Chapter 71: I felt they needed to be punished
After Michael calmed down, he decided to take a look at the will with Noah.
Along with the will was the morge’s address and a right to claim their ashes.
Of course there was no body since they burned and even if there were bodies, they would be burned to a crips. So it was better to turn them to ash.
Michael would have to go claim their ashes if he wanted to hold the funeral, but Michael didn’t feel like it.
After crying, he had gotten better and thought things through. He could just imagine that his parents were alive somewhere and weren’t planning to disturb his peaceful life anymore.
If he just thought of it like that and regarded Pedro’s visit as a dream, then everything would be fine.
Noah watched him closely and then asked,
"Will you take a look at it?" He was referring to the will. "It’s probably assets worth billions."
"I know that." Michael said. "But no matter how much I think about it, it just doesn’t make sense to me. Why would my father make such a will? He didn’t even put his beloved son into the will. It was as if he knew they were all going to die. But even then, I’m sure he would’ve preferred to give it all to the government rather than me."
"And why are you so sure about that?"
"It’s because that’s how they are." Michael said in all certainty, grabbing his head as he felt he would go mad in confusion.
"But you heard what the Lawyer said, right?" Noah asked. "He said your father felt guilty for you, and that was why he decided to give it all to you. It was his form of atonement, wishing you could forgive him with this."
"When you say it like that, it makes me feel he decided to take his own life afterwards because of said guilt," Michael said.
"But he didn’t take his own life, did he?"
There was a file of the investigation report among the files, and it explained that the Kitchen started from the kitchen. And it was a day after he had sent all the helpers to take a day off.
It was very strange.
This entire thing seemed strange. It was like a plot out of a movie, and yet the police did not bother to investigate further.
Just what was going on?
"It was an accident." Noah was taking this lightly, and Michael wondered if he was just being indifferent because it wasn’t his family, or if he, Michael, was just being overexaggerative.
Whichever it was, it was still a fact that this fire incident seemed sketchy.
"Michael," Noah pulled Michael into his arms and hugged him, pressing his lips on his forehead as he said, "I’m sorry for your loss."
Michael slowly shut his eyes and nodded.
A loss was a loss. What would he gain by investigating anyway? Even if he found out that this entire thing was staged, would he try to get revenge? And what for?
They made their own enemies, so their fate had nothing to do with him.
He felt shitty. He felt extremely out of it because of this news. He...
"Michael," Noah called his name gently, and Michael met his eyes.
He needed someone or something to comfort him. Something to take his mind off the miserable thoughts that were weighing him down.
Noah, sending Michael’s desire to be indulged, kissed him. He kissed his lips softly and gently till they were all over each other.
"Hey, Noah," Michael called once they had pulled away and asked, "Wanna grab a drink?"
So, there were a few fine wines Michael had secretly picked up when they went to the supermarket a while back.
He planned to use them to celebrate if every situation called for it, but it looked like they would be popping the wine for a rather depressing reason.
"I felt they needed to be punished somehow, especially Mark," Michael began his sad tale after they had downed the first bottle.
It was mostly him doing the drinking because Noah knew he wouldn’t get drunk easily, and Michael was the one who needed to get his mind off things.
He would just watch and sip his single glass slowly.
"But I didn’t think it would be this soon. I don’t know if I should be glad or sad anymore." His face was red, flushed from the alcohol. "I don’t... Ngh..." Tears flowed down his cheeks.
"It’s enough. There’s no good keeping regrets." Noah said, wiping his tears, and Michael grabbed his shirt.
"No regrets. No regrets... but I have a lot of regrets." He said, barely opening his eyes. "I regret that I could never show them how good I was and was never able to prove that I was the victim. I... Wahh." He cried, his face in Noah’s chest, and Noah patted his back.
He would just let it out now and feel terrible from the alcohol later.
Michael then lifted his head and said,
"I wish I could lose my memory." His words struck Noah by surprise. Was it really that depressing for him to have that thought? "You have it so easy, Noah. Wahh." He began to cry again.
Noah went silent. He had it easy? Maybe if he had lost his memories for a while longer, then maybe he would’ve agreed to that. Oblivion was bliss, after all. But at this point... He had already gotten his memories back and wasn’t oblivious to his identity or his duties anymore, but he wouldn’t tell Michael about it.
He could never.
Especially the fact that he might’ve had something to do with his parents’ death... How would Michael react? He didn’t plan their death, but if Michael knew that it was his intervention that caused their death... He may never forgive him, and their peaceful lives would be broken.
He did this for his selfish interest. To keep this peace.
When he asked Michael how he would feel if his parents died, he had plans to kill them, but then he noticed Michael’s hesitation. He did say he was going to feel relieved, but Noah did not believe it.
So, the plan has changed. But they ended up dying somehow.
Maybe if Michael found out about this now, he would understand, but at the same time, he might get emotional and think irrationally, so Noah wasn’t going to take the risk.
Michael fell asleep out of the blue, and Noah sighed, relieved.
At least he wouldn’t be spending the whole night drinking and crying. He planned to have sex with him to take his mind away from the present if he kept crying, but it looked like he wouldn’t need to go that far.
He laid Michael on the bed and kissed his lips lightly.
Afterward, he cleared the bottles and then walked out, heading to the living room. There, he took out his phone, looked at the unread message he had gotten a few hours back, and then clicked on it.
-Sir, we’ve found the evidence-
It was a simple line, but he understood what it was about.
He replied to the message,
-Good job. Just keep that side busy till we get to the third phase of the plan-
As he said, there was a plan that was in motion. A plan that he had devised the moment he got his memories back and understood who was after his life.
And he got his memories back on the day Michael suffered from his fever, and he had to rush him to the hospital.
Everything felt so messy in his head at that time, and he still had to worry about Michael, whose life was in danger.
He had no idea it was because of his body reformation that he was suffering from that fever. He thought it was just something humans normally pass through.
His mind was more occupied with the thoughts of that day when he was attacked. He did not see their faces, but he remembered their smell. And the thought that crossed his mind when he perceived their smell was that they smelled like Rhaegar.
Of course, he couldn’t just point him out as a traitor because the Lycans were quite deceptive and could pull a stunt like this on order to drive a wedge between them, so he decided to stay with Michael, pretending to still be an amnesia patient.
He got in touch with one of his subordinates, someone who works outside the pack’s territory and someone who had sworn an oath to put the pack’s interest first, as well as his loyalty to the Alpha.
He was a man older than him by ten years with a scar across his face. His name was Sebastian.
So, he was working with Sebastian to find clues on what Rhaeger was up to, if he was indeed the one who betrayed him. And he was also working Noah’s fake persona to deceive the public as well as their enemies.
So, Rhaeger thought Sebastian had simply come back to assist with the fake persona and had no idea he was being investigated quietly and slowly.
Now, there was evidence of Rhaeger’s involvement in that attack. It was no wonder they were able to get the best out of him, an Alpha.
While all this was going on, Noah was living his peaceful life with Michael. He grew too used to this peace and lovey-dovey atmosphere around him that he didn’t want to go back to his pack or his business.
He... Wanted to be with Noah. Was it his true feelings or the feelings he got from marking him? He did not know, but he liked it. That same fuzzy feeling Michael gave him.
He was going to treasure it while he still could because once he went back to his old life, they may never see each other again.
He returned to the room and got into the bed, hugging Michael from behind. He kissed his shoulder and held him tight.
If only this peace could last for much longer. But he would do his best to at least keep it till Christmas. Since Michael was looking forward to spending Christmas with him.
He’d hate to disappoint him.
