Chapter 358 358
Aurélie POV
Sab has barely spoken since we returned from our day together.
At first, I tell myself it’s because she isn’t feeling well. She barely touches her dinner, barely lifts her eyes from her plate. She doesn’t join the conversation not with us, not even with the children. That alone sets my nerves on edge.
When the twins are sent upstairs, she hugs them tightly, presses a kiss to each of their heads, lingering just a second longer than usual. Miss Lambert takes Frédéric up for his bath while the rest of us remain behind, finishing dinner in uneasy quiet.
Maurice is subdued too.
Throughout the meal his hands had found Sab again and again light touches, reassuring brushes, silent questions. Now, as we settle into the sitting room with coffee, his fingers still hover close to her, as though afraid to let her drift too far away.
“Sab… are you okay?” I ask softly, leaning forward on the edge of my seat while Damien talks with Lucas and Fabrice.
“Why would anything be wrong?” she mutters, her coffee untouched in her hands.
A knot tightens in my chest.
“I was wondering if I did something today… something that upset you,” I admit. “If I did, it wasn’t intentional.”
All through dinner I’ve replayed every moment of our outing every word, every expression searching for something misplaced. Nothing comes to mind.
“Today?” she echoes, still refusing to look at me.
“While we were out,” I clarify.
“How long?”
Her sudden question catches me off guard.
“Sorry?” I say, genuinely confused, even as Damien laughs at something Lucas says beside him.
“How long?” Her voice rises this time sharp, commanding cutting through the room. Conversation dies instantly. All eyes turn to her.
“How long what?” Damien pulls me closer, wrapping his arms around me, drawing me into his side.
“How long were you going to let me believe my father was still alive?”
The room freezes.
Maurice’s hands still against her skin go rigid before she deliberately peels them away and stands. She isn’t just addressing us now she’s addressing Damien. Her gaze never leaves him.
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
“Who told you?” Damien snaps, his head turning sharply toward Maurice.
“Not him,” she says coldly. “Though my own mate kept it from me too.”
“Sab, I” Maurice reaches for her, but she steps farther away from the couch.
“I get it,” she says bitterly. “I know how he can be.”
“What does that mean?” Damien releases me and stands, facing her fully.
“Like father, like son,” she spits. “Liars.”
Fear grips me instantly. I feel it feel the shift in Damien, the thing beneath his control stirring. The part of him he works so hard to keep buried.
“Don’t you dare compare me to him,” he growls. “Who told you?”
I feel it through our bond the infection, creeping forward.
“Someone who isn’t afraid to tell me the truth.”
We never should have kept this from her. I can see it now how deeply it’s wounded her. Not just the loss, but the betrayal. The silence.
“She also said he died at your hands,” Sab continues. “Is that true?”
The air thickens, pressing in around us. Both children of Gaston… both carrying his fury. Damien more than anyone.
“He was a threat to my wife and children,” Damien says tightly.
“Did you kill him?” Sab screams, clutching her hair, unraveling before my eyes.
“Yes!”
“You killed him?”
“Sab” I step toward her instinctively, but Damien yanks me back, gripping me hard.
“Months,” she whispers, her voice cracking as she turns to me. “You had months to explain it.”
Damien’s temper flares whatever fragile calm existed shatters completely.
“You disappeared,” he snarls. “After you left my pregnant wife dying beside a lake. You ran. You hid.”
Her pain hardens into something sharper.
“And yet somehow,” she says, shaking, “you could’ve pulled me out of hiding with a snap of your fingers. Why else was Gilles with me? Why else was he following your orders? Lies. Everything you say is a lie.”
“I think we all need to calm down,” Maurice tries.
It’s useless.
“Did you kill her father too?” Sab asks Damien.
“Who?”
“Clémence.” Her voice trembles but doesn’t break. “She said you killed her father too. That my friends, my friends are now living in the alpha house that should be hers. That Didier is acting as alpha of her pack.”
Damn it.
She knows far more than I ever wanted her to.
“Sab, calm down,” Maurice pleads, stepping in front of her as her breathing spirals. He tries to ground her, but she shoves him away and closes the distance to Damien instead.
“Is she lying?”
“No,” Damien snaps. “I killed Jérôme. And it was long overdue. What I want to know is whether you’ve been conspiring with a traitor while living under my roof.”
He’s forgetting forgetting that she’s human. That she doesn’t have her wolf. But she holds her ground, fury shielding her from his aura.
“Oh, the irony,” she laughs bitterly. “You think betrayal is me speaking to someone you disapprove of. I think betrayal is you killing my father and letting me believe he was alive.”
Her voice breaks, grief pouring through at last.
“I’ve been texting him,” she chokes. “Waiting for him to apologise. To admit he went too far. And all this time…” She presses a hand to her chest, pain twisting her features. “He’s been dead.”