I let out the breath that I’d been holding. But no one said anything after that. There was just silence until he placed my foot back down and curled a finger on my chin, tilting it up a bit to meet his gaze.
“Nadia, look at me. Tell me you believe me.”
Our eyes locked as I nodded my head. “I believe you.”
“Do you believe me because you love me? Or do you believe me because you know I would not kill him?”
I bit my bottom lip because he caught me there. I believed him because I loved him.
“I’m not going to deny that I wanted him dead the moment I saw your bruises. Especially the one on your back. I wanted to crush him, make him beg for his life, but I didn’t. Do you know why?”
I shook my head this time.
He stood up and sat beside me on the bed before he guided me to sit sideways on his lap. “Because he’s the only family you know of. I didn’t touch him and instead turned him over to Darvin for punishment because I didn’t want to hurt you. But if… but if you asked me to kill him, I would. Without second thoughts.”
“I would never ask you to kill him.”
“That’s why he lasted this long. Because I didn’t kill him when I had the chance.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my head on his shoulder as soft sobs escaped my lips. I didn’t know what I was crying for, maybe because I was relieved that Riley didn’t kill him. That my mate didn’t let his blood stain him.
“I was looking for him. I want to find him to find out if he was the one who sent the letter about you and Benedict. I wanted to know if it was him or if we needed to be looking after another person. But then Darvin called me this morning, and told me that he had been notified about his death because the identification card he carried was still the one showing his address in Darvin’s territory.”
He pulled me away from leaning on him ashe cupped my face and used his lips to dry off my tears. “I love you, Nadia. I’m sorry about his death.”
“I’m sorry too. But maybe it was better for him. Rather than him roaming around, banished from his pack. Have you heard anything about his mate? My aunt?”
Riley shook his head.
“I was hoping she could tell me about my mother. Maybe you can force her to tell me who my father is, or at least if she has any idea.”
“Force?”
“I asked her before, but she would laugh or shrug her shoulders at me. But I think you can convince her.”
“You think so? You think I have that charm?”
I giggled, although my heart was still heavy. I rested my head on the crook of his neck, letting his scent calm me for a while before I pulled away.
“No. I think you can scare her. Like, tell her, I’m the Alpha. Submit or I can throw you away!” I mimicked his loud voice in the last two sentences, and the way he smiled at me warmed my heart.
“You have too much faith in me.”
“I do. I know I’m safe as long as you’re around me.”
“You are. No one’s touching you.” He let out a sigh, and it didn’t escape my notice how he closed his eyes, as if he was trying to cover his emotions.
“Is there something wrong?”
“I wanted to show you something, but I didn’t want to give you any false hope. But I don’t want to keep it from you either.”
“Good, you’re learning fast. Can I see it while I’m naked or should I put on some decent clothes?”
“Hmmm. Put something on. It’s for me. I get too distracted with your breasts even if I know it’s inappropriate to think of them right now.”
I chuckled as I stood up from his lap, placing a soft kiss on his head before heading to our closet. Instead of the nightdress I was planning to wear, I grabbed one of his loose shirts and put it on before facing him. “I’m ready.”
I thought we would be heading downstairs to his office, but instead, he stood up and picked up something from his back pocket. It was a folded paper.
