Chapter 83 CHAPTER 83
Michael’s POV
Flora Dover sat across from me trying to make up her mind on what she wanted to eat. She finally made a choice and sent in the order.
“It’s nice for you to take me out on a date, Alpha Michael,” she said, dropping the tab. “Did I get you charmed so easily?” she teased.
My lips spread in a tight smile. “Actually.” I leaned closer. “I need to discuss something important with you.”
She batted her eyelids playfully.
“That evening, at dinner,” I said. “I believe you were trying to warn me of Rosaleen.”
She smiled. “I was only saying congratulations, Alpha Michael. I used to know her.”
She was being coy. “You didn’t say congratulations, Flora. You said good luck to me. Why?”
She leaned on her bent elbow. “Because every Alpha needs some luck in finding their mates in New York these days.”
“Right,” I said. I passed a picture across the table to her. She looked at it without picking it up.
“Do you know him?”
She raised her head up. I could see the cloudiness in her eyes. It seemed she was quite fond of him.
“Marcus,” she whispered.
I nodded. “Was he a friend?”
“More,” she said.
“You were visiting him in jail and making contact via calls weeks before he died,” I stated.
“He was killed,” she said.
“How?”
“A knife stab to the neck. He wasn’t the one fighting. Someone just lunged at him in the dark, stabbed him in the chaos and that was all.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It must have been hard.”
She looked at me. “Your fiancee put him in jail, Alpha Michael,” she said. “She made him take the fall for her crimes and abandoned him.” She sniffed. “I found out and convinced him to tell the truth. She must have found out and paid someone to kill him.”
I was struggling with the image of Rosaleen paying to get someone killed. She was nasty and manipulative and greedy, but I was scared to think of her being a murderer.
“Are you sure of this, Flora?”
She sighed. “You are making a big mistake by taking her as your mate. She is a witch.”
I agreed with that.
“How close was she with Xavier?” I asked.
She told me of the little bargain she had made with Xavier in order to get funds from her parents to pursue Marcus’ case. “That evening, she joined us on a date. I couldn’t hear them clearly, but I knew they were plotting together.”
“She said they talked about business only.”
I scoffed. “Have you read the news on Alpha Roman?”
I had seen it. He was dismissed from his company as CEO. He lost a lot of money when XR tech collapsed and he’s been mute ever since.
“I did,” I said. “I mean, I know how bad Rosaleen is but I cannot believe she’d connive to kill someone.”
An angry scowl appeared on her face. “If you do not believe it, then why are you here asking me all these questions, Alpha Michael?”
“Rosaleen has genuinely hurt a lot of people and she is going to get her reward. You should get detached from her in your best interest.”
I cracked my knuckles. Our food arrived. “After the elections, Flora. Can you give me till then?”
She scoffed. “Do you know what Rosaleen did to my sister?”
“Tam .. Fiona?”
“Yes,” she said. “She took more than half of a million dollars worth of Fiona’s trust. Every single penny.”
That was news to me. “Why? Why would your sister part with such an amount of money? “
And what the hell did Rosaleen use that money for?
“To buy her silence. Because Rosaleen knew of her pregnancy. She took all that money and flew to Milan. Then she returned five years later to blackmail my sister over the same secret until she ended up ruining her marriage with your beta.”
“I had no idea. I knew about the deal between them but I had no idea it involved such a large amount of money,” I said.
Her fork hit the ceramic plate. “So you see why I cannot give Rosaleen Blackmoon time. She has hurt my sister and I, and she will hurt anyone to get what she wants.
“I’ll deal with rosaleen,” i said. “I promise you. I’ll make sure she pays for everything she has done to everyone. But please, Flora, wait till the elections are over. I’ll make it up to you. I swear."
She munched her food slowly and said nothing.
I met Jasper after the lunch date. I had been quite docile with him concerning his issues with Tamra. He wasn’t even aware that his cousin had blackmailed his girlfriend to keep a secret from him. It was time he knew the truth.
“Lock the door, Jasper.”
He cocked his brows and turned around to turn the key in the lock. “You found her?” he asked.
“No,” I replied. “Sit.”
He dropped on the sofa and watched me with curious eyes. “What is the news?”
“It’s about Tamara,” I said.
He frowned, then panicked. “Did something happen to her?”
I chuckled. “You care that much about her?”
He leaned against the sofa. “I’m just concerned, like anyone should be, Alpha Michael.”
“Yeah.” I leaned forward. “I was with Flora Dover this afternoon,” I said. “And we spoke about Tamara a little.”
He scoffed. “Her name is Fiona though.”
“Yes, Fiona. I’m used to calling her Tamara. I found out something very interesting.”
“More secrets?”
“Yes, more secrets,” I said. “But not Tamara’s secrets. Your cousin, Rosaleen.”
He uncrossed his arms. “What secrets?”
“Rosaleen knew about Tamara’s pregnancy before you got hitched. But that was not the reason why she was against it.”
“Rosaleen knew?” he asked.
“You are slow,” I teased him.
“What more?”
“Tamara paid your cousin all the money she got from her parents through her trust, a sum of five hundred thousand dollars to buy her silence.”