Chapter 46 One Part of the Truth
One Part of the Truth
*FELIX*
Maddox takes a sip from his beer. He’s taken me out of the pack and to a bar in town. Again, I notice that he rebuffs any of the younger pack members’ attempts to get close to him. He honestly doesn’t trust anyone here, but I am starting to understand why.
“You seriously are something else,” he mutters. “That stunt you pulled at the end.”
“Good, huh?”
Maddox chuckles. The first time I actually see him so amused. “Thank you,” he says genuinely. “I know you didn’t have to do it. You have the pics, so you don’t need me anymore.”
“I felt like it,” I say. “Besides, I don’t know if we don’t need you anymore. And there is Charlie to consider, too.”
I don’t tell him that after a day with him, I just feel too much pity for his situation to leave him here. But it’s not the only reason. “Besides, I think you really can help,” I add.
“Can I see the pictures again?”
“Of course.” I hand him my phone, watching how he analyzes everything.
Silence descends again, but by now, I have gotten used to it.
Five minutes pass, ten minutes, thirty minutes, and then almost an hour.
Maddox puts the phone aside. “Another drink, please,” he tells the waiter who just walked by. “Make it strong.”
“What did you find out?”
Maddox’s expression is devoid of any emotion, as if he has pulled the blinds down completely.
“It’s transactions my father made to a certain TJ.
I don’t know who that is,” he pauses, his lips pressed to a thin line.
“Dad gambles with him. At least that’s how it looks.
He also mentioned somewhere that TJ is dangerous. ”
“Wh… what? But what does it have to do with Marina?”
“She is mentioned twice. Dad mostly used keywords, but he mentioned somewhere that TJ and Marina are mates.”
“And?” I push.
“He lost.”
Goddess, it REALLY is like pulling teeth!
“I understand this is difficult,” I say. “I know this is your father, and despite everything, it hurts to realize what he might be up to, but please tell me.”
“I knew it, but now that there is proof...“ Maddox takes another sip of his drink, nodding thankfully when the waiter brings him a long drink. “He lost a lot during one of his gambling nights. There are numbers, but he crossed them out, and instead he put Marina’s name next to them.”
“Wait a moment, he sold her to pay his debts?! He knew that guy was a bad deal. He had to know, or he wouldn’t have mentioned his bad reputation.”
“Yes,” Maddox says quietly. “I bet he knew it all, more than we can see in the notebook. On the day she returned, there was a new entry mentioning her name and a pretty hefty sum, this time one Dad had received.”
My mouth drops open. So, that asshole of an alpha gambled, lost and took a bad deal, which in the process, killed one of his former pack members.
He sold out Marina. And when she returned, he accepted money to stay silent.
Maddox is gripping the glass in his hand so tightly I am afraid he will crack it. “Just for money,” he laughs bitterly. “Just for money! Fuck!”
I don’t know what to say. What can possibly comfort someone when they hear that their father sold someone whom he was supposed to protect? Someone who happened to die as a consequence of it. And all that just because of a gambling addiction.
There are no words.
“Hello, Maddox!“ A tall man approaches us, and for a moment I am worried that it might be one of the pack’s elite warriors, or someone close to his dad. Someone who will put us both on edge.
But Maddox raises his head, surprise in his eyes. “Daniel?”
“I see you are with a friend,” Daniel says. “The whole pack is talking about him.”
Maddox stays silent, and to my surprise, Daniel just sits down. It’s then that I remember that Gwen kept talking about a Daniel, her only support. Though that’s not true. It was him and a woman named Evelyn.
“Do you happen to be the pack doctor?” I ask.
Daniel looks at me, surprised. “Yes. I am Daniel. It’s an honor to meet you-”
“You don’t need to pull that shit,” Maddox tells him.
Daniel just stares at him before turning to me. “Alright. Explanation?”
“I am Felix,” I say. “My background is real. But my reason for visiting the pack is a different one.” I stop at that, not sure how much I am supposed to tell him.
Maddox rubs his face. “Sorry for letting it out on you, Daniel.”
“It’s okay.” Daniel gestures for the waiter to bring him the same drink as Maddox, before turning back to us. “What happened?”
I am still searching for the right words. I don’t know how much he knows, and how much he is supposed to know.
“Felix is here for some research. The topic of said research is exactly the same as ours, from last year.”
Daniel’s eyes snap wide open before his expression softens tremendously. “So, he is involved?” He reaches out his hand, squeezing Maddox’s shoulder. “Do you want to tell me what exactly happened?”
“I am not sure it would be safe,” Maddox says.
“Me neither,” I admit.
“Do we know how Marina is doing right now?” Daniel asks.
This time, both Maddox and I are silent before we share a look. Maddox grabs his glass tighter, looking down into it. “Marina passed away, Daniel.”
Daniel’s expression turns somber. “Fuck!” he mutters before rubbing over his head. “Fuck it!”
“Yeah.”
“How about Faye and Gwen? Do we know anything about them?”
