Chapter 3 - The Bloodline Hidden in the Old Records
I barely slept.
The next morning, I returned to the veterinary clinic.
I needed distance from the mansion.
Distance helped me think.
Animals did not lie to protect their reputations.
A frightened horse didn't pretend it wasn't afraid.
A wounded wolf didn't call pain weakness.
A cow didn't inherit power and spend it humiliating others.
I found the first clue in an old patient ledger.
Cassian's mother had brought a young stallion to the clinic seventeen years earlier.
The name meant nothing.
The location did.
North Hollow.
I remembered hearing that name from my father.
I called Ruth.
"Find everything on North Hollow."
She paused.
"Why?"
"Cassian's bloodline."
Another pause.
"I'll send what I can."
An hour later, I received a scan.
Cassian's birth records had been amended.
Twice.
His father's name had originally been Elias Morell.
Then someone had altered it to Dorian Morell.
Dorian was the alpha's father.
Elias was not.
Ruth called.
"You need to come to my office."
"Why?"
"I found the original."
I drove there with my daughter.
Ruth handed me a sealed document.
"Cassian's mother was pregnant before she married Dorian."
"Who was the father?"
Ruth looked uncomfortable.
"Your father's records say the biological father was a member of the Blackwater bloodline."
My heart stopped.
"Who?"
She placed the paper in front of me.
Elias Vain.
My father.
I stared at the name.
"No."
"It may be wrong."
"My father?"
"The record is incomplete."
I pushed it away.
"My father would never."
"I know."
"Then why is his name there?"
Ruth lowered her voice.
"Because someone wanted it there."
The implications were horrifying.
If Cassian's bloodline had been manipulated, then the marriage might not have been random.
Maybe Cassian had approached me because of my blood.
Maybe my father had known.
Maybe Clause Eleven was not merely protection against betrayal.
Maybe it had been built specifically for this.
I returned to Iron Ridge before sunset.
Sloan was waiting.
"I found her."
"Who?"
"The woman at the northern estate."
"Name?"
"Elara Dane."
My stomach dropped.
"She's the blood-seer's daughter."
"Yes."
"What does she want?"
Sloan looked terrified.
"She says Cassian promised her the Luna's position."
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
There was always another layer.
"Does she know about the trust?"
"No."
"Good."
Sloan hesitated.
"I also found this."
She handed me a message.
Cassian had sent it to Elara.
After Thanksgiving, Marin will disappear.
The words were simple.
Cold.
Final.
I took a photograph.
File Three.
That night, I went into Cassian's office.
He was away.
I searched his desk.
Inside the second drawer was an envelope.
My name.
I opened it.
A contract.
If the Vain trust transferred to Cassian after our daughter's first birthday, he would receive control over the Blackwater holdings through a marriage settlement.
But Clause Eleven had one condition he had overlooked.
The bond had to remain intact.
He could not publicly betray me and still inherit.
He had believed emotional humiliation was not legal betrayal.
He was wrong.
Ruth had anticipated it.
At the bottom of my father's handwritten page was a clause:
"Proof of infidelity, coercive replacement, or public repudiation of mate bond constitutes betrayal."
Cassian was walking directly into it.
I smiled.
For the first time in weeks, I felt hope.
Thanksgiving would not simply expose him.
It would strip him of the very thing he was trying to steal.
His title.
His money.
His future.
But I still needed evidence of the manipulated bloodline.
Garrick helped me find it.
Deep in Blackwater's old archives was a ledger my father had kept hidden.
The original record showed that Cassian's birth father was not Elias Vain.
It was another man.
A warlord named Marius Vale.
A man Cassian's family had supposedly killed decades ago.
But the record had one strange line.
Marius Vale was listed as deceased.
Date of death:
Two years after Cassian's birth.
My blood went cold.
That meant Cassian's mother had lied.
And if Marius Vale had lived after Cassian's birth, Cassian might not be the rightful heir to Iron Ridge.
I asked Garrick.
"What happened to Marius?"
"We don't know."
"Did my father know?"
"Yes."
"Why did he do nothing?"
"He was waiting."
"For what?"
"For proof."
The answer came the next day.
A stranger arrived at the clinic.
An old man with one blind eye.
He stood outside the examination room.
"You're Elias Vain's daughter."
I stepped back.
"Who are you?"
"Marius Vale."
The name hit me like a physical blow.
He smiled.
"I'm not dead."
I stared.
"Why are you here?"
"Because Cassian Morell is about to destroy two families."
"Why?"
"Because he believes he is my son."
I could barely breathe.
"He is."
"No."
Marius's expression hardened.
"He is not my son."
I said nothing.
"His mother came to me before she met Dorian."
"What happened?"
"She wanted a mate with power."
"And?"
"I refused."
"Then?"
"She lied."
Marius handed me a file.
Inside was a genetic report.
Cassian's biological father was someone else.
A third man.
A member of a rogue bloodline.
A man named Rafe Ardent.
I stared.
"Who is he?"
May you like
Marius answered quietly.
"The man who taught Cassian how to betray."
