Chapter 55 - The Tycoon Alpha's Temptation

ROSE’S POV

My world came crashing down.

The scene before me or better still, the situation I had found myself in was heartbreaking and terrifying.

My head shook in denial but the truth was right there before me… In my room and a couple of feet away from me.

Even Josh’s warmth couldn't take the coldness of the truth away from me. The cold misery crept into my skin and I found myself crying because life wasn't going exactly as planned...

Wait a sec, I didn't even have a fucking plan.

But my opponent was already making moves and even though this seem like the beginning, I couldn't take it anymore.

My hand clutched the skin that hide my heart and I winced when my fingers dug into that skin. Alpha King Josh kept trying to get my attention. I could hear him but I couldn't comprehend the sound I heard.

To me, he was making white noise as my eyes stayed glued to the lifeless, bloody, and familiar ripped-off arm.

A fully grown adult arm was lying there and there was nothing I could do about it.

“Look at me, Rose!” Alpha King Josh’s voice finally reached me.

His hands grabbed my face gently and he turned my gaze to his worried pair of eyes. I endeavor to swallow my pain but all I could do was cry even more.

“What did Richard do this time, Rose? Tell me.” Alpha King Josh was practically begging to be let into the light.

Was he kidding me though? How could he ask me that when he could visibly see the chopped arm? How could he ask me questions in this situation?

As if he could read my mind, Alpha King Josh stress into my eyes and said gently, “You need to tell me something, Rose. Please.”

Therefore I told him the one fact that I had realized and that had been causing me so much pain. “That’s my father’s arm.”

Alpha King Josh gasped and I could feel his body tensing as realization hit him.

He stuttered, “Richard— Richard chopped off your father’s arm and sent it here? To my home?”

Sounded crazy and impossible since Josh was the ruthless and unforgiving Alpha King and one of his subjects decided to breach his security, come into his home and commit a crime or should I say leave a threat.

If only Alpha King Josh knew what I had had to deal with since I got here…

If only–

“Then it’s high time you tell him!” Cali seethed within me.

But how can I do that?

“I can’t do that,” I said to my wolf beast. “I can't possibly tell Josh everything now. Alpha Richard would kill Dad before anyone of us can do anything.”

If no one understood this, Cali should. At least she knew me and could tell better.

“More reason you should tell Alpha King Josh. We might not like Dad like we used to but you can’t let that bastard have his way.” Cali argued in my head, boiling with rage while I could only feel pity for myself and my father whose hand had been chopped off and shipped to me.

“How do you know that’s your father’s hand?” Alpha King Josh had asked before he could realize that was more like a stupid question.

How could I not?

I have been carried by that hand. That hand had twirled me in the air and also punish me when needed. That hand might not be the best but it was still my father’s and the small tattoo on the wrist was a huge giveaway.

My father had the tattoo of a wolf howling with its head raised upward.

“You have to calm down, Rose.” Alpha King Josh muttered to me. He led me to my bed before saying, “Is there anything else I should know before I take steps to punish and–”

“You shouldn't take any step, Alpha King…” I countered, gazing at him with my stinging eyes.

I needed to stop crying and presenting myself like a pitiful helpless Alpha Female. I needed to get a grip and move out of the web of emotions that Alpha Richard had trapped me within.

“Why do you think I won't make steps?” Alpha Josh seethed. His eyes carried his anger and his face didn't hide the fact that he was exhausted.

My heart clenched as it drew on me that he just arrived home. I mean, I have been out all day as well. After training with the aspiring warriors, I, Jared and Fiona had dinner somewhere within pack land and I had believed that the day was over until I stepped into my room and found this…

My father’s arm was placed carelessly in my room with a blood-stained note that simply said, “You know who and you know why. Do the needful to appease me…”

Obviously, that was from Alpha Richard. There was no one else that would do something this heartless.

Right there before my eyes, Alpha King Josh used the sheet on my bed to wrap my father’s arm. He didn't look disgusted at all, to my surprise and I felt a little bit better after he made it impossible for me to see the arm.

Alpha King Josh’s eyes returned to me after he packed my father’s arm, “This is a crime committed against me as well, Rose. There is no way I would make him go scott-free after he came into my home to threaten you. What would stop him from doing this again? I can’t take this!”

Alpha King Josh’s voice took a higher pitch at the end of his statement and I swallowed hard, wondering what he would do if he found out that this wasn't the first time Alpha Richard snuck something into his home.

“Tell him, Rose. Please. Do this for us.” Cali pleaded with me. She found a way to make me feel her emotion even though I had been fighting it.

My fists balled as Cali’s rage colluded with my agony, creating a more prominent emotion that was overwhelming. I found myself agreeing with Cali and my lips parted like I was under my wolf beast’s influence. “This isn't the first time he would threaten me in your home, Alpha King Josh…”

My eyes found Josh’s. I could tell he was losing his shit but rather than act on that anger, he gritted in disbelief, “What did you just say to me?”

Maybe… maybe it was time to let the cat out of the bag and trust this man. He hasn't been bad at all if I was being honest.

I wasn't sure I could trust him.

However, what options do I have?

Just like Cali said, I didn't plan to betray Alpha King Josh and It seemed there has been a breach of the oath that I took with Alpha Richard. If not, I should have been feeling a compelling urge to betray Alpha King Josh and satisfy Richard.

That was how oaths work… how they should work.

“Say something, Rose!” Alpha King Josh’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

His anger was undeniable. I was pushing his buttons as well but before I could fully grasp the meaning, likely effect, and repercussions of the step I was about to take, my cell phone chimed from the floor where I must have dropped it earlier.

I sucked in a deep breath while Alpha King Josh marched to get my cell phone. I brought it to me despite his rage but I didn't want to check the phone. However, it chimed again and again, leaving me no choice.

Slowly, I unlocked the phone and found several messages from an unsaved number.

Maybe I shouldn't have read the messages because when I did, my cell phone slipped out of my hand as I stuttered, “He can hear me… us.”

Looking at me like I had grown two heads, Alpha King Josh picked up the cell phone. I didn't stop him and nothing stopped him from reading the texts nor restricted him from barking, “You have got to be kidding me!”

But this wasn't a joke… not anymore.

He glared at me, asking with a hiss, “What have you been hiding from me?”

A lot… that you should never know.

But he already had an idea of the truth and didn't appear pleased…