Chapter 264
0264
“THIS IS NOT ABOUT REVENGE!”
“THEN WHAT IS IT ABOUT? TELL ME SO WE CAN END THIS!”
For a moment, the strength that I had seen in Lily cracked just a little bit. I saw the tears forming in her
eyes.
“I always loved you, Father. I put up with everything and I ignored the pain. I considered you to be my
superhero. I told myself that you did not know what she was doing, and that you would never allow it to
continue if you knew. But here you are, defending her.”
“She is my mate and my wife! Of course I am defending her!”
“AND I WAS YOUR DAUGHTER!!!!!”
Robert paused, not saying anything for a moment. His next words were spoken softly. But for our
werewolf hearing, I doubt most in the audience would have heard him.
“Your mother has suffered enough, Lily. My parents mistreated her. I mistreated her. She lost Tyler, and
then she lost your sister. Those kinds of things can take down the strongest of wolves. She is not as
strong as you and I, or any of us. Please, Lily, I beg of you. As my daughter. as your mother’s daughter.
think of the good times. Think of your family. End this public spectacle. Let’s get your mother into some
therapy. I will go with her. I will even get some too. But please, do not continue this. It needs to end.”
Lily wiped a few more tears from her eyes, and James approached and hugged her from behind. She
leaned her head against his shoulder as she collected herself.
For a moment, I thought she was going to agree to what Robert asked of her. But she didn’t.
“This is not about me, Father. I put up with abuse and torture for ten years without complaint. If this was
just about me, I would have accepted your suggestion. But it’s not. It’s simply not. I understand that
Mother has suffered and I am sorry for that. But it does not excuse what she did. Nor does it excuse
what she allowed to happen and what she encouraged to happen.”
Lily gestured to everyone else in the boxes, as she wiped more tears from her cheeks. “Nor does it
excuse what you did, or what anyone else in these boxes did. There are real victims here, lots of them,
and they deserve justice too. Sit down, Father. The meeting will continue.”
With that, Lily invited the first of many victims to the microphone to explain their stories. For the next
three hours, we heard heartbreaking story after story.
We heard from pack members that had long since left the pack and that I never thought I would hear
from the Hoffman Family, and many, many, many others.
By the end, I had thrown up so much that they had to briefly pause so that Dr. Miller could check on me.
At his request, the silver cuff was removed so that my wolf could try to heal me. He actually proposed to
the other council members that I be allowed to leave and go to the clinic for an IV, but I quickly said that I
did not want to go anywhere.
These atrocities had happened in my pack, under my leadership. I had always refused to hear complaints about Margie and Stephanie in the past, but that was because I did not know how bad things were. Now
that I knew, I owed it to the victims to continue to hear them out.
Ultimately, I am glad that I stayed. Because the worst was about to come.
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