Chapter 9
CHLOE'S P.O.V.
“Mom.” The word catches me off guard. I look at Lucas, who is standing a few feet away from me with his piano book tucked against his chest.
For a moment, neither of us says anything.
“Did you just call me Mom?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper. I know he's called me that, but never freely. Never of his own accord. He always called me Aunt Chloe.
His cheeks turn slightly red, and he looks down at his feet.
“Yes.” He fiddles with the edge of the book. “Dad said I could call you that.”
My heart clenches. Of all the miserable and pathetic things Jasper had done, this somehow managed to unsettle me the most.
He had spent years making sure I remembered that Lucas wasn't my biological child while still making sure I treated him as one. Yet now, after everything that has happened, he suddenly wanted Lucas to call me Mom.
Was this another part of his plan?
I crouch down until I'm at Lucas's eye level. “You don't have to call me that if you don't want to.”
“But I want to.” He looks up at me hopefully, a small smile forming on his lips.
“You're my mom too, aren't you?”
I swallow hard. “Yes, sweetheart.” I force a smile and gently pat his head. “Yes, I am.”
He smiles wider before running off toward the living room.
I remain there for a few seconds, watching him disappear around the corner, my wolf stirring restlessly beneath my skin. She wasn't very pleased at this. She wanted her pup, not something else's.
“Chloe?” I turn at the sound of his voice. Jasper walks toward me, his sleeves rolled up and a proud smile on his face.
“You heard him.”
I nod. “He called me Mom.”
“Yes.” He chuckles. “I told him that he should start treating you like his mother. After all, you've raised him all these years.”
I stare at him. “That's quite sudden.”
He shrugs. “Maybe our recent squabble has made me realize that we're still a family.”
A family. The words almost make me laugh. A family where one's child was treated unfairly like a commoner while being made to raise the child of another, who, by the way, was still alive. A family where my husband most likely had a mistress hidden away somewhere while pretending she had been dead for three years.
A family indeed.
“Perhaps,” I say, forcing a smile.
Jasper seems pleased with my response. “You know, Lucas has become very talented with the piano.”
I glance toward the piano. “I noticed.”
“He could teach Sophia when she comes home.” Bile rises in my throat, my palms fisting.
“I'm sure she would love that.” I smile sweetly at him. He walks closer and places a hand around my waist.
“And after the birthday party, things will finally settle down.” I don't answer because I know better. Nothing will settle down, not until I tear this family apart.
My phone vibrates inside my pocket, which I discreetly pull out. It was a message from Josephine.
'I have the address.'
My heartbeat quickens. Yvette.
I quickly type a response.
'Send it.'
A few seconds later, the location comes through. I stare at the address, still reeling from the disbelief that she really was alive. Jasper's supposedly dead mistress was alive and living freely while I had been mourning a woman I had never even met.
My fingers tighten around my phone.
“Everything okay?” Jasper asks.
I quickly switch off my phone. “Yes. Just a message from one of the vendors.”
He nods. “Everything ready for Lucas's party?”
“Almost.”
He smiles. “I knew I could trust you.” If only he knew.
The following morning, I leave the house early after informing Jasper that I need to check something regarding the birthday arrangements. He barely questions me. After all, he believes I've given up on the divorce. He believes I've accepted his conditions.
I'd let him believe that for now. The drive through Woodvale to Yvette takes nearly two hours.
I park a short distance away from the address Josephine sent me. For several minutes, I simply sit inside my car. My hands tighten around the steering wheel.
What if this is all a mistake? What if Josephine's information is wrong?
What if the woman I was about to see wasn't Yvette?
My wolf growls impatiently.
A woman steps out of a small grocery store across the street, and my breath catches. Even from this distance, I recognized her. I quickly pick up my phone and compare her face with the picture Josephine had sent me.
My heart pounds. It was her.
Yvette Reed.
She was alive, looking nothing like a woman who had supposedly died in a terrible accident three years ago. Far from it. She carried two grocery bags in her hands as she walked down the street.
I quietly get out of my car and follow her from a distance. I keep my senses alert, using my wolf's heightened hearing to pick up anything unusual.
Yvette walks into a small apartment building. I stop across the street, my eyes remaining fixed on the building.
A few minutes later, she comes back outside. This time, she has her phone pressed against her ear. I can't hear the person on the other end clearly, but Yvette's expression brightens.
She smiles, then she laughs softly.
Who was she talking to? She walks toward a nearby café, still talking on the phone while I quickly take several pictures. Then something catches my attention.
A delivery man approaches her.
“Mrs. Langley?”
Yvette turns.
“Yes?”
“Delivery for you.” He hands her a small envelope. She signs for it before walking away while I zoom in and subtly take pictures.
My eyes narrow. Mrs. Langley? I quickly zoom in on the delivery slip.
The name was clearly written, Yvette Langley. My stomach twists. Langley. Donald Langley. So she had remained under his name? Trying to hide under it?
My phone vibrates, Josephine. I answer immediately.
“What did you find?”
“More than I expected,” she says.
I glance at Yvette, who is now entering a café.
“What do you mean?”
“I traced the number we've been monitoring.”
My heartbeat quickens.
“And?”
“Yvette has been communicating with someone regularly.”
“Jasper?”
“No.”
I frown. “Then who?”
There is a brief pause. “Catherine.”
My entire body goes rigid. “Catherine?”
“Yes. Your mother-in-law.”
My fingers tighten around the phone. “How often?”
“Frequently. Very frequently.”
“How frequent?”
“Enough to make me suspicious. They've exchanged dozens of calls over the past few months. Some of them lasted nearly an hour.”
My wolf snarls inside me. I shut my eyes. It all suddenly makes sense. Catherine had never simply disliked Sophia. She had deliberately kept her away.
She had defended Jasper every single time, and worse, she had known about Yvette.
“Jo,” I say quietly.
“I'm listening.”
“I want you to uncover every single thing about this case.”
“I already am.”
“No, I mean everything. Every call. Every transfer. Every meeting. I want everything connecting Catherine, Yvette, and Jasper.”
"Understood," then I drop the call.
For a moment, I remain standing there. Across the street, Yvette walks out of the café. She looks happy, peaceful even. As though she hadn't destroyed another woman's family. As though my daughter hadn't been paying the price for her existence.
My hands curl into fists.
“Three years,” I whisper. Three years of lies. Three years of Lucas being treated like a prince while my daughter wasted away. And they all knew.
My wolf growls again as I slip into my car. There was no longer any doubt in my mind. This wasn't just about Jasper. Catherine was involved. And if she thought she could continue hiding behind her position as the Alpha's mother, she had another thing coming.
My phone vibrates again with another message from Josephine.
Chloe, there's something else you need to know.
I stare at the screen, my fingers hovering over the message. Then I open it.
'Yvette has contacted Catherine again. And shortly after that, Catherine called Jasper.'
My heart drops.