Chapter 44

Aria’s POV

With the money and the identification cards on the desktop, I realized there was one more thing tucked inside the envelope: a letter.

Retrieving it, I unfolded the paper to see a note scrawled in Lucian’s handwriting.

It read:

Whether you choose to stay with Nightfall or travel elsewhere, you and your child will forever be welcomed and well-regarded here. These cards will ensure you can always return.

Sincerely,

Alpha King Lucian

Lowering the letter down to the desk, I leaned back in my chair, needing a moment to collect myself. The revelations of my conversation with Lucian, one after the next, had been shocking.

Now that I was alone, with everything fully revealed, I could finally sit and process it all.

I didn’t know how long I sat there, thinking and rethinking and thinking once more, but eventually, there was a knock on the door.

Cathy pushed the door open a crack without waiting for my reply. Or maybe she had been waiting. Time felt strange right now, when I was so lost in thought.

“There you are,” she said. “Piper told me you were speaking with Lucian. Is everything alright?”

“No,” I said.

Cathy quickly entered the room and closed the door behind her. Approaching me at the desk, she spoke softly, as if afraid she might spook me, “What happened?”

Her face filled with confusion as she looked down at the large amount of cash covering my desk. Ignoring that, I pushed forward the two identification cards.

Cathy grabbed and lifted them. As she read them, her eyes went wide.

“Lucian knows you’re pregnant,” she said.

“Yes.”

I gave her the letter next.

“He wants you and your child to stay with Nightfall.”

“He wants Dr. A and her child to stay,” I said.

Cathy lowered the letter. “Aria, you are Dr. A.”

“He doesn’t know that,” I said. “In fact, he admitted he once thought I was his wife, but now he knew I wasn’t.”

Frowning, Cathy reread the letter ago. Then, she glanced at the cash. “How much money is that?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t counted it yet.”

Whatever the specific amount, it was clearly a sizeable portion, and was a good start to the amount I needed to leave this pack and never look back.

“What are you thinking?” Cathy asked, her focus back on me.

“I don’t know. I don’t know to think about all of this. Any of it.”

“Maybe you don’t have to know right now,” Cathy said. “It’s okay to take a few days with this and process it. It is a lot.”

I hated feeling so lost. I wanted answers and decision right now, but I just didn’t know what to do with any of these revelations. I didn’t even know where to start.

As I sat there in my misery, the phone on my desk rang, jolting me from my thoughts.

Work. Yes. I could focus on that.

Grabbing the phone, I lifted it to my ear. “This is Dr. A.”

“I’m sorry to bother you,” Piper said through the line. “But I just received word from Caleb’s family. They wanted me to pass along that they will be staying to observe some of your treatments to their father.”

“They don’t trust me,” I said, mostly to myself.

“I don’t know,” Piper replied. “I’m sorry.”

“Not to worry,” I assured her. “They can watch all they want. I have nothing to hide.”

Hanging up the phone, I looked up at Cathy who still had concern in her eyes, directed at me.

“Caleb’s family are going to watch my every move,” I said. “But I’m honestly grateful for it. It will help me focus.” I stood up from my chair.

“Are you sure about this?” Cathy asked. “No one will say anything if you take a few more minutes to recover.”

“I need this, Cathy. If I concentrate on work, I won’t be thinking about Lucian, or the future, or what to do. For now, I just want to help Caleb.”

With a small sigh, Cathy nodded. “Okay. You know I support you, whatever you want to do.”

“I do,” I promised.

Together, we walked to the door.

Sheila’s POV

Stuck at home, Sheila was going absolutely stir-crazy. After her most recent phone interview, Lucian had deemed house arrest not enough for her, and had taken her access to the outside world, removing the phones from her room and the hallways.

As it was, that Sheila could guess, the only working phones left in all of this estate were behind lock and key. The head housekeeper had one, tucked away in her office. The other was in Lucian’s office, behind a locked door.

As the servants and maids milled about 24 hours a day, Sheila doubted she could sneak down to the head housekeeper’s phone without being seen.

The one in Lucian’s office was another matter. As Lucian had mostly been going to the Alpha headquarter building to work as of late, his office sat mostly undisturbed throughout the day. That it was located in a far corner of the building meant it also didn’t receive much foot traffic.

Sheila wasn’t much for picking locks, but she still had a few tricks up her sleeve. Armed with a credit card, she opened the door to her room and peeked around the corner.

Per Lucian’s commands, she was permitted to walk around the house, though the maids often viewed her with suspicion. For the sake of her current plan, discretion was advisable.

The hallway, fortunately, was clear. Sneaking out of her room, she carefully, soundlessly, closed the door behind her. In the hallway, she moved toward the stairs, then slowly descended, careful to avoid the step that she knew creaked.

At the base of the stairs, she heard voices and immediately paused. Pressing herself to the wall, she listened as two of the maids gossiped.

“Things were more organized with Aria, that’s for sure.”

“Honestly, I miss her. Even the Alpha King was more relaxed when she was around.”

“Most definitely. With only Sheila around, everyone’s on pins and needles. She can turn on those waterworks so fast…”

“Hush you two,” said an authoritative third voice. The head housekeeper, most likely. She well and truly hated Sheila, from what Sheila could tell, yet her presence was tolerable since she could act professionally. Like now, silencing these other two.

Their gossip was spiteful. If Sheila wasn’t on such an important mission here, she would have stepped out from the shadows and scolded the maids herself.

For now, she found the head housekeeper to do an adequate job.

When three steps of footsteps disappeared down the hallway, Sheila stepped out from the stairwell and continued her trek. Finally, she reached Lucian’s office.

Trying the doorknob, she found it was locked, as expected.

Holding her credit card near where she knew the lock mechanism to be, she gently slid it between the door frame and the door. When she reached the lock, she found some resistance. Yet, pushing it harder, the lock eventually gave away and the door opened.

She slipped inside quickly and then closed the door behind her.

In the relative safety of the office, she allowed herself to relax somewhat. No one would dare enter here. As long as she wasn’t seen through the window, while she was in here, she wouldn’t be disturbed.

Moving to Lucian’s desk, Sheila lifted the phone.

She’d been plotting, and now it was time to bring Dr. A down, once and for all.