Chapter 37
Allegations
JESSICA
TWO WEEKS AGO:
Alpha Kings Mansion: Conference Room
The second territory leaders are notoriously known for their disdain toward successful women.
The Ruby Falls Pack is a traditional pack and views women beneath men.
According to their traditions, women belong in their beds or in subservient positions, such as housekeepers or cooks.
Despite how the world around their territory evolved, they strongly maintain their beliefs.
Naturally, Beta DuPont’s correspondence has clearly conveyed his disdain for my position.
Even though my intention was to show him that I desired peace, his reply only reinforced that women like myself would only bring downfall to those around me when I try to fulfill a leadership role.
Of course, I won’t let him make me feel inferior to his status. Alpha Agnus taught me better than that.
My mother turns to leave the room, and I step around her to give the gentlemen my attention. The group is tense with an interrupted confrontation. I just wish it wasn’t happening today, of all days.
The young man standing next to Alpha Rhineheart stares at me, his mouth hanging open. He stammers, “Grit?”
“This is Alpha Princess Jessica Langhlam,” Luke interjects. I glance at Luke and return my gaze to the young man.
Frowning, he shake his head. “I guess the allegations are true then?”
My brow furrows in confusion. “Allegations?”
Beta DuPont laughs, and Alpha Rhineheart joins him.
“This all makes sense now—the attacks on my pack’s winery, the drop in sales for the past five years, the personal attack a few months ago from you and one of your guards.
” Beta DuPont points a finger at me. “Has this been your plan of revenge all along?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Beta DuPont.” Beta DuPont turns to Alpha Rhineheart. “After all this time.” Alpha Rhineheart nods. Speaking to my father, the Beta continues, “Your Majesty, I am not sure what she told you over the years, but I can assure you, it is all lies.”
What the hell is he talking about?
My father places a hand over mine. “You better start making some sense, or I will—” my father starts when Luke cuts in.
“Actually, I want to hear all about these lies. I always had my suspicions, the way she ran into our territory, begging the guards for help, manipulating her way into my family, into my pack all those years ago. Not to mention how she ruined my relationship with my mate.”
A sharp pain pierces my heart from his words.
“I think it’s time for the truth to come out finally. Don’t you think, Jessica?” He gives me a cold smile.
My eyes widen, and tears burn the back of my lashes. I glance down at my hands before raising my chin making eye contact Beta DuPont. “I never lied or personally attacked the second territory. I have no reason to!”
Luke grabs my shoulder and pushes me into a chair. “Sit,” he says sharply. “Let the Beta talk.”
Beta DuPont smiles like the cat who got the cream. “I didn’t recognize you at first. You’ve grown into quite a young woman. But the hair and those eyes… We thought you were dead all this time. What you put your mother and brother through. Our family—the pack—has never been the same.”
The young man who called me “Grit” scoffs and runs his fingers through his hair.
Alpha Rhineheart growls. “One word, boy, and I will strip you of your title and banish you from our pack!”
“No, Alpha. It’s really not his fault. The poor boy is part of this tangled web of lies and manipulation woven together by this horrible monster.”
I attempt to stand. I will not let this asshole spread lies about me. But Luke continues to hold me down and tightly squeezes my shoulder. “I can’t believe you. Whatever happened to you having my back, too?” I hiss.
He doesn’t respond or show any kind of emotion, looking expectedly at the Beta.
“Your Majesty, I’m so ashamed to involve you in this. This really should have been pack business. I tried my best to raise my daughter to be an upstanding member of my pack.”
Daughter? What the fuck?!
“She was always a difficult child, telling lies, manipulating young men to do her bidding, and causing fights amongst the pack members. We punished her to correct this behavior, but she ran around the pack and claimed we starved her, beat her, and locked her out of her home. She made us look like monsters when she was abusing us.”
I squirm, trying to wiggle out of Luke’s grasp, but he bears down even harder.
“She manipulated the Young Alpha into taking her side, pitting him against his own father, against his best friend, my son, Bart. She used the betrothal contract between the Young Alpha and herself to manipulate him, knowing the contract was binding.”
