Chapter 110
TY
Istood in my office, the recent discovery a heavy weight bearing down on my shoulders.
Liza’s theory that there might be another mole in the pack had haunted me all night long.
Despite having already dealt with one traitor in the pack and another on my security detail, there was still something nagging at the back of my mind, urging me to dig deeper into the people around us.
“Everyone checked out, even Isaiah,” I said, more to reassure myself than Liam and Isaiah, who were in the room with me, as well as Liza. The unease lingered, though, like an itch I couldn’t quite reach.
Isaiah spoke up from where he stood in the corner of my office.
“I did a thorough background check on every staff member. I was up all night trying to find anyone who could have any connection to Castro. No one on your team had any links to him.” Though he spoke with conviction, the bags under his eyes belied his exhaustion.
The tension in the air was palpable as Liam’s narrowed focus bore into Isaiah and me. “What did you find out?”
I hesitated. This was going to hurt Liza more than anything else we’d faced so far, and it killed me that I had to be the one to break the news.
“Ty?” Liza said, frowning. She hadn’t caught on yet, and every second that passed made it harder for me to speak up.
“Isaiah.” I motioned to the man standing behind me. “Give her the papers.”
As Isaiah handed over the documents to Liza, I tried to brace myself for the inevitable fallout. The scent of her confusion and fear mingled with the lingering traces of coffee and ink in the air, creating a dissonant symphony that set my nerves on edge.
Liza’s fingers shook as she flipped through the papers and scanned the contents quickly, then went back over them with more detail. Her heart raced so loudly I could hear it, each beat pounding like a drum in my ears.
“No.” She closed the papers and slapped the top sheet. “This can’t be true.”
I desperately wanted to pull her into my arms, but she needed space—time to process this devastating revelation.
Instead, I thrust my hands into my pockets and swallowed the lump in my throat. “We should have looked deeper into her background.” The words tasted bitter on my tongue, heavy with guilt. “I should’ve thought about it.”
Liza’s fury was a storm about to break. Her hands clenched and unclenched, an unconscious movement that betrayed her struggle for control.
“Who are you talking about?” Liam asked.
“Rosalie. She was getting weekly calls from an unknown number.” Liza scanned through the documents again. “Shortly after each call, money would be deposited into her account.”
“Could be coincidental.” Liam shrugged half-heartedly. He was well aware our situation was far from ordinary.
“Except the calls were traced to a VOIP number.” I pulled a copy of the file from the pile in front of me and passed it to him. “A fake number.”
Liza’s expression flashed with hurt then confusion as she read on.
“This isn’t right. It says Rosalie’s father is in prison, but Rosalie told me she doesn’t know her father.
He was a married man who had an affair with her mom, and when her mom got pregnant he didn’t want anything to do with either of them. Her grandmother raised her.”
“I’m sorry, love, but she lied to you. Isaiah double-checked.
Rosalie’s father and sister raised her. He owes a lot of money to a loan shark.
She changed their names and got a new identity when he went to prison to distance themselves and escape his past,” I said bitterly, my protective instincts warring with the need to give her space.
“Either way, it’s all caught up to her in the end. ”
“Her father’s debts must be astronomical,” Liam said, glancing up from the file. “I know the shark. The guy’s a nasty piece of work. Rosalie’s job as a chef’s assistant wouldn’t come close to paying off a fraction of what will be owed.”
“Which means Castro could’ve easily planted her,” I finished, my gut twisting. Why hadn’t I looked closer at Rosalie when Liza hired her?
“Fuck it,” Liza cursed, slamming her fist down on the table, making me, Liam, and Isaiah jump.
“Easy, love.” I went to her side. The ache in my chest mirrored the anguish I was sure she was feeling.
“Everything we’ve been through, and it’s one of our own who betrays us… again.” The room rumbled beneath our feet, but Liza quickly controlled the rage. Her training was helping her. “How could we have missed this?”
“None of us are infallible,” I said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Now we’ve discovered the truth, we can deal with it.”
“Deal with it?” She shrugged off my hand. “How do we even begin to fix this? We thought we were safe, and now? Now we’re back to square one. I want to confront Rosalie.” Her lips twisted into a sneer. “If she betrayed us, I need to understand why.”
