Surprise, surprise!!!
“Yes, yes, that’s right! She seemed very secretive about the whole thing, like she didn’t want anyone to know we’d left or where we went.”
“I see,” I responded, finally removing my claws from his thigh. Lyon gasped in relief, but the moment Simon turned his glare toward him, he silenced himself.
Simon and I exchanged a knowing look.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Simon asked, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.
“Bet,” I replied, a hint of realization dawning on me.
Together, we turned our gazes back toward Lyon, who flinched in fear under our combined scrutiny.
Simon crossed his arms, his jaw tightening as he addressed Lyon again. “You better hope for your sake that what you’ve said checks out. If we find out you’ve withheld anything, even the smallest detail, you’ll regret ever stepping foot in this mansion.”
“I swear, Your Highness, that’s all I know! I told you everything!” Lyon pleaded, desperation evident in his voice.
I took a step forward, looming over him. “We’ll see about that.”
Without another word, I turned on my heel and motioned for Simon to follow me out of the room. As we walked out, I could still hear Lyon whimpering behind us, but my mind was already racing ahead, piecing together the significance of what we had just learned.
As soon as we were far enough away, Simon broke the silence. “So, Reign Fields. What do you make of that?”
“I don’t like it. Veronica visiting a place like that in secret raises too many red flags. Everybody knows that place is now a marketplace for traffickers and criminals. She’s obviously going there for Fabian.”
Simon nodded in agreement. “We’ll need to investigate that location right away. But just like you, I also have a gut feeling we’re getting closer to finding that scumbag. It just has to be him.”
“Agreed,” I replied, my thoughts already spiraling into plans. “For now, we need to tighten our surveillance on Veronica. No more room for mistakes. If she’s making moves we don’t know about, we need to stay two steps ahead.”
Simon smirked. “Two steps? I say we leap ahead and crush whatever plan she thinks she’s hatching.”
I met his gaze and nodded firmly. “Let’s finish this. We’re closer to the truth than ever, and we can’t afford to slip now.”
With that, we made our way back to the mansion’s upper levels, both of us silently preparing for the next phase of our plan. The pieces were falling into place, and soon, the truth-along with anyone who had tried to deceive us-would be laid bare.
A couple of days later, the in-house spy we had watching Veronica alerted us to her actions.
“Your Highness, right after the disappearance of Mr. Lyon, the queen has been going around asking as many people as possible about him or when they last saw him. From the looks of things, his disappearance seems to have left her extremely disturbed.”
“Hmm, I see. Thank you. Keep your eyes on her and alert us the moment anything else happens with her.”
“Affirmative,” he responded before ending the call. I looked out the window, my hands sitting still inside my pockets. I had a very good feeling Veronica would do something impulsive, which would lead us straight to what we wanted, and so I decided to wait and watch the drama unfold. What I didn’t expect, however, was how quickly it all happened.
That evening, Simon and I got a call from the spy, and this time, it was about Veronica trying to gain access to one of the cars. Judging from the way she was trying to leave the house, one could tell that she was definitely up to something, and I immediately called Simon’s attention to it.
As she made her way out, we sneakily got ourselves ready to follow her without being noticed, and it was only a matter of time before we soon found ourselves heading toward the lighthouse and moving toward none other than Reign Fields.
“She’s definitely going to meet Fabian,” Simon said, and I turned to face him.
“You really think so?”
“Except she has someone else there, I mean,” I chuckled, looking out at the road as we trailed right behind her. I was the one driving, and Simon kept maintaining a keen gaze toward where we were going, keeping his senses heightened to ensure we weren’t walking into any traps.
“Have you reached out to them?” I asked, and he raised his brow.
“Who?”
“Come on, bro, haven’t you called the men? We’ll definitely be needing backup.”
“Oh, of course I have. In fact, they’re also right behind us.”
“Wait, really?” I asked, turning back to look for them, but they were nowhere in sight. I wasn’t really surprised. I mean, that’s part of their training. They’re meant to travel out of sight so that it’s easier to catch criminals without being noticed.
As soon as we finally got to Reign Fields, Simon and I decided to stop and follow her on foot. In the meantime, Veronica was still driving along, but going on foot would definitely help us sneak up on her more easily.
We took on our wolf form and ran swiftly behind her, maintaining a safe distance while being fast enough to outrun her. After going for just a few minutes, she finally stopped right in front of an uncompleted house, and just by looking at the place, I could tell that it was definitely filled with crooks. Shortly afterward, our team of men arrived, and we all stood by the side as we watched what was happening.
Right in front of us was Veronica, standing before a guard outside the house. There wasn’t really any formality since he didn’t apprehend her. Instead, they gave each other a handshake before he stepped aside to let her in. Simon signaled for one of our men, and he went straight toward the guard as planned.
