Free Web NovelChapter 357: Chapter 357
Aria’s POV
That explains why we hadn’t been able to find Clarence. We’d mobilized connections across Asterfell, tracking hotel check-ins, restaurant reservations, even private clinics; we had never once considered that she’d hide in plain sight, inside property registered under Sophia’s name.
During these so-called days of separation, when Patrick and Margaret were supposedly cooling off, he’d likely been living there with Clarence all along.
A cold smile curved my lips.
My wolf bared its teeth.
I shifted my gaze to the photographs.
Most had been taken from a distance, enhanced with high-precision lenses. Even so, Patrick’s caution was obvious. In nearly every shot, his head was turned slightly, his eyes scanning the surroundings, his posture hunched like a scavenger sneaking through another pack’s territory.
“Even though the Osborne family has intervened,” Amelia said calmly, “we actually didn’t need to worry. Our current evidence may not be complete yet, but it’s enough to land Patrick a heavy blow and clear our names.”
She finished her analysis and looked at me steadily, waiting.
“No, we won’t do that yet.”
I shook my head.
A memory surfaced in my mind. A memory of my grandmother, sitting beneath the old oak tree back home, her hands steady as she taught me how to set traps. She’d always looked gentle, kind... but her eyes had been sharp as a blade.
When you strike a snake, she’d told me, you kill it in one blow. Never give it a chance to coil back and bite you.
Clarence was still in Asterfell.
That alone meant something more was at play.
I didn’t just want Patrick exposed.
I wanted Clarence and Sophia to pay.
My gaze hardened, my wolf pacing restlessly beneath my skin.
Amelia and Chloe exchanged a glance, their expressions growing solemn.
“Aria,” Amelia said softly, pressing her lips together, “we understand what you’ve been through. And we’re grateful you escaped that life.”
She hesitated, then continued, her voice steady but gentle. “But we don’t want to see you pour everything into revenge. You have Lana now. A child, a future.”
My chest tightened.
“For you,” Amelia went on, “this new life should be brighter than the past. We’ll help you make the Darvin family and Clarence face consequences of thier sins but please don’t let hatred consume you.”
She didn’t blink once as she spoke.
Chloe scratched her head, clearly conflicted. She glanced at me, then at Amelia, her artist’s intuition catching details others might miss.
Lately, I had been acting like a general on a battlefield, calculating routes, setting traps, orchestrating destruction with cold precision.
To Chloe, it probably looked like I was sacrificing everything else for it.
“I agree with Amelia,” Chloe added. “We’re worried about you.”
I met their eyes.
Only then did I realize how dark I must have seemed lately.
My thoughts scattered as fragments of memory surged forward.
Sophia and Richard’s betrayal, their fabricated evidence, false testimonies and cold smiles as they sent me to prison.
My grandmother’s sudden death shortly after. She was gone before I could even see her one last time, her howl forever silenced.
Fifteen years of being unwanted, ignored nad treated like a stain the Darvin family wished they could erase.
I bit down on my lip until my teeth pressed into the soft flesh inside my mouth.
The sharp sting grounded me.
My wolf stilled, ears flattening, retreating just enough for me to breathe again.
“Don’t worry,” I said at last. “I won’t be blinded by hatred.”
I even managed to curve my lips into a smile for Amelia and Chloe, though it felt thin and unfamiliar. The heaviness in the office didn’t lift, but Amelia understood, she didn’t press further.
“It looks like you plan to play along with the Darvin family for a while,” she said after a moment. “In that case, we can slow the investigation. Why don’t you leave early today and spend more time with Lana?”
She stood, then paused at the door and looked back at me, an unspoken reminder that my pup mattered more than any vendetta.
I nodded with a small smile.
Chloe, who hated tense spaces more than anything, left with her.
The door had barely clicked shut when another knock sounded.
“Come in.”
I was still sorting through the files Amelia had left when Rowland walked in.
He looked as if he’d rushed straight from another pack territory to ours. The moment his eyes landed on me, his brows furrowed.
“What’s wrong, Aria?”
In just a few long strides, he reached my desk and sat across from me, his bright eyes locked onto my face. His wolf’s attention pressed close, curious and invasive.
The documents in my hands blurred.
I sighed and shoved them aside. “Did you get my family settled?”
“Of course.” He draped his jacket over the chair and leaned back in an easy, lazy posture, but his gaze never wavered. “Why aren’t you answering my question?”
“What question?” I asked, genuinely confused.
He clicked his tongue. “I show up and you’re still spacing out. That’s rude, you know.”
Then he leaned forward.
Close enough that his scent wrapped around me. His eyes dropped to mine, level and intent.
“I asked what’s wrong. You look terrible.” freewёbnoνel.com
Before I could react, his hand reached out and rested against my cheek.
My body froze.