“Absolutely not.” Isaiah and Liam echoed my sentiments, their expressions hardening as well.
“None of you have any right to deny me this,” Liza said, her anger exploding like a volcano.
I went to reach over and take her hand, but my body was frozen, not from the cold, but from what I could only assume was Liza’s newfound ability to paralyze us with her powers.
I couldn’t move anything except my mouth.
It seemed Isaiah and Liam were in the same predicament.
This was new.
This was terrifying.
Panic shot through me. “Liza, stop this.”
“None of you will prevent me from confronting Rosalie.” Her fury was evident in the way her words scraped against the walls, making the air itself quiver.
“Okay, Liza,” I spoke through gritted teeth, forcing my voice to remain steady. “We’ll do this your way, but you won’t go alone. If Rosalie is a threat, I couldn’t live with myself if you were hurt.”
“Fine,” she snapped, her chest heaving.
As her anger dissipated, her grip on us loosened, and my muscles instantly regained their strength. She slapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and terrified as she looked at the three of us.
“Shit, I’m so sorry.” She was visibly shaking. “I had no idea I was able to do that. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“It’s okay,” I assured her. “We’re not hurt, just surprised. We’re learning new things about your abilities every day. Now we’ve discovered another one.”
“Let’s just… be careful, okay?” Liam said. “We’ll be there with you when you confront Rosalie, but we won’t interfere unless it’s necessary.”
“Agreed.” I tried to quell the dread in the pit of my stomach. Liza had every right to face Rosalie, but the thought of her putting herself in danger made me want to wrap her in a protective embrace.
“Thank you.” Her eyes met mine for a moment before she turned away, steeling herself for the confrontation to come.
I needed to give Liza some room to take everything on board and prepare herself for facing Rosalie.
It was time to make my parents aware of the situation.
I walked across to their place, with the heady scent of my mother’s roses thick in the air.
The warm sun on my skin did little to alleviate my nerves.
“Mother, Dad.” I entered their living room, finding them seated on the plush couch. Their faces instantly morphed to twin expressions of worry. I very rarely surprised them with a visit. “I need to tell you something.”
My mother scrutinized my face. “What’s wrong?”
Dad simply leaned forward, his silence amplifying the need for an explanation.
“Rosalie, Liza’s assistant chef, is more than likely another mole.” I recounted the details of the phone calls, the deposits, and her father’s debt.
“Shit.” Dad rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I suppose it was only a matter of time before we found the person responsible for all this chaos.”
“How has Liza taken the news?” my mother asked gently.
“Surprisingly, better than expected. She’s angry, of course, but she’s holding up well.
We did discover something else today,” I added, hesitating for a moment before continuing.
“We still don’t know the full extent of Liza’s powers yet.
Liam is working with her, but when her emotions got the better of her, she accidentally paralyzed us. ”
“Paralyzed?” My mother’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “You mean, she can control people’s movements?”
“Seems that way.” I rubbed a hand over my jaw. “It took us by surprise, but we managed to calm her down. We’ll have to figure out how to help her control it later.”
“Indeed, we’ll need to be careful moving forward,” Dad agreed. “For now, focus on keeping Liza safe and getting to the bottom of this Rosalie situation. We’ll handle the rest.”
My mom stood and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll come over and visit with her soon. I can only imagine the blow this has dealt her.”
“Thank you.”
My mother’s gaze narrowed in on my bruises. “What the hell happened to your face? Why are you all bruised up?”
“Ah.” I winced. There was no escaping the wrath of mother. “It’s nothing, Mother. Liam and I had a little... disagreement.”
“Disagreement?” she scoffed. “You call this a disagreement? Look at your face.” She gestured wildly at my battered visage. “Liam must be so much stronger than we thought if he managed to do this to you.”
“Actually, I let him hit me. It was part of a... plan.”
“Part of a plan?” Her voice rose dangerously. “You willingly damaged your face? Ty, have you lost your mind?”
“Mother, please.” I patted her hand. “It was necessary. We needed to establish trust.”
“Trust? By letting him beat you up. I swear, sometimes I don’t understand you.” She shook her head in disbelief.
“Persephone,” Dad cut in, placing a comforting hand on her arm. “Calm down. It might appear unorthodox, but if Ty thought it was the right call, we should trust his judgment.”