Chapter 143: Chapter 143 The Truth He Refused to See
Author
Alpha Zack ended the call, feeling like crap. As expected, when he tried again, the number was already blocked.
He sat in the garden, smoking in silence. The cigarette burned down between his fingers, ash dropping onto the perfect tiles below.
Hannah’s car pulled up just then. She stepped out and froze when she spotted Alpha Zack sitting there, looking like a storm ready to break.
Hannah acted like she didn’t see him and headed toward the main entrance. But Alpha Zack’s voice stopped her cold.
"Hannah."
He crushed the cigarette under his boot and crossed the distance between them in three long strides. "Let me borrow your phone. I need to make a call."
Hannah looked at him like he’d lost his mind. . "Why would I do that? Where’s your phone?"
She watched his expression turn dark, and understanding hit her. "Oh. You want to call Elara because she blocked you, right?"
Her voice got sharp and angry. "Zack, listen to me right now—don’t even think about using me to mess with Elara again!"
"She’s married now! And you got exactly what you wanted with that fake Luna Selina. Shouldn’t everyone be happy?"
Alpha Zack’s eyes went cold, but he kept his tone calm. Like he was talking to a stupid kid. "Hannah, do you really think Alpha King is a good guy?"
"He is gay. You want to watch your best friend stuck in a fake marriage?"
Hannah’s back went straight, her voice getting louder. "So what if he is gay?"
"All I know is that Alpha King is handsome, smart, and he protects Elara. What about you? All you’ve ever done is hurt her!"
Hannah didn’t even believe Alpha King was actually gay anyway. The way that man looked at Elara sometimes made her think otherwise.
She rolled her eyes. "Zack, are you saying Elara isn’t amazing? If I were a man, I’d fall for her too!"
"So why wouldn’t Alpha King?"
Alpha Zack’s face scrunched up, getting annoyed. "Fine. I don’t want to argue about this. I have something else to ask you."
He stared directly at Hannah, and something desperate crept into his expression. "Do you know if Elara was ever locked in a storage shed when she was a pup?"
The question came out rough. His voice shook a little at the end, like he really needed to know.
Hannah wasn’t stupid. She could tell Alpha Zack was looking for answers. She let out a bitter laugh. "I don’t know if Elara was ever locked up, but I know for sure it wasn’t Selina!"
"Zack, you’re the only one who believes Selina’s fake act. She’s manipulative, she pretends to be the victim, and she enjoys hurting people. Only you believe she wasn’t the one bullying everyone else!"
"Selina has her father who loves her, her stepmother spoiling her, her brother protecting her. Who would dare bully her? Who could?"
"But Elara..." Hannah stopped herself in the middle, shaking her head. "You know what? Forget it. You’ll never understand what you threw away."
"Don’t try to use me to hurt Elara again."
Hannah turned around and walked away fast, leaving Alpha Zack standing alone in the dark garden.
For the first time, real fear hit him.
Was everything Hannah said true?
Was the little girl locked in that storage room all those years ago... Elara?
Alpha Zack barely slept that night.
Hannah’s words kept playing in his head over and over. Each time made it seem more possible.
--
When morning came, Alpha Zack grabbed his phone and called his assistant. "I need you to find photos of Elara from when she was a child. Around five or six years old."
"Check her school records. Kindergarten or first grade. And I need this fast."
His assistant sounded worried. "Sir, if Miss Park was five or six then, that was over ten years ago. A lot of old records weren’t saved on computers yet. But I’ll try my best."
Hours passed slowly.
Alpha Zack walked around his office like a caged animal.
Finally, his phone rang.
"Alpha Zack, I found something. There’s a class photo from Riverside Elementary, first grade. I scanned it and sent it to you."
"Front row, blue dress, two braids. That’s Miss Park. I marked her in the picture."
Alpha Zack’s hand shook as he opened the file.
His eyes went wide.
The little girl in the photo had neat braids and bright, trusting eyes. She looked exactly like the dirty, scared child from his memory.
The face he remembered for years. The face he thought belonged to someone else.
The child he saved that day was Elara.
His throat felt tight. He called again. "Check something else. Did Elara learn piano when she was young?"
"Alpha Zack, her school records show piano lessons. So yes, she studied it."
The phone almost slipped from his hands.
His whole body went cold. His wolf howled in pain. Finally understanding how badly they messed up.
He got it wrong. He got everything completely wrong.
The little girl who looked at him with hope. Whose small hand he held when they escaped that dark place.
That wasn’t Selina.
