Chapter 127 CHAPTER 127
Michael’s POV
The room was filthy even before I turned on the light. I could smell dust that had accumulated over the years. When I found the light switch and turned on the light, I was amazed by how wrongly I remembered the room. I had imagined it was a large room, with books from the floor to the ceiling. I had imagined there was a hammock close to the window where mum used to seat while she read her books.
What I saw was a shelf in the middle of a small room that contained some books. There was an old chair somewhere in the middle of the room and it didn’t look like a place where I could unravel a secret.
I walked in, my shoes leaving imprints on the dust. The books on the shelf were arranged in rows of similar colours and it wasn’t long before I realised that they were volumes of the same book.
The single light bulb in the room wasn’t bright enough, so I turned on the flashlight on my phone and looked through the books. They were not fiction, but books about rare wolf variants and history books. I realized how little I knew of my own mother.
I ran my fingers through the rare wolves variant and found out a book was missing from the shelf. Perhaps it was the book she was reading when she was killed. And my guess was she was reading on Nine tailed foxes, because it was the only one absent on the row.
“What were you up to?” I mumbled.
I noticed a footprint that wasn’t mine in front of the shelf. I crouched and examined it. It had to mean someone had been in the library recently. As I rose up, my eyes caught a yellow sticky note jutting out of one of the books. I pulled it out and read the handwritten note.
‘I have met a man who makes my heart beat without rhythm, but he is a beast.’
It sounded like something she had picked from one of her books. I tucked the note in my pocket and continued searching the room for a few more minutes. When I returned to my note, I searched the words but they didn’t match any books written. I tossed the note in my hand and played with the thought that she probably really had an affair in my mind. If Evelyn was saying the truth, then who had attacked my mother?
I rose up, fighting the thoughts in my mind. I hoped Evelyn was right, but if she was right, then it meant the views I had held of my mother were wrong. There was also the possibility that Alpha Raymond had tried to get rid of the baby.
There was a gentle tap on my door and before I could respond, the handle turned and the door was pushed open. Alpha Raymond stood in the doorway. He was holding a dusty old book. My eyes remained on it for a few seconds before I looked back at him.
“What is that?”
He stepped in and tossed the book on my desk. “That’s what you are looking for. Her diary.”
He was quiet and sad in a way I had never seen before. He seemed almost resigned.
I walked to the diary and turned it open. It was almost filled with writings.
“She wrote a lot,” I said.
“She wrote to keep herself busy when I was away. Reading filled her head with fantasy and soon she couldn't tell the difference between what was real and what wasn’t.”
My fingers grazed over the pages. “She lost her mind?"
“She kept writing about a fictional man. She lost everthing. She got pregannt and she tried to harm herself.”
I couldn’t remember much about her but I didn't think there was anything wrong with her. She spent a lot of time alone but she was very present with me.
“Dad! Please don’t lie to me,” I said.
He walked to the book and flipped open a page that was earmarked. “Eventually I found out her fantasy man was real,” he said, tapping on a name that was circled. “ She was having an affair. She disgraced this family. She was losing her mind…”
“Did you do it?”
He froze. “I wish I could have. I couldn’t. I threatened her with a divorce and the next thing I heard was the news of her death.”
The room was silent for a while.
“So Evelyn's mother didn’t do it?” I asked, finally.
He shrugged. “No one mentioned her name. She ran away on her own accord.”
“Do you know who did it, dad? Please tell me,” I pleaded.
He took a deep breath. “She took her life,” he said. “She was out of her mind.”
I walked away from the desk and paced around the room. My fingers ruffled my hair. “Why? Why did you let the news that she was murdered by a nine tailed fox fly?”
He scoffed. “You know nothing about what it takes to keep a family’s name intact, Michael. It can never be heard that a Greywood commits suicide. If you decide to tell the whole world right now that your mother was a sickhead who took her own life, then you’d be the world’s greatest fool.”
I rubbed my fingers in the space between my eyes. There was too much information to take in. More importantly, I realized I had failed to believe Evelyn again. She wanted me to trust her and I had failed.
“You had no right ruining the lives of other people just so you can preserve our name,” I spat out.
He smirked. “I don’t recognise you anymore, Michael. You have become a weakling.” He stepped closer. “That woman will ruin you the same way your mother almost ruined me. It is what their kinds do.” His face twisted in disgust. “She was a fucking nine tailed fox.”