Chapter 111
Calvin’s POV
For the next twenty minutes, we watched the surveillance footage in complete silence. My heart was pounding so hard I was sure she could hear it. These videos had haunted me for years, yet I’d never confronted her about them.
When the last video ended, Evelyn turned to me with an eerily calm expression.
“The videos are real,” she said flatly.
The pain that shot through me was almost physical. I turned away quickly, not wanting her to see how much those words hurt.
“But I never cheated on you, Calvin p>
I froze, then slowly turned back to face her. “Explain p>
She sighed deeply. “That year, I lost a dear friend, Helena. But I also saved someone very powerful. Part of the funding for my initial laboratory came from him as payment for my services.He demanded complete secrecy about his treatment and identity p>
“What does that have to do with Leon?” I asked, skeptical.
“I didn’t even know Leon was in that room until I saw these videos just now,” she admitted. “Sometimes what you see isn’t the full truth, Calvin p>
Her long lashes cast shadows over her eyes, hiding whatever emotions might be there. My pride wouldn’t let me back down now.
“I never cheated either,” I said firmly.
Evelyn gave a cold laugh. “Right. Then what about Clara’s social media posts? All those intimate photos of you two p>
I frowned. “What social media posts p>
I immediately pulled out my phone and showed her my contacts list. “Clara isn’t even in my contacts. I have no idea what you’re talking about p>
The room felt heavy with tension. Neither of us willing to completely trust the other after so much hurt.
Finally, I broke the silence. “I’ll investigate everything – the videos, these supposed social media posts. If it all turns out to be misunderstandings, then perhaps we could p>
“No,” Evelyn cut me off firmly. “We can’t p>
Her voice left no room for argument. The finality in her tone felt like a knife to my chest.
I stood at my study window long after she left, watching her car disappear down the driveway. The emptiness she left behind seemed to seep into my very bones.
Immediately, I contacted Beta Zeon, ordering him to investigate Clara’s social media activity thoroughly. Within an hour, he forwarded the findings to my phone.
As I scrolled through the fabricated posts and digitally altered photos, my face darkened with fury. Every muscle in my body tensed with rage.
“Bring Clara here. Now!” I growled into the phone.
The Bloodbane Pack had a special room for dealing with traitors. A room few people ever left unscathed.
My security team brought Clara from the private hospital where she’d been recovering. Her face was wrapped in bandages, her once-reconstructed features now ruined beyond repair.
When she saw me, her eyes lit up momentarily with hope, only to dim when I threw the printed evidence of her fake social media posts onto the table before her.
She couldn’t meet my eyes, guilt written across what little was visible of her face.
Just then, the door opened again as my security team brought in another woman dripping in designer clothes.
“How dare you! Let go of me! Do you have any idea who I am?” she shrieked, struggling against their grip.
Lydia. My half-sister. The missing piece in this puzzle.
“She betrayed us,” Cyra snarled in my mind. “She helped destroy our family p>
As I stared at these two women who had played pivotal roles in destroying my marriage, I felt a cold, calculated rage settle over me. They would pay for what they’d done. And then, perhaps, I could begin to rebuild what I’d lost with Evelyn.
If she would ever give me another chance.
Evelyn’s POV
Leaving the Bloodbane Pack territory behind, my heart was still pounding wildly in my chest. The confession Calvin had just made kept replaying in my mind, each word like a sharp needle pricking at old wounds I’d fought so hard to seal.
“I liked you.” he’d said. After five years of marriage. Five years of cold shoulders and distant glances. Now he wanted to explain everything, to clear the air between us.
But it was too late. Far too late. The damage was done, the trust shattered beyond repair. I refused to let my heart soften. Forgiveness now would only betray the woman who had suffered silently for years, the woman who had finally found the strength to walk away.
My priority had to be protecting my heart and my children. Nothing else mattered.
The following evening, I pulled into the school parking lot to pick up Rowan and Rhys. Normally, I’d have Alexis wait at home during these pickups, there were too many unknown threats lurking in shadows these days. But today had been different.
“Mommy, faster! Brothers are waiting!” Alexis bounced in her car seat, clutching a thermal bag containing her precious ice cream.
She’d been inconsolable when her brothers hadn’t come home last night, and today she’d absolutely insisted on coming along, even raiding the freezer for their favorite treats.
Her excitement was infectious, her tiny face glowing with anticipation as I helped her out of the car. The thermal bag looked comically large in her small hands, but she refused to let me carry it.
“I’ll carry it for brothers,” she declared proudly, slinging her candy-covered backpack over her shoulders and grabbing my hand to pull me toward the school entrance.
As we approached the school gate, I spotted a familiar figure standing nervously by the fence. Lydia Wolfe. Calvin’s half-sister. Her usually immaculate appearance now disheveled and anxious.
“S-sister-in-law,” she stammered when she saw me, her voice trembling.
I frowned instantly. “Don’t call me that p>
My cold response only seemed to increase her panic.
Her eyes darted around nervously, and I noticed her knuckles were white from gripping her phone too tightly.
“Please, listen,” she blurted out, words tumbling over each other in her haste. “Clara’s social media posts about her and my brother—they’re all fake! I took those photos! Calvin wasn’t making her special remedies; he was heating up medication for me p>
She spoke so rapidly I could barely keep up.
“He wasn’t driving her to movie sets either. I was sketching nearby and just hitched a ride back to the mansion with him.” She paused to take a breath. “I had no idea the tabloids would twist everything like that p>
I noticed her phone was still in an active call. My eyes drifted past her to a black car parked across the street. Through the tinted windows, I could make out Calvin’s silhouette in the back seat, rigid and imposing like a statue carved from stone. The vehicle had been following us since we left home.
I’d assumed it contained security personnel assigned to protect my sons. Now I realized the occupant was likely Calvin himself.