Ethan’s P. O. V
Claire’s expression hasn’t changed since I dropped the bomb. She still looks like she’s just been hit with a truckload of surprise. Honestly, she shouldn’t be so shocked. After all, Claire has been digging into this for a while, and she definitely knows more than she lets on.
“You’re Jacob Wensiker’s one and only his daughter,” I repeated.
“No, it’s not ….” She shook her head, ignore what I say to her.
“Yes, yo’re. And you know that I’m telling you the truth.”
“So, you’re saying that I should be the Alpha of The Moon Fall Pack?” she asked.
That is an incredible speculation. It is true that when the previous Alpha dies, the decendants will take its place. However, in this case, Claire wasn’t the next Alpha after Christhoper Gale gone. Unlike me, I immediately took my father’s place when he died.
Perhaps that will happen to Claire as well. Since she might not be considered worthy yet, the leadership might fall into Beta’s hands, only to be handed over to her after being declared worthy by The Elder.
I shook my head. “Taking over as an Alpha would take another ten or twenty years. You don’t have the experience, especially since you grew up in that orphanage.”
“I was abandoned,” she muttered, like it was the worst scandal ever. I disagreed.
“They saved you,” I told her. “In such a chaotic situation, anyone could have been killed, even a one-year-old.”
“From what I know, before Christopher Gale killed her, your mother had a loyal servant named Alberta Paradista.”
Claire’s reaction to learning she was Jacob Wensiker’s last descendant was nothing compared to when I revealed that Alberta, the nun who cared for her, was her late mother’s faithful servant.
“W-what did you just say? Sister Alberta is-”
“She took you away to save your life. But when it came time to leave, she couldn’t bear to part with you, so she stayed at the church, became a nun, dedicated herself to God, and raised you under a different identity to keep you hidden from Christopher Gale.”
I saw her struggling to breathe, trembling, her eyes blinking rapidly as if in a panic attack. I wanted to calm her down, but I knew she’d push me away if I tried to touch her.
So, I let her be for a moment. When she finally calmed down, I pulled her close, hoping my pheromones would soothe her a bit.
“I don’t know why Christopher Gale committed that massacre, but after he realized you were missing, he put a bounty on your head.”
“Are you saying he put a bounty on me?”
Claire pushed away from me, her beautiful eyes filling with tears.
I thought she’d explode, curse me out, and treat me like the scumbag I am. But she didn’t. She was much calmer than I feared. Even though she cried, I was sure those tears weren’t for the parents she never knew.
Is this the time for honesty?
I wiped her tears and kissed her pale lips. I knew this would be a spectacle, and Luc would be furious with me or maybe even harm Claire and our baby, but I didn’t care anymore.
Regardless of Lucy Torrance or Christopher Gale, I’d protect them both. Whether I’m forgiven or not, Claire would be the only woman in my life after this. I swore it.
“He promised power and a broader market to anyone who found and brought you to him. I was interested, so I started looking for you for over five years.”
“How much…,” she asked desperately. “How much did Christopher Gale offer to you?”
“He promised me the entire trading territory in Cambodia and control of several gambling districts in Chicago if I brought you to him alive.”
“Then why didn’t you do it?”
“I changed my mind after I met you that night, at the abandoned warehouse near the church where you and Alberta lived.” I wasn’t lying.
My mind did change after that day. Not because I loved you as my Luna, but because you might offer more benefits. But over time, those thoughts faded, and now I love you.
Huh, can I say that to her? No. I’m too much of a coward to say something like that to her face. Unlike Chen Lien, who’s bold enough to declare his love for Claire in front of me.
The burger I took from her was gone. I downed the latte she gave me until only half was left. I said I didn’t want any more food after breakfast, but look at me, eating half her burger.
“So you led the Shadow Warriors to kill the sisters and the orphans?”
I was startled by that. But I quickly shook my head, denying it. “That was beyond my control.”
“You’re lying to me.” she shouted.
I knew she’d say that. So, I pulled out the phone Chen Lien gave me, containing the names of the Shadow Warriors under Christopher Gale’s direct orders.
“Chen Lien gave this to me a week ago. These are the Shadow Warriors who killed the nuns and orphans.” I handed the phone to Claire.
She took it, scanning the list of names meticulously, as if committing them to memory.
“I never intended to kill you. Even though my goal was to hand you over to Christopher Gale, I wouldn’t go to such lengths to get what I wanted. The one thing I’d never do in my life is kill women and children,” I said.
After that, my phone rang in my pocket. It was Lucy, and she’d left several messages. Lucy said she was waiting for me to get to the meeting ASAP, but I felt too lazy to deal with that now.
So, I ignored the call and lay back on the grass, while Claire stared at me in bewilderment as I kept ignoring my phone.
“Why are you ignoring it? Isn’t that Lucy Torrance?” she asked.
“Do you remember why I told you to go to your room when Christopher Gale came to the packhouse that day? Because I didn’t want you to mindlink with him and let him brainwash you with manipulated truths.”
“But I’m not a member of The Moon Fall Pack, so I can’t mindlink with him even if he’s the Alpha there.”
“But you two come from the same territory, and you’re his legitimate niece.”