"Whose side are you on, Grandma?" Luke asked as she approached him, walking briskly in his direction, his voice barely concealing the tension beneath.The rest of the crowd had fallen silent, their gazes darting between Luke and the imposing mansion, its doors closed tight as if guarding the secrets within. Some stood frozen, caught between the duty of following the orders that the doctor had laid out for them and the curiosity gnawing at them."Do you think I've chosen sides between you two?" His grandmother replied, her voice calm but carrying an edge that hinted at deeper layers of thought.Luke held her gaze, the weight of unspoken words pressing down on him. "Do you have to choose a side?" he asked, his voice quieter now, almost pleading. A soft smile played on her lips as she answered, "Let's focus on the present, Luke. There are more pressing matters to discuss. My choice won’t even change what’s destined to happen when the full moon rises, which would determine the fate of th
Desmond's voice was steady, but there was an edge to it as he spoke into the phone."I haven't received the full payment for the job I did for you," he said, his words hanging in the air. On the other end, Bella barely paid attention, her mind elsewhere, absorbed in the thrill of Camilla's downfall. She had just stepped out of the doctor's presence, leaving the sterile, suffocating atmosphere behind to join Jane. The two of them, united by a shared smile at what the doctor said to her, revelled in the latest news.Bella’s lips curled into a satisfied smile, the kind that could only come from knowing your enemy was on the brink of destruction. Camilla's condition was dire, a fact Bella savoured like fine wine; she was pleased to the stars about what the doctor had shared with her, and hiding this feeling seemed impossible. Death seemed inevitable for Camilla, a fate Bella had already celebrated in her heart. To her, it wasn’t just a matter of if—she knew that Camilla’s spirit was a
“You don't have to worry; she will be fine.” Britney tried to make Mira, who was already crying because of the whole situation, calm. Mira surely knew that her mother wasn't in a good state before they left Lawrence’s chambers; she was sure that as they left their mom in the chambers, everything wasn't alright with her.I don't want anything to happen to Mom. Britney said, as tears were still rolling down her cheeks,Forever stood by the side and watched as Britney tried to make Mira feel better. He also knew everything, but he had decided to remain calm.Grandma's flabbergasted state at what their eyes met when they entered the chambers couldn't be hidden; she exclaimed loudly with shock, which made the mouthpiece turn his face away from Camilla and Lawrence and look at them as she and Luke both entered the room.She sprinted immediately to the floor and grabbed Camilla’s body.“What is wrong with them?” she asked the mouthpiece immediately as she started shaking Camilla and Lawrenc
“Camilla, breathe,” Britney whispered urgently, her voice barely masking her own anxiety. “The mouthpiece needs details from you to save Lawrence.”Camilla’s chest heaved, her breaths ragged and shallow as her eyes remained glued to Lawrence’s lifeless form. She didn’t seem to hear Britney, lost in the chaos swirling in her mind.“Camilla, focus,” the mouthpiece demanded, his voice cutting through the fog of her panic. “What happened? Why are you panicking?”Camilla’s eyes widened, wild with fear. “I saw him. It was him.” Her voice trembled, and her hands were shaking uncontrollably, as if the very air around her had turned to ice.Britney and the mouthpiece exchanged a glance. This wasn’t just fear—it was terror, raw and visceral. Whatever Camilla had witnessed had shattered something deep inside her; her reaction to the sight of Lawrence was unexpected.“Camilla,” the mouthpiece pressed, his tone softer but insistent, “I need you to tell me exactly what you saw. We can’t help Lawren
“We can’t stay here any longer,” Elder Clement said urgently, as the elders huddled outside, growing increasingly impatient. “We need to act swiftly. Time is slipping away from us, and the sooner we take action, the better our chances.” The war is closing up on us, and our neighbours are not the patient type.The atmosphere was tense. As they awaited the return of the mouthpiece or the doctor, it felt like their pack was slipping into obscurity. Every passing moment gave their enemies more advantage, and their indecision was only worsening their predicament. The absence of Luna was a significant blow, but it seemed they might be forced into war without her, given the lack of any signs of her return.A beta elder, who had been quietly observing, looked at Clement with interest. “What do you propose we do?” he asked, his concern evident. “We can’t afford to let our pack slip from our grasp while we wait. We need a solid plan if we’re to face this war prepared.”Elder Albert, who had b
The tension in the room was suffocating, thickening with each passing second.Camilla lay beside Lawrence’s body, her presence barely more than a ghostly shadow. She had drifted beyond the world’s grasp; her lifeless form sprawled on the cold floor, attracting the attention of everyone present. The others in the room—Grandma, Luke, and those who had once looked to her for guidance—could do nothing but watch in silent dread. Not a single twitch or breath suggested she was still with them and alive, her body a vessel emptied of life it once used to have.“Are you sure this will work?” Grandma’s voice wavered, cutting through the oppressive silence as she addressed the mouthpiece. His eyes were fixed on the task before him, muttering arcane words that seemed to roll off his tongue with a dark fluency. Yet there was a flicker of doubt in his expression, one that Grandma couldn’t ignore or even accept. It gnawed at her, the fear that they were too late.The mouthpiece’s silence was loud
