167 The Poisoned Truth
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Lucian
“Your father was crazy about your mother,” Lydia said, her voice heavy with memory. “Obsessed, even. Why he cheated? We’ll never truly know. But what we do know is-he regretted it. Deeply. And after that, he lived in constant fear that we had come to take her from him. That we were feeding her thoughts of leaving.”
She shook her head, her eyes distant. “But that couldn’t be further from the truth. My mother was just glad they’d moved on. All she cared about then was helping Natasha raise you.”
I sat still, the weight of the past pressing against my chest like iron. I could feel the shift in Lydia’s voice, the pain of untold history finding its way to the surface.
“When you turned two,” she continued, “life in Mooncrest began to wear your mother down. It was subtle at first. Then it became obvious-she was sinking into depression. Vander tried… gods, he tried. He did everything he could to pull her out of it. But nothing worked.”
She glanced at her mother-Katya-who now sat motionless, her eyes glistening with fresh tears.
“They made the decision together,” Lydia said softly. “My mother and Vander agreed to bring Natasha here, to Neev. Away from the pressure of city life. Neev’s always been the escape hatch for those who want peace, but not poverty. It was meant to be a retreat… a place to heal.”
I swallowed hard, imagining my mother’s smile fading, her bright spirit dimming under unseen weight.
“Vander bought this cottage for my mother as thanks-for caring for you those first two years,” Lydia added. “He was trying. He really was.”
She looked down, fingers nervously interlacing in her lap.
“My mother stayed with them in their holiday home, while I returned here to the cottage. That… that decision saved my life.
The room stilled.
“The threats started again,” she said grimly. “Phone calls. Notes. The same faceless man. We couldn’t understand it.
Natasha had done nothing to anyone. Vander wasn’t cheating anymore. He was a devoted husband and father by then.
We had no enemies we could see… but someone was hunting her.”
I could feel the tension in my jaw, the unease crawling up my spine.
“She never went anywhere without protection. Vander was frantic. Angry. And helpless. Still, nothing could prepare us for what happened next.”
Lydia’s voice broke slightly, but she kept speaking.
“Three months later, our mothers were served a meal. Food that seemed normal. Trusted hands. They ate together.”
She paused.
“… And it was poisoned.”
A thick silence settled in the room. I felt my lungs contract.
“They didn’t realise it until it was too late. When the symptoms began, the cook and staff who had served the food… they were found murdered. Slaughtered. By an intruder-or someone they conspired with.”
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe.
< 167 The Poisoned Truth
+8 Points >
“They rushed both women to the hospital. They did all they could. But Natasha-your mother-had ingested more of it
than mine. She was declared dead on arrival.”
Lydia’s voice cracked now. “My mother survived. But… the poison left her broken. It damaged her nervous system. Her spine. Her brain. That’s why she can’t speak. That’s why she sits in that chair.”
A sob escaped Katya. She lifted trembling hands and signed something.
“She says she’s sorry,” Lydia translated tearfully. “She never meant to fail your mother. Or you.”
I felt the walls closing in, the foundation of everything I knew crumbling beneath me.
“Vander lost it,” Lydia whispered. “He was convinced the Alpha of Neev was behind it-either as revenge or ambition. He retaliated with fury. He nearly razed this place to ash. Neev and Mooncrest clashed for two years before he gave up the
war. But he was broken. And we… we were powerless.”
She looked at me then, raw and open.
“We wanted to take you, Lucian. But I was just a girl. My mother was bedridden. We had no way to care for a child, no way
to fight Vander. So… we left you with him.”
Silence again.
And in that silence, Katya signed something else. Lydia wiped her tears, stood, and went to the cupboard.
She returned with an old photo album and placed it gently on my lap.
I opened it slowly, afraid of what I’d find.
There she was-my mother. Young, radiant, her arm draped around Lydia. And beside them… Katya. And a woman who could only be my grandmother.
Tears blurred my vision.
They weren’t lying.
They were family.
And my mother… my mother had died with enemies still lurking in the shadows.
Enemies, I was now determined to find.
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