Marked By My Best Friend's Dad

077

~ Iris POV

It had been weeks since I moved into Duncan’s estate. Weeks of constant quiet, of shadowed hallways, of the weight of everything we had survived pressing against me at every turn. The house itself seemed aware, as if it knew the danger had passed, yet nothing had been resolved. The silence wasn’t peaceful. It was anticipatory, like the air had been thickened with tension, waiting for the next disaster.

I wandered the halls, trying to adjust, trying to blend into the rhythm of the place, but it was impossible. Duncan moved like a storm contained, deliberate and controlled. Every decision he made, every command he whispered to his guards, every map he spread out across the study table, reminded me that the world we were living in had no mercy. Not for mistakes. Not for hesitation. And certainly, not for me.

Alice had been avoiding me. I didn’t expect forgiveness, not yet, not after what she had seen. But her avoidance was sharper than I imagined possible. She didn’t speak. She didn’t glance my way. She walked the halls with a precision that suggested she was measuring each step, each breath, each shadow,and somehow, I was always wrong.

Always out of place. She had loved me once. She had trusted me once. And now… that trust had turned into something heavier, darker. A kind of silent accusation that settled in my chest like stone.

I spent hours alone in Duncan’s library, poring over pack records, council minutes, medical archives, anything I could quietly access without drawing attention. It became my obsession, my way of displacing the anxiety that gnawed at my chest every night. I couldn’t sleep properly; I couldn’t eat properly. My hands shook, my thoughts spun, and every time I closed my eyes, I saw Eunice.

Her smirk. Her calm cruelty. Her hands, her eyes, her voice whispering the word death in so many forms.

I didn’t mean to dig as deep as I did. I thought I was just preparing, understanding the past to predict the future. But what I found made me recoil, made bile rise in my throat, made my hands freeze as if they had been burned.

Alice’s mother. The woman whose memory had been painted with warmth, with maternal love, with family security. The official records said asthma. A sudden attack. A cruel twist of fate. That was the story everyone had been told. But the files in front of me told a different story.

It was Eunice.

Every detail screamed it: subtle toxins, traces of poison designed to mimic natural causes, altered prescriptions, falsified reports, a nurse who had noticed but stayed silent, terrified of retaliation. The meticulous planning, the patience, the cold intelligence,it was Eunice’s work. She hadn’t just killed Alice’s mother. She had orchestrated control, a slow, insidious claim over everything Duncan loved, over the girl who had trusted her, over the pack itself.

I sank into the chair, hands gripping the edge so tightly my knuckles turned white. I couldn’t breathe at first. The bond pulsed violently, a drumbeat against my chest, reminding me of Duncan, reminding me of Alice, reminding me of everything I had already failed to protect.

I couldn’t let this stay hidden. I couldn’t let Alice continue to idolize a woman capable of such calculated cruelty. But I had to be careful. One wrong move, one misstep in how I presented the evidence, and Alice would turn on me completely. She might already be fragile, already seething with anger and betrayal, already watching me like I was a shadow on the wall,and I couldn’t let that destroy what little trust remained between us.

I spent hours cross-referencing, documenting every piece of evidence. I pulled witness statements from people too afraid to speak before. I collected prescription records, examined council minutes that hinted at Eunice’s interference in subtle, manipulative ways.

My hands shook constantly, but I forced myself to keep going. Every line I read, every connection I confirmed, felt like a step closer to justice and yet, every revelation carved into me a new hollow of guilt and fear.

I knew what this would mean when I brought it forward. Alice. Duncan. Eunice. The council. None of it would be easy. None of it would leave anyone unscathed. But it had to be done. It had to be done.

I sat back in my chair, exhausted, blinking at the papers spread across the desk. The proof was there. All of it. Undeniable. Irrefutable.

And yet… the thought of how Alice would react twisted my stomach. She didn’t know yet. She still believed in her aunt, still clung to that fragile thread of loyalty. And I could see, in my mind, the moment that thread snapped. The way her face would pale, then flush with rage and disbelief, then… collapse under the weight of it.

I took a shaky breath, feeling the pulse of the bond against me, feeling Duncan’s steady heartbeat as he moved through the house with careful precision. He was preparing for Cassian’s challenge, setting traps, positioning allies, making sure every variable was accounted for,but he wasn’t aware of this. I couldn’t tell him yet. Not until Alice had seen the truth for herself. Not until she had a chance to understand without Eunice manipulating every word and gesture.

Hours passed. I barely noticed. I barely ate. I barely breathed. I catalogued, verified, organized. Every file, every note, every piece of evidence became a lifeline, a tool, a weapon. I had to be ready.

Not just for the council. Not just for Eunice’s downfall. But for Alice. For Duncan. For the pack.

And the worst part? I knew this wouldn’t fix Alice. Not immediately. Not ever completely. Once she saw the truth, once she understood what had been done, what had been hidden from her, there would be no undoing the fracture in her heart, no immediate restoration of trust.

But it had to be done.

Because if I didn’t act now, if I hesitated, if I let fear dictate my next move, I might lose everything anyway.

Eunice had been removed from the estate physically, but her presence lingered. In the walls, in the silence, in the very air I breathed.

And I knew, deep in my bones, that the day I revealed her crimes would be just as dangerous as any battle.

I took a deep breath. I forced my hands to still. I looked at the evidence one last time, making sure every detail was perfect, irrefutable. I couldn’t fail. I wouldn’t fail.

The bond pulsed again, fierce and insistent. Duncan. Alice. The pack. They were all counting on me, even if they didn’t know it yet. And I had to be strong enough to carry it, even when it felt like it might crush me.

I leaned back in my chair, staring at the moonlight creeping across the floorboards. I couldn’t see the outcome. I didn’t know how Alice would react. I didn’t know how Duncan would handle the confrontation. But I knew one thing: this was the moment that would change everything. And I had to be ready for the consequences, whatever they might be.

Because some truths… once revealed… cannot be hidden again.

And it's high time I stopped lying and keeping secrets.