“I don’t want us to lose ourselves in this debate,” Albert declared, his voice firm. “We all know she’s been poisoned, and there's no bringing her back anytime soon. We must decide what to do next and move forward swiftly. Dwelling on her fate will only hinder us.”Albert, who had been quietly savouring the grim news of Camilla’s condition, kept his thoughts to himself until now. He had relished the opportunity to see her suffer—a dark pleasure he had harboured for some time.A beta elder addressed the room with a pointed gaze at Albert. “It’s one thing to be unreasonable, but it's another to persist in such a state of mind. Albert, I never expected this from you, not from a man like you who is considered to have honour amongst us.Elder Clement added his voice to the mix; his tone was measured. “There’s nothing to fear. The mouthpiece understands the situation, and his presence inside is for the benefit of the pack. The less we concern ourselves with this, the better we can focus on
“It’s a marvel to witness your beauty these days,” Luke said as he approached and got close to Bella, his eyes lingering on her with a reverence that bordered on awe.“A marvel is not meant to be seen too often, you know,” Bella replied, her voice soft yet firm, as if she were offering a secret that few were privileged to hear.“I doubt there will ever be a time when I won’t wish to see this marvel,” Luke countered, his gaze unwavering and not letting go of Bella. Bella was radiant in her crimson gown, the fabric clinging to her perfect form with the elegance only true royalty could command. Her long, silky hair cascaded down her back and over her shoulders like a waterfall of midnight, a testament to the lineage she bore. She was, without question, a vision that demanded a second, even a third look. When you glanced at her, every heartbeat of yours would demand that you look back at her—an embodiment of beauty in its purest form.“You know,” Luke continued, a playful smile tugging
Even with the sunshine streaming through the window illuminating the tiles, the hospital room appeared to be freezing.Camilla laid her back on the thin pillows behind her, feeling self-conscious in the poorly woven hospital gown.Her arms were rendered immobile to her body by the metal cuffs whose edges had been tenderising her skin. The sound of chains rattled softly as she moved, trying to get into a position that was not too cramped within the confines.However, her focus was nowhere near her physical discomfort. She was exonerated for poisoning Bella's son.However, her suffering was not finished. Bella’s schemes had left emotional as well as physical scars on her.Camilla hadn’t finished the struggle, however. Her name remained sullied, and there were people in the pack, and even more so in the elders, who were not ready to absolve her.They wanted her to be put away until everyone was sure that there was nothing to be apprehensive about. Lawrence was trying to resist but it was
The sound of machines in the hospital filled the room where Camilla was, still a bit weak but recuperating.She was connected to an IV and had her wrists bandaged due to the straps that had restrained her to the bed—reminders of the fact, that needless to say, she was still considered a criminal and a patient at the same time.The grey hospital gown had been too oversized for her body. There was no mistaking the patience strength in her eyes, the vividness of life that once inhabited her can only be remembered.But Lawrence transcended. He stood next to her bed with his broad shoulders drooping, bloodshot eyes bearing the evidence of sleepless nights.His hand was just above hers, wanting to hold her hand but scared at the prospect of hurting her more.The vow he made to her was that he would bring her justice and that was one vow he would keep. But being here in this common room, looking at her wasting away from a fictitious story, every single second was a shame that he could not es
The heavy door of the female prison traced a long sound down the dark corridor.Camilla sat on the hard, cold mattress, looking at the wall in search of the clusters in it.She had become used to this solitary confinement, this waiting that went for hours in this agonisingly silent place, to the thinking that after all her efforts, it was Bella’s betrayal that would ruin her.Yet deep down, it was not only fear. There was something else. Lawrence was on the warpath. He had sworn an oath to resolve the matter and extricate her from this predicament.There was no option but to endure. However, the fear about the impending threat that had been increasing over the past few days would not go away, even if Camilla wanted it to.The other female prisoners had started to gossip about something different. They would look at her sometimes with suspicion; now, that look seemed more calculated. The security men, too appeared sharper, more alert. Something was in the offing. She could sense it.As
