The Dark Side Of Fate

~Sylvester~

I was speechless. My mother sat on the couch and was weeping.

I could see she was afraid, and I understood why. She had committed treason.

I sighed and looked at her. I could see she was tired and wondered how much she was hiding.

"Is there anything else, mother, that I need to know?" I asked her, and she looked at me.

It was hard for her, but she knew her game was up.

"I hated her.” She confessed, and I did not need to guess who she was talking about.

"She came to my house uninvited and told me that she was tired of the money she was getting from me and she needed to get justice for Maurice. She was on to something, and I knew she would do it. I do not know if it had anything to do with the bastard that Maurice took from her, but she was broken, and she came to vent her anger on me,” my mother said, and I sighed.

"She said I was an idiot and could not take care of business. She bragged to me that I was a fool. She told me she was the one that helped me get rid of my competition.

I only had one competition when it came to your father, and that was Alissa. She told me how she paid the doctor to inject silver into her system.

Silver doesn't kill us; it only stops us from healing and makes us weak, which was what it did to Alissa the day she gave birth. The doctor registered her cause of death as an extreme case of preeclampsia. She bragged that I would not be able to prove it because, unlike me, she knew how to tidy up her mess.

The doctor died a month after Alissa passed away. We didn't see it as anything when it happened, but I figured it out when she told me. I knew Jenny was crazy, but I did not realise how crazy she was until she said what she said.

After she bragged about what she did to Alissa, she said I reaped the benefit of her hard work but not anymore,” my mother said I knew where it was going, but I held my tongue to let her speak.

"I did not know she was screwing your father when I asked her to help secure the Balyaev seat. I found out after he died, and she thought that was why I had him killed. She claimed she loved your father, but it was all a lie. She was a bloody social climber. She dated Gavin Orlov in secret. I knew but kept her secret because her husband was late by then.

I did not know she was also screwing my husband when I learned about her and Gavin. I found out after Devin had killed him, and I was mad. Jenny was a bloody social climber. She married Jerry Babanin because his family was higher than hers. Before Jerry, she tried to get with my brother, but he did not fancy her. After she married Jerry, she chose to aim higher, so she went after the eldest, Orlovs, and one day I found out she went after Maurice Volkov too. She just wanted to be at the top. The bitch.

I had someone investigate her so I could have something on her and get her off my back, but I found out she had a child for my husband, which made me snap.

So I started sending her threatening messages hoping she would be so scared and maybe run away, but the bitch always kept her shit together, so I stopped.” She said, and I remembered the anonymous blackmail letters Jenny was getting. I did not tell my mother I had seen those letters so she would not feel bad about it.

"I had to pay her two hundred thousand Lakhs every three months so she wouldn't raise the issue at the council. The letter might not have carried my name, but once they dug deep, they would figure it out.

So I pretended with her.

The day she died, she came to my house to gloat. She told me she had me where she wanted and could dispose of me whenever. She only let me keep my miserable life because she enjoyed watching me suffer. She told me of her child with Maurice, and I pretended to be surprised about it. She told me Maurice took her son away from her and how she envied me because he let me raise my children.

The woman was that sick. She could not tell the difference between a legitimate child and a bastard. Jenny said it was time for her to raise the matter in the council. Kapa Blake and kappa Melvick were there when she made all those statements; they didn't believe her, of course, and saw her as a mad woman threatening my life. She also came with her guards for reasons best known to her.

"It all happened so fast. She was leaving and said she would get you off your seat and end the Volkov line with the amount of evidence she had. Knowing she always made good on her threats, I knew I could not let her go. So I attacked; likewise, her men attacked my men, but we had the upper hand.

She stabbed me with the silver switch knife she always had on her, and Kappa Melvick helped me end her. Of course, my men killed her men, and they got scared because they had killed a high council member, so I told them what they would say before I passed out,” She said, and I placed my hand on her thigh. She looked at me, and her eyes looked light. It must have been a burden.

"You know my secret, Sylvester; please do not hate me and do not tell Dominic any of this. He would never understand. He loved his father blindly,” she said, pleading with me, and I nodded and hugged her.

