Chapter 60: A Brilliant Actor
Kaiser:
My gaze snapped from Charlotte and landed on Alastor so sharply that even he seemed momentarily caught off guard.
For a second I genuinely wondered if I had heard him correctly. My jaw tightened. My wolf surged again. And then anger burst out before I could stop it.
"What kind of question is that?" My voice cut across the dining hall so sharply that Charlotte stiffened where she hid behind Darien. I stared directly at Alastor as I added, "What do you mean does she know?"
I took one step forward.
"Of course she knows."
I laughed once. Not because anything was funny. But because suddenly the absurdity of this entire situation became unbearable. I looked around the room. At Darien. At Charlotte. At the breakfast table. At the sunlight. At the untouched food. And suddenly all of it felt disgusting.
My voice rose. "You think a group of men assigned to her just happened to die all of a sudden? Every single one of them? You think this is coincidence?"
Alastor’s expression hardened slightly. He didn’t answer immediately. But before either of us could continue, Charlotte moved.
She slowly lifted her face. And for a moment, If I didn’t know what I knew, even I might have doubted myself. Her eyes looked wounded and confused. Her lips parted slightly. Her shoulders lowered. And her entire expression softened into disbelief and pain.
Then she looked directly at me. Her voice came out quiet. Broken. Filled with heartache. "Kaiser..."
She swallowed and for a second her eyes looked glassy. "I don’t know anything about this tragedy." Her voice trembled. She looked down briefly before continuing, "I didn’t contact those men after they failed to bring Rosalie back that night."
Her brows pulled together, and she looked genuinely saddened. "But as much as I didn’t want further dealings with them... I never imagined something like this would happen."
Then she slowly looked back up, straight at me. And delivered the final piece. Her expression became hurt. Confused. "What I don’t understand..." Her voice cracked. "...is why you are bringing this up here and connecting me to Lady Rosalie."
Silence once again filled the dining hall.
I looked at her and almost wanted to applaud. Because she was good. No. Good wasn’t enough. She was terrifying. Because if I didn’t already know, if I hadn’t spent two days looking through every single detail, if I hadn’t confirmed everything... I would have questioned myself.
But I didn’t walk in here unprepared.
I stared at her. Without blinking. Without moving. I just watched her in silence. And then for one, tiny second, I noticed something slipping. The expression in her eyes changed, something like calculation. But then she noticed Alastor watching and immediately collected herself.
What a brilliant actor!
I smiled. It was a small smile, one without humor and one that made her recoil. Then I asked, "And I suppose..." I tilted my head slightly. "...you don’t know The Scorpions either?"
Everything stopped instantly.
Charlotte’s face lost color. Not all at once, but enough that anyone paying attention would notice. Her eyes widened and her shoulders stiffened. But she recovered quickly, too quickly.
Yet I knew I wasn’t the only one who noticed it this time. Both Darien and Alastor had been watching her. And even if the shift was fleeting, someone as sharp as my brothers shouldn’t have missed it unless they were blind.
But then instead of turning their questioning gazes at Charlotte, they turned toward me.
"Did you just say The Scorpions?" Alastor asked. And I just stared into his eyes, not actually answering as the silence was already enough to confirm he hadn’t misheard earlier.
The room became colder.
Nobody in this room needed explanation. Everyone knew exactly what and who The Scorpions was. We all knew far more than the rumors and the stories.
The Scorpions was the most powerful assassin organization in existence, consisting both humans and werewolves. The organization was invisible, expensive, and untouchable. And though no one knew exactly where their headquarters was located, it’s rumored to be somewhere in the human world.
You didn’t hire Scorpions unless you wanted something erased cleanly. With no witnesses, no mistakes, and no trails. Which was exactly why when I found their shadow in this, I stopped hoping Charlotte could be spared just because of the bond she shared with me and my brothers.
I looked directly at her and finally stopped holding back.
"You thought it would end cleanly."
Her expression shifted. Very slightly.
I continued, "You thought killing them would remove the last problem and possibly the only evidence against your crime."
Darien frowned, while Alastor just stared at me.
And I looked only at Charlotte. My voice stayed calm. Too calm as I took another step toward her. "You hired guards. Had them follow Rose to harm her. But then you realized they had become a risk."
I stopped just for a second before finishing. "So you hired assassins. You chose The Scorpions for the job and thought nobody would be able to trace it back to you no matter how hard they tried. Not even us."
Nobody moved.
I kept speaking. Every word deliberate. "But here I am." I looked directly into her eyes. "With enough evidence to show that after hiring those men to harm Rosalie..." I let the silence stretch. "...you hired Scorpions to silence them."
Charlotte stared, holding her breath and I saw her brain racing. Then, to her credit, she once again recovered quickly. She inhaled sharply and then looked offended. Her brows furrowed. Her eyes filled again. And she immediately shook her head.
"No."
She took a small step forward and repeated.
"No."
Her voice grew stronger.
"I never dealt with assassins." She looked at Alastor. Then Darien. "I have never contacted Scorpions."
Then her eyes landed back on me, and suddenly, her expression changed. Not into fear or pain. No. She looked hurt. And when she spoke again, her voice was quiet and full of accusations.
"You are trying to ruin me."
I stared.
She swallowed and then continued, "Because you have never liked me." Her eyes glistened and her voice cracked. "You never wanted to accept this bond. And now you are doing all this because you are angry about Lady Rosalie leaving you unlike what your brothers made you believe!"
She went silent when Alastor’s gaze turned cold at her last words. The last thing g he wanted to hear was to be held responsible for his fucked up plan.
As for me, I was nearly impressed by Charlotte’s attempt at redirecting this entire thing. She’s now trying to make me the villain.
I looked at her. Then smiled. This time I just couldn’t stop it. It wasn’t warm, nor was it pleasant. If anything, it might be the coldest smile I had ever shown anyone.
I looked directly at her and said, "Good to know at least you are aware how unwanted you are."
Her face changed. And just for a second, real anger appeared in those orbs before she once again hid it behind her act. Yet the sharpness in her gaze couldn’t be hidden, just like her dislike for me,
That’s right. She hated me. Not because I was cruel, but because she never managed to control me. While her act of turning over a new leaf and her bond with us softened both Darien and Alastor, it never worked on me.
The day she tried to harm Rosalie the first time nearly two years ago, she became my enemy. No mate bond could change that. And I never forgot. Even when I stood beside my brothers, even when I accepted her publicly, even then... I never trusted her.
And she knew.
Which was why now she was using that against me.
Her expression softened again and she looked devastated. Her voice dropped, filled with heartbreak. "You are willing to hurt your own fated mate..." Her eyes filled all over again. "...for someone else?"
Someone else? How dare she!
I stared at her, and answered calmly, "I consider it my worst luck that you are fated to me."
The room froze. Charlotte stopped breathing. And it was Darien who moved first.
"Kaiser." His voice sharpened and his expression had turned dark. "I know you are angry, but you don’t get to destroy her reputation because of that." He looked at me with a serious expression. "You don’t accuse someone of murder based on feelings."
I laughed. Quietly. Then slowly reached inside my jacket and pulled out the rolled stack of papers. I looked directly at my brothers as I tossed them onto the dining table.
"I don’t accuse people of murder because I dislike them." I looked at Charlotte, then back at my brothers as I finished, "I accuse people when I have proof."
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