Tasting

242–Looking Like A Bad Guy

Nora:

“Nothing. I’ve come to inform you that we need to bring Natalya here. to care for her and help her heal. She will drop the charges; she just feels she doesn’t have anyone to look after her,” Silas said softly to his father.

Something told me that wasn’t the real reason for his visit. I focused on Natalya—what a liar.

“But she lives with April. They are best friends and have so many servers,” I argued, trying to make them understand that if Natalya came here. I would be at th

mercy of a devil once more. She wanted to come only to watch me suffer.

They all turned to me after hearing my resistance, glaring as if I had said something outrageous.

ise of you, and you’re not even feeling guilty?”

“That girl suffered because of you,

Cain said, looking at me as if I were some monster.

“But–” I started, but I instantly fell silent when Lord Atwood glared my way. I hated it here.

“What happened to the Nora who brought Natalya home to take care of her, even after she was caught lying? What happened to that caring person?” His question shook the ground beneath my feet, as if they didn’t understand what had changed in me.

“It was a mistake. Bringing her here is the reason I look like a bad

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person today. I let her stay, and she played me—not once, but many times. Do you not remember how she hid Silas‘—” I was cut short when Cain raised his hand, signaling me to stop.

“There’s no need to bring up the past now,” he said, scoffing at me.

At that moment, I even considered leaving the mansion and going back home to the mountains, to the hostel. But the situation had become so dire that if I left and the girls decided to drag me to prison, no one would be able to get me out without the help of the Alpha King brothers.

“We will bring her here and take care of her. And you, Nora! If you really want to make things right, you will stay away from her,” Lord Atwood said, his disapproving glance sharp.

I nodded, keeping my eyes down to show I would be obedient. But it would be extremely difficult given Natalya’s history; she wouldn’t stay in peace until she had gotten me into trouble.

Lord Atwood left the room, but as the brothers began to leave, Silas gestured for them to stay. That’s when horror struck me. I knew it was time for him to confront me.

“There is something you all need to see,” Silas muttered. his eyes were shooting daggers at me.

“What is it? did she do something?” Ryker sounded like he would be heartbroken if i got caught in another mess. even Cain and Nash sighed tiredly. But they had no idea that what Silas was going to say was even a messier situation.

“What is going on?” Cain asked Silas, who showed him something from my bag. Cain slid his hand inside and pulled out a file.

77. 77.

242–Looking Like A Bad Guy

That was what I had feared.

“This is not something you should be reading.” I blurted out, trying to get up, but their harsh glares forced me to sit back down.

“Why? Why shouldn’t we read it?” Silas asked, his eyes darkening.

“What is going on? What’s in this file?” Ryker asked, noticing the intense stares and stepping closer. He peeked over Cain’s shoulder to check the contents of the file. The two brothers shared a glance with their eyes wide open before they signaled to Nash, who looked. confused, to join them.

Nash did just that. He approached them, and now all of them were reading the file I had created just to keep track of my own memory.

“What is this?” Cain slammed the file onto his palm, drawing my attention to it.

“I only wrote it all down just in case–” I stammered, feeling overwhelmed with guilt. Now that they were convinced I was behind all the mischief, having a file about them looked so wrong. They must have thought I made it just to get them in trouble. And the sad part was, I couldn’t even blame them. If I were in their place and faced with so much evidence against them, I would have believed it too. Didn’t I believe my own theory that Silas and his brothers might have been involved in Mia’s murder?

“Just in case what? What did you think was going to happen?” Nash groaned, his face turning red with anger

My eyes briefly met Silas’s before I quickly looked away.

“Wait a minute, you thought I would do something to you?” Silas pointed to his chest, visibly upset. He snatched the file back to verify

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242 Looking Like & Bad Guy

something.

I began to panic because I had written a lot of nonsense in it. I guess I shouldn’t have treated the file like my personal diary. And now they were reading everything before me.

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