The Dark Side Of Fate by Karima Sa'ad Usman

102 After The Dinner

~Tamia~

After dinner, Sylvester, Marcel and Theo went to question Liam. We wanted to be there, but I knew why they told us to stay behind.

Although Sylvester said he wanted to see if Liam would trust them enough to talk and if he proves difficult, we will speak to him kindly and get the information out. I know that wasn't Sylvester's reason, but I let it be.

We had been through too much that day for me to argue with him.

I could see his desperation. He spoke with the two people he would have never spoken to under normal circumstances, especially Devin.

I knew the cards bothered him. However calm he tried to be, I knew he was troubled by the cards, and so was I.

Safety and peace had become paramount, and I looked forward to solving the matter.

Avery and Linda followed me to my room. Stephanie met us in the hallway, looking troubled, and I knew something was off.

"Luna," I said, and she smiled at me, but her smile did not touch her eyes. Her body language was off, and I wondered what might have transpired between her, Dominic, Jake and Katya during dinner.

Sylvester still refused to eat with them, and I knew it was because he loved eating with his friends. It wasn't personal, although since Jake was with us, I planned on having breakfast together to show respect and appreciation.

"Where is Sylvester?" she asked, and I frowned.

"Working'" I said, and she nodded. Her hand had a slight tremble and did not seem at ease. She was clutching her phone tightly.

"Stephanie," I linked her, worried, and she looked away.

"Please see me when you are through with your friends. It is urgent." she linked back.

"Jake?" I asked through the mind link, and she shook her head.

"No, Please see me," she said and walked away.

"What is with her? One minute she is happy; the next, she is a trembling mess. Did she not arrive at the mansion in high spirits? I swear I saw some chemistry between her and Jake, but now she is a mess," Avery said, and I ushered my friends into my room.

"I doubt it has anything to do with Jake," Linda said, and I wondered how Linda could sum that up.

"How do you know?" Avery asked.

"She was clutching her phone too tightly," Linda said, and we all laughed, but I was worried.

We all sat down to have some tea. I linked a servant to serve us tea.

"Congratulations, Ave, I never got to congratulate you personally," I said, resting my hand on her lap, and she beamed at me.

"Thank you, Tamia. I am so excited. I welcome the morning sickness and everything. I am thrilled, and Marcel has been over the moon about it," she said and then looked at Linda.

"I am sorry that I made you uncomfortable all this while. It wasn't deliberate, I just.." she said, about to get emotional, but Linda stopped her.

"You have nothing to apologise for, Ave. I know the feeling. Trust me; I lived it. Besides, it is natural for you to feel that way. Although it made me want to stay away from you, I wasn't mad," She said, and we all laughed.

The tea came, and I told the Omega to leave after she had placed the tray on the coffee table.

"How long do you think questioning Liam would take?" Linda asked, and I shrugged.

"They should have let us in on the fun, too; I am bored," Linda said, and I sighed.

"Liam is a child, Linda; he just turned seventeen. It is sad that those sick bastards would want to use him like this. I did not think I would have been able to handle seeing the poor boy tortured. If you hear his back story, you can't help but feel sorry for him. I doubt I can handle his pain, but Amy, his mother, is another ball game," I said, feeling rage towards the mother that had failed her son on every level.

I get that she had misgivings with the Volkovs, if any; I get that she believes she is fighting a cause, but why get her son involved? No matter what anyone said about the bitch, I knew she was involved. She was way too lenient about Liam moving to the west and went out of her way to fulfil an odd request. She did not act as a mother should.

I would have believed otherwise if Christian did not say she was his mother.

There was just no excuse. So her son did not have friends. Neither did I have friends when I was growing up. It was no excuse, and I wanted to get the truth out of her.

"So you think it is the mother ?" Avery asked, and I nodded.

"The signs are there. Even if she did not do it directly, she had facilitated it," I said, and Avery cursed.

"I will be a mother soon; I will never do that to my baby. If I want to be evil, I will leave my child out of it, even if I believe I am fighting for a just cause. I still won't get my baby involved in a treasonous act," she said, and Linda shrugged.

"It wouldn't really matter, Ave. I believe this Amy bitch knew it, so she made the most of the situation. If Amy is involved in treason against the royals and the nobles, her entire family will go down for it. She will be executed, and they will be exiled. It is all or nothing. That is the law. Every family should be disciplined and put in check. Everyone is responsible for everyone. That was why they tried to frame Dominic.

If Dominic had gone down for that shit, Sylvester would have had to step down to be investigated. It was all targeted at Sylvester, and I am glad Dominic could see it eventually.