Again, Maddox and I are silent. This time, it’s me who has to decide how to answer. “They are well. For now, it’s better to keep knowledge to a minimum,” I say.
Daniel looks at Maddox, who nods to underline my words.
“Alright, I’ll take your word for it,” Daniel says.
“I am going with Felix tomorrow and will stay in his pack,” Maddox says. He massages his temples once more before he gets up. “I… I’ll be back in a minute.” With that, he leaves in the direction of the restrooms.
“He needs a moment,” Daniel says to me. “Let’s give him that.”
“Of course,” I mutter. “I have such loving parents. I don’t know how it feels or how it would feel…” My voice trails off. It’s impossible for me to even word my thoughts.
“I know,” Daniel says quietly.
“I thought I would hate him,” I say. “After what I heard, I thought he might be a stuck-up, arrogant alpha’s heir and that I would despise him. But he is so different from what I imagined.”
“He has a lot of problems,” Daniel says evasively. “He is detached and acts very slowly, and is often far away in his thoughts,” he pauses. “Sometimes that proved to be a problem when he should have acted but didn’t. There are a lot of things he has been battling ever since he was a child.”
I frown. “After meeting his father, I can imagine.”
“I am glad you are taking him with you to Silverlake,” Daniel says. “I have been trying to convince him to take a break for a long while, but with his responsibilities, he can’t just leave.”
Once more, I ask myself why the fuck I even care so much. Life would be easier if I didn’t, but now that I‘ve visited this pack, I can’t turn my back on this whole shitshow anymore, even if Maddox might not be my favorite person.
“May I ask you something, Daniel?”
“Of course.”
“How is Evelyn doing?” There is no way for me to ask him subtly, so I may as well just ask the question.
As expected, Daniel stares at me, his brows furrowed. “She is well. She recently went on a short trip with her mate,” he finally says while keeping his eyes pinned on me. “You promise me Gwen is safe?”
“She is,” I say. I would never let anyone harm her, I add in my thoughts, but don’t say it out loud. We still need to keep this cover, at least somewhat. I am pretty sure Daniel already has his own ideas of what’s going on.
“I will believe you,” he says. “Maddox wouldn’t have brought you here if you weren’t trustworthy.”
“You really like him,” I say, dumbfounded.
“I don’t have children,” he says. “Which is why I couldn’t help but dote on Gwen and Maddox. Gwen in particular. Her father was one of my best friends, and when he died, I swore to myself to help her as much as I could. As for Maddox… I want to smack him sometimes, but I want to protect him, too.”
“You sound like the dad he never had,” I mutter, more to myself than to him. “Say… there is something I want to ask you.”
“Go ahead.” Daniel furrows his brows again. “I am getting used to being bombarded with weird questions.”
“Did you know Gwen’s mother?”
At that, Daniel looks at me, surprised. “Her mother…”
I know Gwen doesn’t know anything about her. Either her dad truly didn’t know her well or didn’t want Gwen to know more, maybe because he thought she was too young, or it would hurt her. When Daniel stays quiet, I sit up a bit straighter. “You know something!”
“Gwen’s father wanted to tell her when she was older, but never had the chance to do so,” Daniel says. “But, unfortunately, he never told me much. I would have told Gwen immediately, had I known.”
“Her mother is human?”
“From what I know, yes.”
“But they weren’t mates, right?”
“That’s true. And it’s also true that she brought Gwen to Hank – Gwen’s dad - begging him to take her and to protect her.
Hank was a very respectful man who stood by his values.
He would have taken her as his chosen mate and protected them both.
That’s the kind of person he was, but somehow…
she… I don’t know. Hank said she was terrified of him being a shifter.
I don’t know if that was the whole truth. ”
That pretty much correlates with what Gwen told me. “What do you think he hid?”
“Maybe he had an inkling about her whereabouts,” he muses. “She wasn’t just a one-night stand. They met semi-regularly.”
My eyes widen. “He must have known a little bit about her!”
“Exactly, that’s what I always suspected, but he died before he could share what he knew.”
“Did you ever meet her?” I ask.
“I did. Twice.”
“So, you know what she looks like?” I pause. Maybe I am going to overstep, but this is something I want to find out for Gwen. I know she suffers from not knowing who her mother is, and why she left. “Would you be able to search for her?”
Daniel looks at me thoughtfully. “I have been thinking about that for a while. I always wondered if I should do it…” He pauses. “I don’t know. I want Gwen to have closure, but I am scared it might hurt her. That is, if I even find her mother.”
“Please try,” I say. “I will get Gwen’s opinion on this. If she doesn’t want you to do it, I will inform you.”
Again, Daniel looks at me for a long minute. Then he takes out a business card. “Here is my number. Call me or message me anytime. I won’t ask you how you know Gwen or where she is, but when she is ready and feels safe enough to do so, I would be over the moon if she reached out to me.”
I take his card, nodding my agreement. We don’t have much more time to talk anyway, as Maddox returns to us. He looks tired, but not as lost as before. It seems like he got his emotions back in check. Something about this is truly sad. Daniel is right. This is just a terrible situation to be in.