Chapter 188 It Was Him

Across town, Isabella was tearing through drawers in the Hale family study.

Eira had told her to find Serena’s ultrasound picture. Isabella had started with Alpha Sebastian’s apartment, but the locks had been changed. She’d cracked the new keypad code on her second try. Alpha Sebastian had never been good with passwords.

The apartment had been almost empty. Alpha Sebastian had already packed up most of his things, so she’d found nothing there except bare shelves and half-filled boxes.

That was why she’d moved on to the family study.

Now, as she searched the desk, something caught her eye. The bottom drawer didn’t sit quite right.

She pried it open and found a hidden compartment beneath it.

Inside were two folders.

A Registered Mate Bond Certificate.

And a Mate Bond Dissolution Certificate.

Both carried the names Alpha Sebastian Hale and Eira Crawford.

"My brother dissolved his bond with Eira?" Isabella blurted.

The study door swung open.

Luna Margaret took one look at the papers and snatched them from Isabella’s hands.

"Stop digging through things that don’t concern you."

"When did this happen?" Isabella demanded. "Why didn’t anyone tell me?"

"You’re a child. What would you even understand?" Luna Margaret shoved the folders against her chest and pointed toward the door. "Get out. And don’t say a word to your brother. Are we clear?"

Isabella stepped into the hallway.

Alpha Roger was coming in from the foyer, still wearing his wool overcoat and leather gloves.

Isabella looked from him to Luna Margaret. "Mom found the dissolution papers."

Luna Margaret lowered her voice. "She found them."

Alpha Roger’s face tightened.

Luna Margaret poured him two fingers of bourbon from the decanter on the bar. Her hand shook with anger and regret.

"Who could’ve guessed Eira had that kind of backing? She gave Alpha Sebastian exactly what he wanted, then convinced us to rush the final registration through the Council. We thought we were getting rid of her."

She handed him the glass.

"All that talent, and she kept it hidden. If she’d given us even one clue, just one, none of this would’ve happened."

The keypad chimed.

Only one person besides the household staff had the code.

Luna Margaret immediately stopped talking.

Alpha Roger shot Isabella a warning look.

The door opened.

Alpha Sebastian walked in.

He ignored their forced smiles and crossed the room with his tie loosened, his coat hanging open. He looked less like a corporate executive than a man who had run out of places to hide.

"The dissolution papers." His voice was low. "Did you two arrange this?"

Luna Margaret’s stomach dropped, but she forced a smile.

"Who’s been filling your head with nonsense?"

"Eira."

Alpha Roger frowned. "She promised she’d keep it private."

Alpha Sebastian let out a hollow laugh.

"So it was you."

Neither of them answered.

"Why?" His voice rose. "Why do you always interfere with my life? With my bond?"

"Sebastian." Alpha Roger set down his bourbon and straightened. "If you hadn’t looked down on Eira from the start, we never would have gotten involved."

Isabella pressed herself against the wall.

"She’s right," she said quietly. "You ran Eira into the ground too. We only treated her that way because we watched you do it first."

Serena’s voice echoed through Alpha Sebastian’s mind.

The person who hurt Eira wasn’t me. The person you should blame is you.

His hands began to shake.

For four years, he had watched his family treat Eira like she was beneath them and said nothing.

He had let them push her out, then signed the dissolution agreement without giving it a second thought.

He had been wrong from the beginning.

But the certificate was real.

Eira had said his parents were holding it.

Alpha Sebastian’s red-rimmed eyes fixed on his father.

"Where is it?"

Luna Margaret and Alpha Roger exchanged a look.

Alpha Roger gave her a short nod.

She disappeared into the study and returned with two leather folders. One held the Registered Mate Bond Certificate. The other held the Mate Bond Dissolution Certificate.

She handed them to Alpha Sebastian.She handed them to Alpha Sebastian.

He stared at the folders.

Twice, his father had dismissed them as Council paperwork. Twice, Alpha Sebastian had chosen not to ask questions.

His fingers tightened around the leather."Quite the operator, Dad."

Alpha Roger lowered his gaze."I had no idea Eira was a federal researcher."

"That’s not the point!"Alpha Sebastian’s voice cracked through the room, a growl buried beneath it.Alpha Sebastian’s voice cracked through the room, a growl buried beneath it.

"You had no right to dissolve my bond behind my back."

Isabella flinched. She had seen Alpha Sebastian angry before, but never like this. He had never raised his voice at Alpha Roger, the one person in the house no one dared challenge.Isabella flinched.

She had seen Alpha Sebastian angry before, but never like this. He had never raised his voice at Alpha Roger, the one person in the house no one dared challenge.

Alpha Roger’s expression hardened.

"If Eira hadn’t turned out to be a federal researcher, give me one reason she belonged in this pack."