“Betrothed?” my father and I say in unison.
“No fucking way! You’re lying! There is no way I am betrothed to anyone!” I scream.
The Young Alpha’s eyes avoid mine, and he shakes his head. “The contract is real, Grit,” he replies softly.
“What the fuck did you just call me?!” I shout.
“Grit, your name. Come now. I know you never liked it, but don’t be so dramatic.” Beta DuPont feigns sincerity.
I want to scratch his eyeballs out with my fingernails.
He chuckles. “Your Majesty, I can supply you with the contract, if you like. It was formalized a few months after her birth. It’s legal and binding. Of course, it’s written under her original name, Grit DuPont.”
My father stares at the Beta. “Yes. I want a copy of that contract in my office by the end of the day.”
I turn to my father. “No! I am not the horrible monster they claim me to be! I will never mate with anyone who thinks so little of the opposite sex!”
“Grit, I—”
“That is not my name!” I yell at the Young Alpha. Luke squeezes my shoulder. “Let go of me, or you will regret it!”
He ignores me and addresses Beta DuPont. “Why did you think she died?”
“Well, you see, she had made so many problems among the pack that even her peers began to hate her. She started fights and then cried that she was being bullied. My poor son tried everything to save her from herself. We were told that she had a fight with one of her best friends, uh, Kat, I think. She messed around with Kat’s boyfriend behind her back.
“Anyway, a group of friends and peers confronted her about it.
According to my son, it was a bad fight.
When it was over, she returned home. Bart, my son, said he found her in the bathroom, indulging in wine she stole from my cellar, mutilating herself.
She told Bart she planned to kill herself and make it appear like she was murdered.
“Bart tried to stop her and called his friends for help. She’s a strong girl, even though she’s quite petite.
They chased her all the way to the falls, but then he lost track of her.
She was missing for—what—a week, almost two.
The entire pack searched for her. Then, my son found her body in a ravine near the falls.
Her body was so unrecognizable, we could only identify her by the color of her hair.
“My son never recovered. He was so devastated that he couldn’t help his sister. My mate never forgave herself for not doing more for her daughter, as well as for me… How do you recover from losing a child?”
“You are not my father, you horrible piece of shit!” I struggle against Luke’s restraining grip. I swear I am going to break his fucking hand!
“If she is here,” my father asks, “then whose body did you find?”
Beta DuPont shrugs. “Your Majesty, we had no reason to believe it wasn’t her.
” He hesitates for a moment. “She’s a very smart girl.
She attended senior year courses when she was only a sophomore.
She’s a musical prodigy. We wanted to place her in a special school for gifted children, but we were so afraid of the trouble she would cause outside of the territory.
I can only imagine that she found another child similar in height and weight to look like her. ”
I glare at Beta DuPont.
“You murdered a child, Jessica?” Slowly, I turn to look at Luke. My body trembles, and I ball my hands into fists. “You accused my mate of setting up the murder of your best friend, Emily. This makes me wonder if—”
“Don’t you dare,” I threaten through clenched teeth. I swing my right arm, gripping Luke’s and twisting, releasing his hold on me. I stand and smash my left fist into his face.
I jump on the table and wrap my hands around Beta DuPont’s throat and squeeze. He grabs my wrist with both hands, digging into my flesh with his filthy nails, but I don’t flinch or release him. I squeeze harder. Kneeling, I lean in closer. I can smell the stench of his rotting breath.
“Listen, you miserable, fat, power-starving, Alpha wannabe.
Listen well because I will only say this once.
Seven years ago, when your territory suffered from a drought, reducing your crops and slowing your wine production, even though I was advised against it, I bought thirty percent of your business shares.
I even convinced my brothers to invest in eight percent and my parents to invest another three.
When you and your horrible son pissed everyone off within the LS territory with your assholery and unprofessionalism, I still bought and stocked your wine in my hotels, even when my restaurant manager and concierge threatened to quit if they had to deal with either of you one more time.