She cried in my arms, and I could only imagine the amount of pain she was in.

She had no choice but to strike.

Jenny was not going to back down. I had read the woman's journals. She was sick and rotten to her core. It was good riddance.

"Please, Sylvester, Melvick and his men meant well, do not let them suffer; they believe they were protecting our family from a mad woman,” She pleaded. I told her to calm down, patting her back gently.

"It is okay, mother, your secret is safe with me," I said, and she broke the hug and stared into my eyes to be sure I had just said what I said.

"What about Tamia? She likes digging and ..." She said with genuine fear in her eyes, and I shook my head and held her hands that were shaking so she could be calm.

"Tamia was the one that figured it out, mother," I said, and there was horror in her eyes.

"She hid the evidence from everyone and only let me in on it. She protected your secret, mother. She knew it would hurt you, our baby and me, and she kept it," I said, and tears fell freely from her eyes.

"I am grateful, Sylvester. Tell her I am grateful.." she said, crying. She was relieved.

"Tamia, please join me in my mother's room," I linked my mate. I needed my mother to believe that Tamia was on her side because I could feel she was conflicted.

I held my mother, and there was a knock on the door.

My mother broke the hug and wiped away her tears while Tamia walked in.

My mother looked at me and then looked at Tamia.

She went on her knees to plead to my mate. Clasping her hands together, she wept and begged. "Please, Tamia, do not expose me. I am begging you. I had no choice." she said, and Tamia rushed to her and held her. She knelt and hugged my mother.

"Your secret is safe with me, Luna. We will burn all the evidence and never speak of it again,” Tamia assured her.

I was glad Tamia was the one that found the evidence. I did not think Marcel or Theodore would want to hurt my mother, but their mothers might feel differently about it. I watched as Tamia held my mother while she wept on her knees.

It was a secret she had carried and lived in fear at the mercy of Jenny, the psycho. I hoped for all our sakes it was over. It was a relief, but we still had unanswered questions.

Who was working against my family? It was either the entire council, some people or someone on the council, David or Jenny's bastard

I realised that Devin was innocent all along, and I had to try to find a way to calm the situation down and have a treaty with the south to avoid any more problems. There was also the issue of him being fated to Tamia. Although she rejected him, he was too hopeful for him to let go like that. He would always blame me for his loss, even if he respected and accepted the rejection.

I watched Tamia comfort my mother.

We left her room together and returned to our bedroom.

"We need to destroy all the evidence, so it does not get into the wrong hands," Tamia said, going through the files.

"Anything that points to the bad blood between them, Jenny's blackmail, the letter to the south and the correspondence about the letter must be destroyed. I am thinking of burning it in the bathroom," She said, and I frowned. Although we had electronic heaters in our rooms, there was a fireplace in the common room that we could use to burn the evidence.

"Why would you want to burn it in the bathroom when we can use the fireplace in the common room?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Someone can walk into the common room and notice we are burning papers. No one would notice if we burn them in the bathroom bit by bit until they are all gone,” She explained, and I understood and agreed with her.

"So, what is our next move?" She asked me.

"After we are done burying her secret, we must look closely at everyone on the council. Investigate them while I search for David." I told her, and she nodded and searched the documents to separate them.

I doubt David could help with anything, but I needed him to know I wasn't hunting him.

I needed to investigate and find Jenny's child. Meanwhile, we had to prep for the games. It would start in two weeks.

While we were figuring all these things out, it was best we figured out what to wear for the ball and prepare for the games to keep up appearances.

Jenny might have led to a dead end regarding the pending mutiny, but it opened a lot of things that were hidden from us. The new knowledge that we gained would help us in our future decision- making.

Tamia and I searched through the documents for two hours, and once we had separated the evidence against my mother from the others. I took them to the bathroom to burned them one at a time.

I sat by the window in the bathroom with a metal trash can and started burning the papers. I could not let Tamia do this because of her condition. I wanted her and our baby to be healthy and well. She was everything to me, and she knew it, which was why she respected my decision and did not argue with me.