Chapter 3

Lily’s POV 

I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, my mind racing. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I had just seen—Cole and Sybil together. The image played over and over again, each time making my chest ache more.

“My best friend and my husband... the two people I trusted most... lying to me,” I whispered, my voice barely audible in the stillness of the room.

I rolled over, squeezing my eyes shut, trying to block it out, but it was useless. The silence of the night only made my thoughts louder.

I could still hear Sybil’s moans, echoing in my ears like a nightmare on repeat.

“How long has this been going on?” I asked the darkness.

 “How could they do this to me?”

Allegra stirred within me, her anger simmering beneath the surface. She wasn’t one to sit back and accept betrayal. 

Her voice, sharp and filled with fury, cut through my thoughts.

"Confront them now!" Allegra growled. "Make them pay for betraying us."

“I can’t,” I whispered, shaking my head. “Not yet. I need to think... I need to know if there’s more.”

Her snarl was a reminder of the hurt and rage we were both feeling.

“If they’re capable of keeping this from us, imagine what else they have  lied about,” Allegra pushed, urging me into action.

My trust in Cole was shattered. The more I thought about it, the more questions started to form. What if the cheating was only a small part of his deception? What else had he kept hidden from me?

I sat up, running a hand through my hair. Sleep wasn’t going to come tonight, not with my mind spinning. I glanced at the empty spot beside me in bed. Cole hadn’t even bothered to come to bed after... that. I clenched my fists, feeling the familiar heat of anger bubbling in my chest.

“I need to know the truth,” I whispered to myself, forcing my body to move.

I slid out of bed, my bare feet cold against the hardwood floor. Quietly, I left the room and padded down the hallway toward Cole’s office. He always kept it locked, but I knew where he hid the spare key.

 My hands shook slightly as I unlocked the door and stepped inside. The room was dark, but I knew its layout well—his desk, the files, the locked drawers. I had never been one to snoop through his things before, but now... I needed to. I needed to find something, anything, that would explain what kind of man I was married to.

“You’re wasting time,” Allegra growled impatiently. “We know he’s a liar. Find the proof.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do.” I snapped back at her under my breath.

I swallowed hard and stepped toward the desk. My fingers shook as I opened the drawers and began to sift through the neatly organized files.

“Come on, come on,” I muttered under my breath, tossing papers aside. “There has to be something.”

That's when I saw it. A small black notebook, hidden beneath a stack of files. I grabbed it, flipping it open, and my breath caught in my throat.

Dates, names, amounts... and next to some names, a small 'X.' I recognized the names—my parents, our neighbor who had "accidentally" fallen down the stairs last week after he said there was foul play in the last attack on the pack. 

"Oh god," I whispered, my voice shaking. "Cole's behind all the deaths in the pack."

Allegra snarled. "I told you. We should’ve known,he isn’t to be trusted."

“We need more proof, undeniable proof” I whispered. “I have to keep looking.”

I turned on the small lamp on his desk, its soft light casting long shadows over the piles of paperwork and scattered documents. I started rifling through them more violently but carefully put everything back in place so he wouldn’t notice anything disturbed.

“What more are you looking for? We already have enough,” Allegra snapped, her voice tense. “Take it and expose him!”

“Anything,something he won’t easily get out of,” I replied, forcing myself to remain calm. “Anything that will show the pack who he really is.”

The minutes felt like hours as I dug through every drawer, every hidden compartment. Most of the files seemed normal—business contracts, financial records—but then I found something strange. A stack of papers was hidden in the back of one of the drawers, papers that looked worn and old. My heart pounded as I flipped through them, my eyes widening with every page.

It was all here.

A paper trail linking Cole to the attacks on our pack just as I suspected. My breath hitched as I read through the documents. Transactions, plans, notes—everything pointed back to Cole being involved in the very attacks that had devastated so many families,including mine.

“How could he?” I whispered, feeling my heart break all over again. The man I loved wasn’t just a liar and a cheat. He was a murderer.

Allegra's growl grew louder, echoing in my mind. "He killed your parents. Our alpha. We need to tell the pack!"

Tears stung my eyes as I clutched the papers to my chest. “We trusted him. I trusted him,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “How could he do this to us?”

I had to tell Lukas all about this betrayal, how could Cole do something like this? 

He killed the alpha, he killed your parents, we have to tell everyone what we found and we have to tell them now.  Allegra bellowed in my head.

"We have to tell everyone now," Allegra pushed. "Expose him for what he is."

I nodded, wiping away the tears that threatened to fall. “We will but please let me think” I responded in a low voice under my breath. 

“I need to think.”

 I suddenly heard the door creak open behind me.My body froze, my heart pounding in my chest.

“What are you doing?” A familiar voice called out.

I slowly turned around to see who was standing in the doorway, my breath catching in my throat.