Chapter 29: She Took Everything
Rosalie:
The moment I stepped inside my room, I knew someone had been here.
Nothing looked the way I had left it half a month ago.
At first glance, the changes were subtle enough that someone else might not have noticed them. The curtains had been tied differently. The vanity stool was slightly angled away from the mirror. A book I distinctly remembered leaving beside the lamp now sat on the center table instead. But this room had once been my entire world. I knew every inch of it, every tiny detail, every placement of every object because when loneliness became your closest companion, you started finding comfort in familiarity.
And right now, this room no longer felt familiar.
A cold wave of dread crawled up my spine.
Without wasting another second, I rushed toward the closet and yanked the doors open so hard they slammed against the wall behind them. My eyes instantly searched for the green jewelry box that should have been sitting on the second shelf exactly where I kept it.
But the shelf was empty.
No.
My heartbeat stumbled.
I immediately began searching through the closet, pushing aside dresses, coats, and folded jeans with trembling hands. The more I looked, the worse the panic became. Someone had completely ruffled through everything. The neatly arranged compartments were a disaster. Drawers had been opened and shoved back carelessly. Silk dresses were crumpled together with winter shawls. Even the hidden compartments behind the lower shelves had been disturbed.
"No... no, no, no..."
I kept searching faster, almost violently now.
I threw clothes onto the floor when they got in my way. Shoes toppled over. Hangers clattered loudly. My breathing became uneven as desperation clawed at my chest. I checked every shelf twice, then a third time, refusing to believe what my eyes were telling me.
The green jewelry box was gone.
I dropped to my knees and pulled open the lower drawers, digging through them frantically. Fabric scraped against my skin. Jewelry cases lay empty. The velvet pouch that once held a pair of diamond earrings Kaiser had gifted me was gone too.
I froze for half a second before continuing my search even more desperately.
I searched the bedside tables next, then beneath the bed. I moved to the vanity drawers, throwing everything aside in growing panic. Hairpins scattered across the floor. Bottles rolled away. Powder shattered somewhere behind me, but I didn’t care.
Then I rushed into the bathroom and began opening every cabinet one after another. Towels fell out. Bottles crashed into the sink. I even checked the bathtub as if somehow the bracelet would magically appear there.
But it didn’t.
It was nowhere. Not just the bracelet, everything was gone.
The expensive necklaces Alastor had once draped around my neck during pack banquets. The bracelets Kaiser used to leave on my vanity without a word. The earrings Darien bought after returning from the capital two winters ago and the pendant he gifted me. The gowns hanging untouched in the far corner of the closet. The heels I had worn only once because they hurt too much to walk in.
All gone.
But I didn’t care about any of those things. Not anymore. They could burn every single gift those men had ever given me, and I would feel nothing.
I only wanted my mother’s bracelet. That bracelet was the last piece of her I still had. The only thing she left behind that still carried her warmth in my memories.
And now it was gone too.
A horrible sinking feeling began spreading through my chest.
Someone had taken it. Someone had knowingly taken the only thing that truly mattered to me.
I stumbled backward out of the bathroom, my vision beginning to blur. My hands shook uncontrollably as I looked around the ruined room one more time, as if the bracelet might suddenly reappear if I searched hard enough.
But deep down, I already knew it wouldn’t.
I quickly turned and walked out of the room, and the moment I stepped into the hallway, I froze. Dozens of familiar faces filled the long corridor. Servants. Maids. Warriors. All staring at me like they couldn’t believe I was truly standing there alive.
Whispers spread almost instantly through the crowd.
"Lady Rosalie..."
"She’s really back..."
"Oh goddess..."
Some looked shocked. Some relieved. Some almost unhappy.
I barely noticed any of them. My eyes immediately found Teresa standing near the center of the hallway. The old headmaid looked like she had aged years in the short time I had been gone. The moment our eyes met, hers filled with tears.
I rushed toward her without hesitation and grabbed both her hands tightly.
"Teresa," I said breathlessly. "My mother’s bracelet - have you seen it? I can’t find it anywhere."
The old woman’s expression immediately changed.Concern replaced the fragile joy on her face."The bracelet is missing?" she asked quickly.
I nodded frantically. "Someone searched my room. Everything’s gone. Please tell me you know where it is."
Teresa squeezed my hands at once. "Let us look for it first, child. Perhaps it was moved somewhere."
Her calm voice almost broke me. Because Teresa had always been the closest thing I had to a mother after my parents died. She had been the one who comforted me through nightmares, treated my wounds when bullying at school became too harsh, and secretly brought me sweets whenever I skipped meals.
If there was one person left in this packhouse I could still trust, it was her.
Together, we returned to my room.
Teresa immediately began searching through the shelves and drawers while I checked the room again even though I already knew the result.
"I already searched everything," I whispered shakily while opening another empty drawer. "It’s not here."
Teresa remained quiet for a moment before speaking carefully. "Lady Charlotte came here several days ago."
I stopped moving instantly. "What?"
"She took several things from your room," Teresa admitted hesitantly. "Clothes, jewelry... gifts the young masters had given you. I thought perhaps they had ordered it."
A cold heaviness settled inside me.
"Did you see the bracelet?" I asked quietly.
Teresa looked heartbroken. "I do not know, child. But perhaps she took that as well."
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. My chest tightened painfully. I didn’t know what to do anymore. The thought of facing the alphas again made fear crawl through my entire body. Their betrayal still felt like a blade lodged inside my chest, and the fact they wanted me dead only made me want to stay away from them.
But at the same time, that bracelet belonged to my mother. I couldn’t just abandon it.
My vision blurred completely then, and only when Teresa gently touched my cheek did I realize tears had already begun streaming down my face.
"Oh, child..." she whispered softly. "Please calm yourself. I will fetch you some water."
I nodded numbly.
The old lady hurried out of the room. And only seconds later, a sharp whistle echoed from outside the packhouse.
The driver’s signal.
My blood ran cold instantly as I realized the alphas had arrived.
So fast.
It had barely been ten minutes since I stepped inside Blackthorn Packhouse, but Crescent Wolf Pack was right beside ours. Of course they could arrive this quickly once word reached them about my return.
Panic slammed into me violently. No. I couldn’t stay here.Not another second.
I quickly wiped my tears away and rushed out of the room. The hallway had become even more crowded now, servants and warriors gathering near the staircase as voices echoed from downstairs.
They were coming up.
My heart pounded so hard it hurt. Instead of heading toward the stairs, I turned sharply in the opposite direction.
And ran.
