A Letter

“So… are we finally accepting it now?” D said.

They didn’t say anything at first.

The guard bowed and turned on his heel.

Just for a second.

He didn’t take it back.

She nodded, and without another word, she left.

I nodded and stepped back. “Call Dustin.”

Neither of us responded immediately.

I shook my head hard. “Stop it, Lennox… she’s your uncle’s wife,” I breathed out with a broken sigh. What the hell is happening to me? Minutes ago, I realized Olivia–the girl I’d loved my whole life–might be related to me, and now I’ve kissed Rebecca, who’s family. My uncle’s wife. What the hell is going on?

Not her.

We didn’t want to say it.

I gestured toward the letter still held in the guard’s hands. “We need you to read it.”

I nodded slowly. “There’s more to this. There has to be.”

But when we finally pulled apart, both of us breathless, the silence between us was louder than anything I’d ever heard.

Louis shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense, man. None of it does. I keep going back and forth in my head, trying to find a hole in the story. Something that would prove they were lying. Something that would make this all a sick misunderstanding.”

Levi looked down. “Would we, though?”

The kiss… it felt so damn good.

But what if she was really gone?

Louis shot to his feet. “Don’t bring any more cursed letters near us. We’re done being manipulated.”

Both Levi and I looked at him instantly.

“If she was alive,” he continued, his voice low and bitter, “we would’ve had to cut ties with her. Let go of everything we felt. Of everything we ever were.”

I clenched my jaw, trying to hold in the chaos surging inside me.

Her lips were soft, warm–nothing like Olivia’s, yet somehow they still made my heart clench the same way. I hated it. I hated how my pain found comfort in someone else. But I didn’t stop.

We fell silent again.

Louis sat down slowly in one of the wooden chairs, elbows on his knees, head in his hands.

Just enough to breathe.

Didn’t want to believe it.

Rebecca nodded slowly. “You’re hurting. I understand. I don’t expect anything from you, Lennox. I just… I saw you breaking, and I wanted to be there.”

They both wore the same worried, confused look.

I looked at him.

I looked away first, stepping back like I’d just been burned. The cold air rushed between us, but it did nothing to cool the heat rising in my chest.

There was silence again. This one heavier. Sadder.

“But they won’t tell us,” I added bitterly. “They’re still protecting some secret. Even now.”

I slumped against the wall, shutting my eyes, replaying that kiss over and over. Damn it, why did it feel so good and so right?

Olivia wouldn’t just die like that.

He bowed slightly. “A letter just arrived… addressed to the three of you.”

He blinked. “Me?”

I looked them in the eyes. “No,” I said. “We wouldn’t have. I couldn’t have.”

The library doors opened, and a guard stepped in, holding a folded letter in his gloved hand.

“Yes, Alpha,” the guard nodded.

Was this betrayal to Damien?

“I don’t want to,” I whispered.

He examined the seal before he carefully broke it, unfolded the paper, and began to read.

Then Louis exhaled sharply and muttered, “What if Olivia was still alive?”

He met my eyes. “That she’s dead.”

“And Olivia…” Louis added quietly, “might be related to us.”

“Yeah,” I said slowly, rubbing the back of my neck. “That’s what makes it worse.”

“She could be our cousin, and I still wouldn’t have been able to let her go,” I admitted. My voice cracked near the end, and I hated it. Hated how broken I sounded. “Even when I tried to hate her… it didn’t work. Even after everything we did to her, all she had to do was look at me and I—” I shook my head. “I would’ve stayed.”

She didn’t either.

A pause.

God, I wanted to pull away.

Then Levi spoke, his voice quiet, almost hollow.

The door to the library creaked open, snapping me from my thoughts. I looked to see my brothers stepping in.

Did I feel guilty?

Because I knew the answer. We all did.

“But they weren’t lying,” Levi muttered. “You saw their faces. You heard their voices.”

Louis sighed, pressing a hand to his forehead. “Shit…”

I wanted to end this madness.

My chest tightened.

My heart screamed yes.

The words punched the air out of me.

Her eyes met mine, filled with a thousand questions neither of us had the answer to.

“The sender…” he said quietly, “just signed it with a G.”

Dustin stepped forward, hesitantly taking the letter.

He paused, then looked down at the bottom of the letter.

Did I regret it?

“And that’s what pisses me off the most,” Louis growled. “They destroyed everything just to hide something none of us even understand.”

“I… I didn’t mean to do that,” I said hoarsely, running a hand through my hair.

We all stiffened.

Moments later, Dustin walked in, his brows raised in concern. “You called me?”

I clenched my fists.

The guard hesitated, clearly caught off guard. “But… it states important—”

I hesitated.

Because kissing her made the screaming in my head go quiet.

It should’ve felt wrong.

Too good.

My heart sank, and all I could think of was the possibility that Olivia might still be alive.

That made us all pause.

“Save Rebecca from Alpha Damien… don’t be deceived… everything is fake."

“G?” I repeated.

“I know,” she whispered. “Me neither.”

Neither did I.

But I couldn’t.

“What?”

My lips stayed silent.

“They know more than they’re saying,” Levi muttered. “They’ve known it for years. If she was related to us, if they traced her bloodline all the way back to our great-grandmother, then they must’ve found names. Something.”

A knock.

But at that moment, I didn’t care.

I let out a bitter laugh. “What the hell even is our life?”

Louis’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell does that mean?”

My hands slid to her waist before I could think, and she leaned into me like she belonged there. The way her fingers curled against my chest… the way she exhaled like she had been holding her breath for hours…

Just silence.

Louis finally leaned against the opposite wall, arms crossed, his eyes distant. “I still can’t believe it.”

I swallowed hard.

Levi exchanged a glance with me. “Still… it could be spelled.”

“Me neither,” Levi muttered, pacing slowly. “Our own parents… they forged those letters. Lied to us. Manipulated us.”

“Thank you,” I said softly.

The kind that dripped heavier than any words could manage.

Levi sat across from me, his expression grim. “Neither do I. But what if this is true… what if she really is gone?”

It was wrong.

“Yes,” Levi said. “We don’t trust it. We don’t even want to touch it. Read it out loud.”

My chest tightened. “Important?”

Then her voice, quiet again. “But… did you regret it?”

“I keep thinking about it,” Louis said suddenly, his voice muffled through his hands. “Who were her real parents? Why would they leave her with Parker? Why would Dad hide it from us?”

“No,” Levi said immediately. “Burn it.”

Because truthfully… I didn’t know.

“I don’t trust anything written anymore,” Louis muttered. “For all we know that thing’s laced with dark charm.”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly.

For a moment, none of us spoke again. We were each stuck in our thoughts. Memories. Regrets.

Lennox’s POV