Free Web NovelChapter 110: Chapter 110 The Truth About Linda
Ronan’s POV
The moment Jade stopped crying, the world felt different.
Not fixed.
Not healed.
Just... exposed.
Like something rotten had finally been cut open and no one could pretend it wasn’t there anymore.
We didn’t take her back to the mansion.
Not yet.
I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Ryder insisted on a safe house first, a small pack-run clinic on the edge of town. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere Linda’s influence hadn’t fully stretched into.
Jade didn’t speak much on the drive.
She sat between Renzo and Ryder in the back seat, her hands folded tightly in her lap like she was afraid the world would take something else from her if she loosened her grip.
Every now and then, I caught her looking out the window like she was expecting the road itself to change its mind and take her somewhere worse.
I understood that fear.
Because we had been the ones who taught it to her.
The clinic was small. White walls. Too clean in a way that felt almost unreal. A nurse greeted us immediately, recognizing our scent, our status, our urgency. Jade flinched at that too.
Status had never protected her.
It had only been used against her.
We got her settled into a room. She refused the bed at first, standing near the window instead like sitting down might make her easier to trap.
Ryder spoke softly.
“You’re safe here.”
Jade didn’t answer.
Renzo stepped closer, slower than usual, careful like she was something fragile that might break just from being looked at too strongly.
“No one is going to touch you,” he said.
Her laugh was quiet.
Almost empty.
“That’s what I thought before,” she said.
And none of us had a response for that.
Because she was right.
A nurse checked her vitals. Confirmed the pregnancy was still stable. Jade barely reacted. Like even that truth had lost its meaning after everything else that had been done to her.
When the nurse left, silence settled again.
Heavy.
Uncomfortable.
Real.
That was when I finally spoke.
“We found everything,” I said.
Jade’s eyes shifted toward me slowly.
Not hopeful.
Not trusting.
Just waiting.
I looked at Ryder, then Renzo.
We had already agreed. No hiding. No softening.
Not anymore.
Ryder stepped forward first and placed a folder on the small table near her.
Inside were printed statements.
Evidence.
Confessions.
Truth.
“Start with the servant,” Ryder said.
Jade’s fingers twitched slightly.
“She admitted she lied,” he continued. “Linda paid her to say she saw you pouring water in the hallway.”
Jade didn’t move.
Didn’t blink.
Like she was afraid that reacting would make it disappear.
Renzo exhaled sharply.
“She never actually saw anything,” he added. “She was never even near you at the time.”
Jade’s throat bobbed.
But she still didn’t speak.
I picked up the next page.
“The letter,” I said.
Her eyes dropped slightly.
That one hurt the most.
“I had it examined,” I continued. “Handwriting analysis confirmed it wasn’t yours. Ink pressure, stroke patterns, alignment. Nothing matched you.”
Ryder’s jaw tightened.
“She forged it,” he said. “Deliberately.”
Silence stretched again.
Jade’s hands clenched slowly.
But still, she didn’t interrupt.
Because she was waiting for the part where we justified it.
Where we explained ourselves.
Where we said there was a reason we believed it.
We didn’t have one that made it better.
Only ones that made it worse.
Renzo leaned forward.
“And Linda,” he said quietly, “has been manipulating situations in the mansion for months.”
That got her attention.
Finally.
Her eyes lifted slightly.
“Months?” she asked, voice hoarse.
Ryder nodded.
“She isolated you. Created situations where you looked unstable. Made small incidents escalate.”
I watched Jade carefully as that landed.
Because this wasn’t just betrayal.
This was systematic.
Intentional.
Constructed.
And we had been too blind to see it.
“I should have seen it sooner,” I said.
My voice sounded rough.
Wrong.
“I should have stopped it.”
Jade’s lips parted slightly, but no words came out.
Renzo stepped closer again.
“We all should have,” he said.
That was the truth.
No one was spared.
No one deserved absolution.
I exhaled slowly.
“The worst part,” I continued, “is that we let you believe you were alone in all of it.”
Jade’s eyes flickered.
Something cracked in her expression.
Just slightly.
Not fully.
But enough.
Ryder’s voice softened.
“You weren’t crazy,” he said. “You weren’t imagining it. You weren’t overreacting.”
Her breath shuddered.
That was the first real sign.
The first fracture in her armor.
Renzo stepped closer until he was directly in front of her.
“I know it doesn’t fix anything,” he said. “But we are sorry.”
Jade’s head shook slightly.
Like she didn’t trust the words.
Or maybe she didn’t trust herself to believe them.
“I don’t want apologies,” she whispered.
Her voice broke halfway through.
“I wanted to be believed when it mattered.”
The room went silent again.
This time, none of us interrupted.
Because she was right.
We had already lost that moment.
And we couldn’t get it back.
Jade finally looked at all of us properly.
And what I saw in her eyes...
Was exhaustion deeper than anger.
Deeper than pain.
It was survival.
“I stopped expecting you to choose me,” she said quietly. “That’s how I survived.”
Ryder looked away.
Renzo closed his eyes briefly.
I couldn’t.
Because I needed to see it.
To understand what we had done.
“I still love you,” Jade added suddenly.
All three of us froze.
Her voice shook immediately after the words left her mouth, like she regretted them the second they existed.
“That’s the worst part,” she whispered.
No one spoke after that.
Because there was nothing left that wouldn’t break something further.
A knock came at the door.
Sharp.
Official.
The tension in the room shifted instantly.
One of the guards outside opened it before we could respond.
Alpha Ashford stepped in.
His presence filled the space immediately. Controlled. Cold. Authority wrapped in calm precision.
He looked at Jade briefly.
Then at us.
Then spoke.
“Bring Linda to me.”
Not a question.
Not a discussion.
An order. freēwēbnovel.com
Jade stiffened instantly at the name.
And for the first time since we found her...
I saw something new in her expression.
Not fear.
Not sadness.
But the beginning of something closer to certainty.
Because whatever came next...
Linda would finally have to answer for everything she had done.
