Chapter 54 New character
Elara stared at her phone screen, the woman's words echoing in her head—Darius Silvercrest killed your mother.
"Who are you?" Elara repeated.
"Meet me tomorrow at noon," the woman said. "The old Whitmore estate, what's left of it, come alone and I'll tell you everything."
"I'm not meeting strangers alone anymore," Elara said.
"Then bring your mate," the woman said. "But no one else, what I have to show you can't be shared with the entire pack."
The call ended and Elara stood there shaking while Reese watched her carefully.
"What did she say?" Reese asked.
"That Darius killed my mother," Elara said. "And she wants to meet tomorrow to prove it."
"It's a trap," Reese said immediately.
"Maybe," Elara agreed. "But what if it's not? What if my mother really was murdered and I've been lied to my whole life?"
"Then you still don't walk into potential ambush without preparation," Reese said. "Where's the meeting?"
"Old Whitmore estate," Elara said.
Reese pulled up maps on her computer. "That's abandoned territory, no security, no witnesses, perfect place for an ambush."
"Or perfect place for a private conversation," Elara said.
"I'm coming with you," Reese said. "Non-negotiable."
"She said just me and Kai," Elara protested.
"She'll never know I'm there," Reese said. "I'll position myself a quarter mile out with long-range surveillance, if anything goes wrong I can respond in under two minutes."
Elara nodded because arguing was pointless when Reese was right about the danger.
She found Kai still holding Adrian who'd woken from nightmares twice already.
"We need to talk," she said quietly.
They moved to Kai's office where she showed him the death certificate and explained about the mysterious call.
"Your mother died when you were five," Kai said. "I remember because my father mentioned it, said it was a tragic accident."
"What if it wasn't an accident?" Elara asked. "What if my father orchestrated it?"
"Why would he do that?" Kai asked.
"I don't know," Elara admitted. "But this woman claims to have proof."
"Then we go find out," Kai said. "Tomorrow at noon."
"What about Adrian?" Elara asked. "We can't leave him alone after what happened."
"Maya and Liam are staying here," Kai said. "And Reese is assigning three of her best people to guard him, he'll be safer than we are."
That night Elara couldn't sleep, her mind spinning through memories of her mother—vague impressions of warmth and laughter and songs sung at bedtime, nothing concrete because she'd been so young when her mother died.
She'd been told it was a car accident, that her mother had been driving alone and lost control on a mountain road.
No body recovered, vehicle destroyed, closed casket funeral.
What if all of it was lies?
Morning came too slowly and Elara spent it preparing Adrian for them leaving.
"Mama has to go do something important," she explained. "But Aunt Maya will be here and you'll have guards watching you."
"The bad man won't come back?" Adrian asked.
"The bad man is in jail," Elara promised. "He can't hurt you anymore."
"Promise?" Adrian asked.
"I promise baby," Elara said and hoped she wasn't lying.
At 11:30 they left with Reese driving a separate vehicle that would peel off before they reached the estate.
The Whitmore property sat forty miles north of Crescent Falls, surrounded by forest that had reclaimed most of the grounds.
The main house was a burned-out shell, victim of a fire twenty years ago that had never been rebuilt.
"Cheerful place," Kai muttered as they parked.
"My grandparents built this," Elara said. "It was supposed to pass to my mother and then to me."
"What happened after the fire?" Kai asked.
"Silvercrest absorbed the land claiming no living heirs," Elara said. "My father died when I was seven, two years after my mother."
"Both parents dead before you were ten," Kai said quietly. "I never knew that."
"I never talked about it," Elara said. "Easier to pretend I'd never had parents than to miss them."
They walked through overgrown gardens toward the ruins and found a woman standing in what used to be the main foyer.
She was older, maybe sixty, with graying hair and a face that seemed familiar though Elara couldn't place it.
"Elara Whitmore," the woman said. "You look just like your mother."
"Who are you?" Elara asked.
"Catherine Greene," the woman said. "I was your mother's best friend and I've been in hiding for twenty-five years because I witnessed her murder."
Elara felt the ground shift beneath her feet. "You saw it happen?"
"I saw Darius Silvercrest order his men to run your mother's car off that mountain road," Catherine said. "I saw them make sure she was dead before pushing the vehicle over the cliff, and I've been living in fear ever since knowing that speaking up would get me killed too."
"Why come forward now?" Kai asked.
"Because Darius is finally in custody where he can't reach me," Catherine said. "And because his son deserves to know what kind of monster his father really is."
"Why did he kill my mother?" Elara asked.
"Because she was going to expose him," Catherine said. "Your mother discovered that Darius had been embezzling from pack funds and using the money to fund illegal operations in the borderlands."
"My father knew about this?" Kai asked.
"Your father orchestrated it," Catherine corrected. "He's been running criminal enterprises for forty years, your mother threatened to go to regional authorities and he eliminated the threat."
"Do you have proof?" Elara asked.
Catherine pulled out a folder. "I have documents your mother gave me the day before she died, financial records showing transfers to borderlands accounts, and I have my testimony as witness to her murder."
She handed the folder to Elara who opened it with shaking hands.