Chapter 196

Grayson’s POV

“Liam? What’s going on? Why are we here?” Elaine’s voice was filled with confusion. Her confusion mirrored my own.

I remained silent, staring at Liam. His features were unchanged, the same as I’d known since childhood. Whatever elaborate scheme he was about to unveil, whatever words he was about to speak that would shatter whatever we had built, he still looked the same.

“Liam?” Elaine called again, her hand reaching for her maternity band. Liam’s smile curdled into irritation. “You’re not pregnant, Elaine. Stop pretending.”

“What?” she stammered, shock evident in her slurred words.

He sighed wearily. “You’ve always been a spoiled brat, Elaine. Sixteen years haven’t changed that. And you, Grayson,” he addressed me, “you’ve always had everything handed to you. Born into royalty, the world was your oyster.”

I sighed, exhausted. “Get to the point, Liam. I need to sleep.”

“Liam, I don’t know what’s happening!” Elaine’s voice rose. “This isn’t funny! It’s getting incredibly hot in here—”

“Shut up! You’ve talked incessantly for six months. I’m surprised I haven’t gone mad.”

“So, it started six months ago?” I asked.

Liam’s glare shifted to me, then softened into a smile. “Finally interested? No, it started much earlier. It started because the world revolved around the Blackwoods. There was never room for the rest of us. You lived in your mansions while we, the ‘commoners,’ stood on the sidelines despite our potential. I was better than you—even your father knew it.”

“This is about jealousy? I was born privileged, you weren’t?”

He shook his head. “I watched my parents slave for your family. I despised you all. But then I met you, Grayson. You were different. Not spoiled, not entitled. You’d visit us, the ‘regular people.’ My parents neglected me, so you became more than a friend—you became my brother. Those were good years. But after the fire, you changed. You became worse than the rest, and I became your shadow, your servant.”

I remained silent, unsurprised. I knew how drastically people could change. Perhaps I was trying to justify his words, to feel even worse than I already did.

“You were using me?” Elaine’s voice cracked. Liam barely looked at her. “You crave attention and affection, and you grasp at it when it’s offered because you're starved for it.”

This hit me hard. I was responsible for her current state—not just the fire, but my subsequent treatment of her.

“I had to do something. I’m not responsible for killing the Alphas, but when the person behind it contacted me, I realized you’d never see my potential. You’d never treat me as anything more, so I took matters into my own hands. I started helping him exploit your weaknesses.”

I heard Elaine crying. For the first time in sixteen years, I understood her pain. Her heart was breaking, mirroring my own heartbreak from two weeks prior. Then, a realization dawned on me.

“You sent the message about my wolf to the reporter. You knew about my wolf, and you planted those messages that made me kick Ava out.”

He smiled. “Invisibility makes it easier to watch and strike where it hurts most.”

Elaine sobbed again, louder. Liam mocked her. “Save your tears. You’ll need them for what’s coming.”

The pain in her eyes was palpable. “You said you loved me.”

“You said you loved me,” he echoed, the same words Ava had spoken to me, words that had broken her because I’d wrongly believed she'd betrayed me.

What have I done?

“I said what you wanted to hear. I only got involved with you because you were crucial to the plan. And that child you’re supposedly carrying… those papers I had you sign? They transferred your shares in Grayson’s company to the baby.”

Elaine slowly turned to me. “You gave me shares in your company?” She looked back at Liam, struggling to comprehend. “I took a test. I was pregnant. I don’t understand.”

He sighed. “Werewolves and magic exist. The right witch can cast any spell, including faking a pregnancy.”

That explained the lack of a baby bump. He’d used my disappearance to manipulate her, knowing her vulnerability. Yes, I’d given her shares, but I hadn’t told her because she was Elaine, and Liam had orchestrated a fake pregnancy to claim her shares.

“Doesn’t the baby have to be born to transfer the shares?” I asked dryly.

He frowned, realizing he hadn't thought that far ahead. “I’ll figure it out,” he growled.

Then, it hit me. If he wasn't behind the killings, and this was about shares, he didn't want to be Alpha King; he wanted my company. Rickon and Ricardo were right. Liam had manipulated events, and after my two-month absence and my focus on Ava, I’d pushed the company into his grasp. Finally, I asked the question that mattered most.

“Who’s behind all of this? Who wants to be Alpha King?”