“Hey, stop there! Who are you?” the guard questioned, and without wasting any breath, Sky immediately slit his throat. He held on to his mouth to prevent him from yelling, pressing on his neck to hasten the process. It didn’t take much time before the guard slowly but steadily took his last breath.
“Let’s go!” I signaled, and the rest of us ran over to the place to go in. Sky dragged the guard’s body to hide it, while the rest of us quietly made our way inside. As soon as we entered, we were greeted by the pungent smell of sweat, blood, and rotten food. I scrunched my nose in discomfort, wondering how Veronica managed to bring herself to the place again and again.
“You all stay back here and keep watch while we go and apprehend them. The moment we need you, we will howl for you to come upstairs, understood?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” they all whispered, and Simon and I quietly made our way up the rugged stairs. Once we reached the top, we had to move even more quietly because we could already hear voices as they conversed.
“At this point, I don’t even know what’s happening anymore. You haven’t fulfilled your promises to me, and now you seriously expect me to provide you with more information? Heck no!” we heard Veronica yell, so we moved closer to eavesdrop on the conversation.
“Do not test my patience, woman! What do you mean I haven’t fulfilled my promise to you? I gave you instructions that you should have followed to the letter, but you decided to do things your way and it went south. So how is that my fault? Right now, I’m at greater risk.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
“You have something to fall back on if things go wrong, but if I get caught, it’s the end of me. You still have your darling father to plead your case, but I have nobody. So if you know what’s best for you, you’d do as I say, or things will go very badly for you.”
“Are you threatening me now?”
“Take it however you want, but don’t try me, princess. You wouldn’t want me to be against you.”
“Fine, whatever! I’ll give you something, but this time I need you to give me an effective push to have Ashley completely out of my way.”
“Why are you so intimidated by that woman? It’s not that hard. Just poison her or something. Anything, really, as long as it makes her death seem natural, and you’ll have everything you want.”
There was silence for a while before Veronica took a deep breath and responded.
“And do you think I haven’t thought of these options already? It’s not like I can’t have her hurt or killed. It’s just that I can’t strike right now-it would be too obvious. Everyone knows I’ve hated her since she was brought into the house, and the hatred has only grown now that she’s taken my place. If anything happens to her, no matter how small, it’ll be traced back to me, so the situation is more complicated than you think.”
“Well, you know there are many things you can do that wouldn’t even involve you touching her life, right?”
“Like what?”
“Let’s have the kids kidnapped. Then you can poison her to destroy her womb. With the kids out of the way and her womb unable to function, she’d become useless to those twins, and you’d get their attention again.”
As Simon and I continued listening, I wasn’t sure what angered me more: the fact that Veronica had betrayed the kingdom all these years or that she was now plotting to destroy its future. My emotions were running high, but I knew it wasn’t time to strike yet. Silently, Simon and I continued listening.
“So, how’s that little boyfriend of yours?” Fabian began, a hint of mockery in his voice. “I’m surprised they haven’t discovered you in the mansion. Simon and Lucas really are foolish wolves, not to know exactly what’s going on in their own house.”
“What do you mean? Don’t say that ever again, or I’ll have your tongue removed,” Veronica snapped. “By the way, why should I even care? Lyon hasn’t been around-or maybe he’s been ignoring me. I don’t know. When I find him, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind. But, then again, the house has been very quiet. I barely see Lucas and Simon either, but I guess theirs is quite understandable since they’re always busy with one work or another.”
“No wonder you’re always so free to come here and visit me, your future husband,” Fabian said, laughing.
“Very funny, but eww,” she replied with mock disgust.
At this moment, Simon and I knew it was time to retreat and prepare for the next phase. We quietly slipped back to the men downstairs, urging everyone to take cover, as their conversation seemed to be coming to an end. We waited in silence, and just as we had predicted, Veronica and Fabian soon made their way downstairs, with him escorting her out to her car.
We listened as the engine of her car roared to life, followed by the sound of her driving off into the night.
“It’s time,” I whispered, and we all emerged from our hiding spots. We waited until Fabian was back inside before cornering him. The moment he spotted us, terror washed over his face. He called out desperately for his guards, but it was clear to him that no one was coming to his aid.
“Surprise, surprise!” Simon and I said in unison, diabolical smiles spreading across our faces.
Fabian backed away, stumbling over his own feet as he tried to put distance between us. “Wait-wait! What do you want? We can talk about this, I swear. I can make a deal with you, anything!”
Simon chuckled darkly. “Too late for that. You’ve betrayed the kingdom, conspired against us, and now, it’s time for you to face the consequences.”