Andre’s POV
I was kneeling by her side and fanning her the best I could with my shirt. Sweat was running down my muscular torso, and I was overwhelmed with worry.
“Please wake up, Olivia. Please.”
Finally, her eyes fluttered open, and she looked at Pierre and me weakly as we stood over her with concern.
“Olivia!”
I grabbed her and pulled her close to me. When I pulled away, she smiled weakly and caressed my face. She tried to stand up, but I made her sit.
“No! Sit down. You need to get some rest. In fact, I’m taking you back to bed.”
I was about to carry her, but she insisted that she was okay. She stood up and I saw her eyes locked on Nicole in fury. I had never seen such a hateful glint in her beautiful eyes.
She stormed up to her with renewed energy and slapped her on the cheek.
Nicole hissed in pain and turned her head back to glare at her with hate.
“You filthy, disgusting bitch! Who do you think you are?!”
She pushed her insult aside and slapped her again. A deathly silence befell the room. Pierre and I stood behind her, watching her ordeal with her ‘so-called mother’.
“How dare you?! She said with angry tears in her eyes. “You knew for my entire lifetime that you were not my real mother, and you never cared to say anything! You are a heartless monster”
Nicole scoffed, and an evil smile crept on her face. I felt Pierre move to hit her, but I held him back.
“Why are you only blaming me? Didn’t your father also keep the secret from you?”
“At least he tried to show me love like a real daughter! All my good memories were with him!”
“Well, boo hoo hoo. Excuse me for not being there for most of your life. It’s not like I wanted to. You and your pathetic father were not worth my time. He was weak and incapable, and despite him not being your real father, he transferred those useless traits to you. Before you came along, I was happily married to him, and we were thinking of starting our own family. But as soon as you appeared on our doorstep, our plans changed. All he could think about was you. If anything, you are the monster! Because of the way we were threatened to take care of you, thoughts of starting our own family vanished! You robbed us of our own children, and you drove him to his death!”
“What?!”
She raised her hand to slap her again, but her palm began to tremble, and Nicole laughed wickedly as she saw her. She glanced at me and I could tell that her glare showed that she thought that I had mated a weak wolf.
“You know that what I’m saying is true. That is why you are scared to hit me again. You never thought to ask your dad why you didn’t have any siblings, why you are an only child! You stole his love for me, and that was why I left! Everything is your fault!”
She broke into tears, and I couldn’t watch this anymore. I tossed the gun to Pierre and gave him a nod.
He grabbed Nicole by the neck and threateningly pointed the gun to her head. I gently pushed Olivia aside and took centre stage.
“We don’t have time for games, Nicole. Tell us the information that we need to find Olivia’s parents. You have ten seconds.”
She scoffed and held her head up proudly.
“You are bluffing, and I am not going to tell you anything!”
I growled and gave a nod to Pierre. He lightly squeezed the trigger, and I saw the fear rise in Nicole’s eyes.
“Okay, okay. There isn’t much to tell you. The basket that she was brought in had a blanket with the insignia of a wolf pack. My husband and I searched tirelessly to find what pack it belonged to, but it was all unfruitful. We never showed her the blankets and I am certain that it is still back at our house in our old pack. That’s all I can tell you. Maybe if you recognise the insignia, you can find her parents.”
I glared at Pierre, and he let go of Nicole.
He threw the gun back to me, and just as I caught it, Olivia stormed out of the room.
“Olivia!”
I ran after her down the dark corridor and called out to her, but she didn’t turn back to look at me or even stop for a second.
We reached my study, and she was about to leave, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her towards me.
“Olivia, where are you…”
She slapped my hand away and glared at me.
“How could you?! How long have you had Nicole in your custody? How long did you know that Nicole wasn’t my real mother?
“I…”
She cut me off and threw her hands angrily in the air.
“I can’t believe you, Andre. You knew all this time, and you never said anything to me?! You knew Nicole was not my mother! When were you going to tell me the truth?!”
Hot, angry tears flowed down her cheeks, and I didn’t know what to say to stop them.
“We are engaged, Andre. I am your mate! I don’t know why you still choose to treat me like a child. Do I mean so little to you that you can’t even tell me things that especially concern me? You know that I wanted to go to Elvis Pine to find out about my dad and now, I am just finding out that my dad isn’t even my real dad! You knew all this time, and you never told me! I hate you, Andre! You are…”
I pulled her into a hug and held her there. She struggled with me, but soon, she stopped and began to sob loudly in my bare chest.
“Olivia, it’s not like I didn’t want to tell you. I just wanted to be sure that it was the truth before I told you. Nicole is a pathological liar, and she would pull any trick just to get me back with her. I initially heard it and thought it was just one of her ploys so I did investigations to verify. I got samples from both of you and sent them to the lab for a DNA test and I swore that I was going to tell you as soon as the test results came out. I found Nicole and held her under my custody so that when the results came out, I would have her verify them and give me the reasons why she kept it from you all these years. Even now that she has told us the truth, the results are still not out which is why I haven’t yet told you.”
I pulled her away from me, cupped her face in my hands, and stared deep into her beautiful, glassy blue eyes.
“You are my mate, Olivia. I would never undermine you or treat you less. I respect, cherish, and love you, and I only want the best for you. I am sorry if my actions made it seem like I had no regard for you, but I do. And I never want you to forget that.”
I pulled her into a deep kiss, and she relaxed in my arms.
“I am sorry that I got so angry. I know that you’re only looking out for me. I love you, Andre.”
I pressed my forehead on hers and stared lovingly into her eyes.
“I love you too, Olivia.”