The hurting truth
Zayne killed the feed as I moved to grab Chaos. I didn't even know what to say to him since I wasn't able to process what I'd seen. I'd accused Braclyn of helping Harold, and she'd been his primary victim. Why hadn't she said any- thing? Why hadn't she tried to reach me with the truth?
"That's why she was so sad all the time," Chaos whispered, his eyes swim- ming with unshed tears. "She tried to hide it and pretend not to be sad, but I sensed it. I caught it once when she was trying to pretend she was happy." He sniffled, and I frowned at his words.
I swallowed down the sick feeling as I tried to recall Braelyn ever acting like a victim. "How the fuck did we miss this?" I asked myself, but it was Chaos who answered.
"You had to watch her when she didn't think you were. Fear is an emotion. and so is pain. We control our emotions, and only we allow people to see them." He handed me a phone, and I stared at it. "I saw it because she seemed sad, but she's Braelyn. She is only sad when no one watches her. I put my phone where she didn't know I was watching. It recorded her, but it was fast."
I blinked as Chaos nodded at the phone. Zayne took it, hooking up the cord to the monitor, and then flipped through the images on the screen. Chaos's phone was filled with photos of him and Brae doing silly things, which tugged at my heart. Then a video began playing.
Chaos was talking to Brae, and a broad smile played on her full mouth. She turned, eyeing the other kids before laughing. Chaos grabbed a radio, watching Brae, who stared after the other kids rushing away to play with the ball they'd been kicking. Train Wreck, by James Arthur, started playing, and she slowly turned to stare at the moon.
I watched the video, aimed at her face, obvious that Chaos had left it sitting somewhere it wouldn't be noticed. Braelyn's eyes swam with silent tears, sliding that Nordic blue gaze to where Chaos had chased after the ball. Her face changed, revealing the pain she never showed.
It wasn't just the pain in her eyes or the way she opened her mouth to scream silently, slapping her hands over her mouth. It was agony, soul-deep suffering she'd let no one know existed. Her chest shook as she continued hold- ing in her scream. It wasn't until someone approached her from behind that she dropped her hands, and her face went neutral, and vacant eyes peered up at the moon. Braelyn controlled her emotions, easily turning off the anguish rip- ping her apart from within at what she'd endured. Her mask was effortlessly in place, with no tears having escaped.
"Did you see that?" Sian asked. "I've seen that look before on her. The va- cant stare that made me assume she was cold."
"I saw it, too," I admitted, swallowing past the lump in my throat. "It's the same way she looked when she rejected me. It was like she had no emotion and had just turned it all off, so she didn't have to feel. If Braelyn is Jane Doe, it means her father tortured her from when she was a child. He tried to break her, and she refused to shatter and we fucking missed it. We asked her repeatedly, What pain would a pampered princess ever know?""
"And she'd replied carefully. 'Don't throw rocks at glass palaces because they hide the ugliest monsters.' We missed it," Eryx whispered.
"We fucked up," I muttered. "We assumed without evidence that Braelyn was involved with Harold, and the entire time, she was another victim. I painted her into a fucking monster to her pack, and even with everything she'd endured and the way they treated her before she left, she still ensured they would sur- vive. Braelyn has every right to hate us. Fuck, I fucking hate myself now. I'm her mate, and I never even sensed she was hurting. The weeks she went missing, I assumed she was dealing with pack shit, but she had been healing from the sick bastard intending to breed with his daughter."
"We fucked up big time," Eryx agreed, blowing out a deep breath. Phenrys entered the room, peering around as he placed a thumb drive on the table. I didn't even look down as he searched my face. Sian filled him in on what he'd missed, and I watched him sit, only to miscalculate the chair and land on the floor. Phenrys rose, shaking his head, and nodded at the drive. Zayne grabbed it, searching my face.
"I'm not sure how much more shit I can take tonight." I warned, watching as Zayne stepped to the TV, removing the cord from the phone and pushing the thumb drive into the USB port. The video began, and Brae's image came on the screen. "Where is this?" I asked, watching as she cupped her ear, trying to hear the guy leaning over the bar.
"Calgary, Canada. The video was time-stamped two days ago. The person who tipped us off said it was on them and that they owed you one. They said you'd sent someone back home to them, and they were returning the favor," Phenrys announced. "Her own father? Jesus Christ."
"Get the Blackhawk ready and clear permission to enter Canadian airspace," I swallowed, searching the faces around the table. "Sian, I want you here. I want the pack to know I cleared Braelyn of any wrongdoing. Scratch that; this is my mistake. I'll talk to them. Call in the alphas, and show them the video, but just the part where they can see it's her, not anything else. I turned her people against her, and she didn't deserve that. I need to fix it. Cole, you're coming with me. She hasn't seen you yet, nor will she know who the hell you are. She'll run from us, and I don't fucking blame her. Eryx. Zayne, and Bowen, you're all with me. Everyone else, we will be back."