I am curious about what Larry's role is in all this," she said, reminding us of the man who was once a problem but somehow had faded into the dark. He was in the council, but he barely spoke or acted. Could he be pulling some strings in the background to get back at everyone for the humiliation he suffered?

"Larry.." Avery said, realising we never really thought of the guy.

"We need to look into Larry," Linda said, and I nodded.

"Noted. Who we need to focus on now is Amy. I am sure she has a lot to tell us. I also learned she is a Delta like us, so there should be no hard feelings when we apply force," I said, and Avery shook her head.

"I doubt I can do anything physical," she said, and I nodded.

"I will have an enforcer there to help us out. It would have been nice to do it alone, seeing how she failed to protect her son, but an enforcer will be great too." I said, and we discussed other things.

Linda and Avery soon said goodnight after an hour.

Seeing that Sylvester was yet to return to the room, I was glad because it meant Liam was forthcoming. He wouldn't have stayed this long if the boy was tight-lipped.

I decided to check on Stephanie.

While I walked towards her room, I told the head of staff that we would all be eating breakfast together in the bigger dining room.

I stood at Stephanie's door and took a deep breath before I knocked on it

"Come in, Tamia," She said, knowing it was me. Of course, she would; she was an Alpha breed.

I opened the door and walked in. What I saw scared me.

Stephanie was a mess; she had a bottle of northern cocktail on the table and a glass of it in hand. I rushed and took the green stuff from her. Remembering my experience with the thing, I did not want anything to happen to Stephanie.

"What is all this?" I asked, a bit annoyed. Why was she acting like a child? I was threatened that day, but I had my shit together; what was her problem?

"I am scared, Tamia," She said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I did not know what to do," she said, pacing about her room.

"What is the matter, Stephanie?" I asked her, and she handed me her phone. On the screen was her inbox.

I did not know what to look for until I saw the latest massage in her inbox and who the sender was.

"Jenny Lawrence," it read, and I wondered who was sick enough to play this kind of joke.

"Who is playing with you?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Open it," she said, and I opened it.

"Treason should never go unpunished," it read with a big graphics interchange format (GIF), of someone grinning wickedly. I did not need to guess what the person was referring to.

"We burned the proof, Stephanie; you need to relax," I said, and she shook her head.

"I doubt I can do that, Tamia. I am scared," She said, and I went to hold her.

"This person might be playing a prank," I told her, knowing deep down that wasn't the case because we did not see Jenny's computer and being a file freak, she might have had all the details there. I needed Stephanie to be calm while Sylvester and I figured out everything.

I moved her to the couch and held her.

"I need you to relax. Do not give them what they want." I said, and she shook her head.

"Whoever is doing this has access to Jenny's email and has the proof you burnt. The woman kept records of her crimes. Why won't she keep a record of the crimes of others? She was that sick in the head. If word gets out that I killed Maurice, a lot of things will happen," she said, shaking, and I shook my head.

"Technically, you didn't. Bane has taken all the credit. As for the anonymous letter, you never really admitted to sending it, so it is baseless," I said, and she did not relax. I knew something was troubling her, or she wasn't upfront about some things.

"If there is anything you feel we should know, it is best you tell me now," I said, and she pulled away and began to weep.

"You know how angry I get, Tamia. Jenny was frustrating, and she pissed me off severely. I am not sure, but I might have admitted to it over the phone in the heat of anger. Hopefully, she did not record that either." She said, and I felt the blood drain from my face.

She was an Alpha breed. How could she be so sloppy?

"You what!!!!" I said, and she shook her head.

"I am not sure, but I do not want my words to be twisted and used against me," she said, crying, and I had no choice but to hold her close and calm her down.

If this was the case, there was only one thing to do: discredit the source and make it seem malicious.

"Stephanie, you will listen to me now," I said with a calm and cold voice.

"I need you to pretend like nothing is wrong. I need you to brush it off. Whoever is doing this is trying to push you off the edge. You musn't let them. I need you to treat it as harassment. If the person had anything, you would have been arrested. Do not give them what they want. There is so much to deal with now. Do you think you can do that?" I asked her, and she looked into my cold eyes.

She wiped away her tears immediately. All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

"I am not worried about myself, Tamia. I did a lot of shady things with Jenny and her brother. If word got out, Sylvester would be affected." She said, and I nodded calmly, knowing all she was talking about, but we needed to focus on the most important thing, and that was to discredit the source.

Moving on, the Mikhailovs were important now. Who knows, Enzo might have the computer or maybe Jacob.