Bella paced around her hospital room and attempted to bite the urge to panic that was building up in her system.She was in the bathroom of Frank's room thinking of how Lawrence had approached her that morning.Frank, on the other side, was not helping her, as he was clenching his jaw, making it difficult for her to ignore the tension building up in her chest.Things were going south, and the efforts of the lawyer representing Lawrence were making the situation worse every moment.She had thought that she could turn the tables—contain the situation the way she always did. Lawrence’s doggedness in wanting to lick Camilla’s accusation clean even the further it was from her was slowly but surely tearing her apart.The lawyer was a brilliant and unbending executioner who had been pricking her for weeks.Bella had not taken him very seriously, as she thought that he would eventually give up on finding any truth. But she did not expect this level of meticulousness. He was starting to dig up
Lawrence perched himself on the edge of the hospital bed, his fingers playing a drumroll along the cold metallic edge. He was cosy in deep thoughts, yet his brain was tyranny, struck with several thoughts at the same time. The young boy who was his child, was unconscious in the hospital, and so many devices were attached to his tiny form. Every beep, every breath, was painful to hear, breaking the heavy silence in the room, indicating the seriousness of the matter.Moreover, there had been additional problems concerning Frank which even the doctors could not explain. The only plausible explanation had been the poison theory up until that point. At least until the head researcher on Frank's case, Dr Nolan had wanted to speak to him privately.Embarrassingly enough, every sensation caused in him was mixed with tension. The chilling thought of Camilla tortured him. She was in a prison cell, waiting for her turn to be acquitted of the charges of poisoning Frank. It had all been Bella’s tr
At the moment her heels clicked on the ground, and the enormous boughs of metal gates crashed behind her, panic coursed through Camilla. The implacable ambience of the barricade encased her in a thick layer of mist.She heard her footsteps bouncing off the walls in the long stretch that had steel-barred cells on all sides. The other occupant who was being brought in looked at her with a fierce intensity that signalled annoyed, hollow, and accusing silence.The door was opened by the guards and she made to come in. Camilla avoided eye contact with her because she looked like trouble.Hours passed, and she was still hearing them constantly bickering about her poisoning a child.She had to remind herself that this was not true. It was a horrible fiction, one that she found herself accusatory burning into the present time because of Bella's machinations.For having allegedly attempted to poison Bella's child, Camilla had lost her freedom and her self-respect.Now, stuck in the exhausted ex
At the moment her heels clicked on the ground, and the enormous boughs of metal gates crashed behind her, panic coursed through Camilla. The implacable ambience of the barricade encased her in a thick layer of mist.She heard her footsteps bouncing off the walls in the long stretch that had steel-barred cells on all sides. The other occupant who was being brought in looked at her with a fierce intensity that signalled annoyed, hollow, and accusing silence.The door was opened by the guards and she made to come in. Camilla avoided eye contact with her because she looked like trouble.Hours passed, and she was still hearing them constantly bickering about her poisoning a child.She had to remind herself that this was not true. It was a horrible fiction, one that she found herself accusatory burning into the present time because of Bella's machinations.For having allegedly attempted to poison Bella's child, Camilla had lost her freedom and her self-respect.Now, stuck in the exhausted e
Camilla was in prison. How could all this have happened so fast? First, it was that room where they interrogated her, and the next thing she knew, she landed in a cell.It still couldn't fully get into her head what had happened. It was like an Andy Warhol painting facade of surrealness that would eventually take the form of reality when she was out of it with her sanity intact.A moment before, Camilla had stood in front of the door to her cell as it creaked open under the command of the guard's key.The guard himself didn't say a word.Once she was inside, the heavy door slammed shut with a loud click.Saying nothing, he turned and walked away. If her cell was an inch shorter, she wouldn't be able to stand in it. The only furniture was a steel toilet, while the only lighting came from one window made of thick iron.Camilla sat down on the bed and put her head in her hands. She did not cry. Lawrence would rescue her; he had to do that. He had promised her thus.Hours had passed after
Camilla sat on the chair where she was left alone after Lawrence had gone. She could hear the guards talking from the other side. But the only thing that came to her mind was how all of these happened. It was just a beautiful morning, in less than twenty-four, and she was accused of murder. A child murder.The accusation against her was so sudden that she had no idea what was going on. “Poison?” The word left her mouth and she thought of how she could even get a hold of one“Poisoning a child?”It was unimaginable to her.Yet, here she was. In jail. Accused of something so despicable. It made her feel sick.She rubbed her hands all over her face trying to breathe. Everything wasn't going her way at all.“Who?” she whispered. . “Who could have possibly done this?”She racked her brain, thinking of every moment leading up to the incident. He was fine. Then she served him his food along with Gia and George. He began to have a seizure.She knew she was in big trouble. Everything seemed