered the last days of her life, and how cold we were to her. We were not even there. We left her to carry all that pain alone, while we trusted the wrong person. We only found out she never did anything wrong after she died. But even then, we could not find her body. We only heard about her death from someone else. She was banished from the pack, but she was never meant to die.

My hands shook with anger when I thought of Agatha. She was the reason Autumn suffered. She was the one who ruined everything. How could we have trusted her over Autumn? How could we have chosen the liar over the one who cared for us? The thought made me so angry I slapped myself across the face. I did it so many times. It didn’t feel enough, so I did it again.

But it didn’t matter how much I punished myself. Nothing could take away what we did to her. Nothing could erase the memories of how broken she was, and how blind we were.

“I’m going to find Agatha,” I growled under my breath. My heart was burning. “That bitch has done more than harm to everyone. She doesn't deserve to live. I’ll make her pay for everything.”

But before I could even leave, Adonis and Dante grabbed me.

“Stop, Knox,” Adonis said firmly. His voice was hard, but I could hear the pain behind it too. “Agatha isn’t reborn as us. She’s still living her life like nothing ever happened. We can’t convict her for something she hasn’t even done yet.”

My chest heaved. I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my palms. “You expect me to just sit here? After everything she did? After what Autumn went through?”

“Yes,” Dante said, his eyes sharp but calm. “Because Autumn told us to wait. She told us to let Agatha slip up. Only then can we find out everything.”

Their words cut into me like knives. They were right, but that didn’t make it any easier. I wanted revenge. I wanted to destroy Agatha with my own hands. But Autumn’s words echoed in my mind. The fact that we had to wait until she slips up was excruciating enough. I wanted to as execute her as much as possible to stop future problems. 

I closed my eyes and forced myself to breathe.

Adonis placed a hand on my shoulder. “For now, we should be concerned about clearing out all the spies in our pack. Agatha will come to us sooner or later. But Autumn…” He sighed. “Autumn needs us right now.”

He was right again. Autumn should be our first concern. We waited for her to come back as we already discussed how we were going to investigate things together. But the truth was… she didn’t leave her room the entire day.

She didn’t come out for once check on anything. She didn’t come out for lunch. She didn’t even leave for school. That scared me more than anything else. She was really mad at us this morning and it showed a lot. 

“She’s shutting herself in,” Dante muttered, pacing the floor. “This isn’t good. She’s not going to come out or eat anything if she continues at this pace.”

“I know,” I said. My throat tightened. “We need to do something for her.”

Adonis looked at me. His eyes were filled with the same regret and determination I felt. “Then let’s make her happy. Even if it’s just for tonight.”

So we got to work.

We decorated the private living room upstairs. It wasn’t easy, but we wanted it to look special. We wanted Autumn to feel cared for, even if we didn’t deserve her forgiveness yet. We begged the chefs to cook the best food she loved. But when we asked Lily, she refused at first.

“No,” she said, crossing her arms. “After everything you three did to my mistress, you think you can just bribe her with food? Do you think she’s that easy?”

Her words have always been disrespectful when we were the ones who employed her, but we didn’t fight back. We didn’t argue with her and we just begged.

“Please,” Adonis said softly. “We’re not trying to bribe her. We just want to do something for her. Even if she doesn’t forgive us, we want her to know we’re sorry.”

“I know you don't want to help us but you should be concerned about her too. She didn't eat anything all day. Don't you know she'll be sick if she doesn't eat anything. I know you care about her, right?”

Lily stared at us for a long time. Finally, she sighed. “Fine. I’ll cook. But only because Miss deserves good food. Not because of you three. I don't want her to get sick, she shouldn't be suffering because of you.”

We accepted that. She was right.  She finally cooked, and we prepared everything. The smell filled the room, warm and comforting. We decorated with flowers and lights. Every detail mattered to us, because every detail was for her.

When it was done, the room looked beautiful. But the hardest part was yet to come. We needed Autumn to actually come out.

“Lily,” I said quietly, “can you… can you bring her here? She trusts you. She won’t listen to us.”

“I don't think I should be doing everything for you. If you all are the reason she got mad, why don't you just ask her yourself?”

I shook my head, “You should no one than anyone that she's not going to listen to us. You need to bring her to the place already so that we can do the rest. We just need her to get out of the room.”

Lily looked at me, her eyes full of judgment. But she nodded. “I’ll try.”

After Lily left to get Autumn, we hid ourselves, clutching the flowers we had bought with shaking hands. The door creaked open, and Autumn stepped inside.

She stopped in her tracks. Her eyes widened as she looked around. The decorations, the lights, the table full of her favorite dishes, it all left her speechless.

Her lips parted, and she whispered, “How did you…?”

She turned to Lily. “You did this?”

But Lily shook her head. “No, miss. I only cooked. I’m sorry, but I can’t take the credit for this.”

Autumn blinked, confused. “Then… who?”

That was our cue. We stepped out from where we had been hiding, holding out the apology flowers in our hands. My heart pounded so loudly I thought it would burst out of my chest.

We stood there, facing her, our eyes full of regret and hope, praying she would accept us. Hoping she would forgive us and she would still let us stay by her side.