Every word and picture was like a needle going straight into my eyes, and the shame and anger were getting worse and worse.
But the last video, which was filmed in the manor’s dining room, pierced my chest with a spear of cold ice.
Ella had made Sophia eat bread with wolfsbane in it.
Wolfsbane. She really did it.
The longer I watched, the colder I got. My heart sank like a stone in freezing water.
That day, there really was wolfsbane in the bread. And those wounds Ella had shown off? She had hurt herself to make Sophia look bad.
I thought back to that moment and how harsh and dismissive my own voice was when I told Sophia to say she was sorry.
She must have been in pain by then.
How much pain did it cause?
I can see why she left so quickly. I can see why her eyes looked at me like I was a stranger.
She must really hate me.
The rage hit me like a firestorm. I snarled and picked Ella up off the ground, then slammed her into the marble floor. The tiles broke with a sharp, crystalline shatter.
“I told you not to go near Sophia!” I growled, my voice full of anger. And you still did all this dirty work behind my back?”
Ella’s mouth was bleeding. She coughed violently but didn’t care about her injuries. She crawled on her knees and grabbed the hem of my trousers.
“David!””Even if Maya isn’t your daughter, I’m still your friend!” she cried, desperate. You can’t do this to me!”
I kicked her hard enough to make her fall down. My voice got cold and final.
“Not for long.” “You’ll pay for everything you did to Sophia.”
I looked at my Beta and said, “Take her.” Put her in the basement of the manor.
Ella’s eyes grew wide with fear. She grabbed my leg again, her voice high with fear.
“Not David! I was wrong! Have mercy, please! You loved her so much for Maya’s sake! Please don’t do this to me!”
She had seen what I did to a werewolf who dared to talk badly about Sophia before.
She heard the begging and the screams from the basement.
Saw the body after it was pulled out. Silver burned it in a dozen places.
She had been having bad dreams for days.
Now it was her turn.
I felt sick as I shook her off. I told the guards to take her away.
Maya had turned ghostly pale on the hospital bed, and her small voice cried out, “Daddy…” “Mommy…”
I didn’t even look at her.
I told my Beta to “send someone from the orphanage to pick her up.”
I then gave him another order right away.
“Send a message to every pack about the missing person.” I want to find Sophia no matter what it takes.
Sophia’s point of view
Word of David’s loud, never-ending search for me spread quickly, even to the Snow Pack.
At that moment, I was sitting across from Zane, the Alpha of the Snow Pack, in Ebonfield’s most famous restaurant. It was so famous that even royalty had to make reservations weeks in advance and still had to wait in queue.
My father had picked Zane as a political ally, and to my surprise, he was charming and gentle. He acted like a big, obedient dog wagging its tail in front of me, trying to please.
I had only ever said in passing that I liked this restaurant once.
So, Zane bought it for me.
Straight up.
He said it was so I could eat here whenever I wanted.
It wasn’t the first time Zane’s money and power had surprised me, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.
He talked to me in that casual, offhand way of his while he carefully cut my steak into neat, bite-sized pieces.
“Hey Sophia, that Alpha with the territory the size of a sesame seed is still looking for you.” It seems like he still has feelings.
