Seduced by My Childhood Sweetheart’s Brother
Chapter 183

Strings of Fate

183- Pacing and preparing

Even though he’s just left, Bellamy calls Alex. I feel kind of bad about it, he’s been here for hours andjust when we finally let him go home, we call him with more work.

“Hey Alex. I need you to track down Tristain’s mother. I need to know where she is, any properties shehas and also anyone she might be close with, particularly magic users.” Bellamy pauses listening toAlex’s response. Man, it must be nice to be able to hear the other side of the conversation like all theShifters In the room can.

“Yes, she was here the day his mother came to see me, Ryann intervened when she becameemotional. It’s possible that she might have interpr things to believe that Ryann is responsible.” Heglances down at me and hurriedly

adds.

“She isn’t of course. It’s ridiculous. But I don’t expect someone who thinks killing people to make apoint is a good plan, to be reasonable.” He finishes. I smile at him, it was unnecessary, but I doappreciate his efforts to make sure I don’t feel bad about things. Bellamy hangs up and we all standthere, not sure what to do next.

“We can go pick up Tristain’s mother as soon as we know where she is, but Alex needs a little time totrack her down first. We should all rest for a couple hours. We can get a team together. We’ve beenworking all day. Everyone needs to at least relax a while, shower, read a book, take a nap, whatever.”Bellamy insists. We all reluctantly agree, but I can tell that no one is particularly happy about it. Nowthat we have a lead, we all want to chase it down immediately. But Bellamy IS right. It’s better to besmart about this. As much as I want to go get Kiara right now, it’s been weeks since she was taken. It’s

not likely that any further harm will come to her in the next couple hours, and it would be awful ifsomething bad happened to her because we rushed in without thinking things through.

Bellamy and I head upstairs. I collapse into the bed to relax but it lasts about five seconds before I’mback on my feet pacing the room. Bellamy is sending out a bunch of messages making sure there is ateam ready to go after Tristain’s mother. In theory, it shouldn’t be that hard for only a couple Shifters totake her in easily. But since we don’t know who is with her or what weird magic has been used to killthe victims, not to mention what other magic she might have access to and the fact that they have achild as a hostage. Then there’s the fact that all of this is working from the assumption that I’m rightabout Tristain’s mother being the one who wants to hurt me in the first place. Is it strange that I don’teven know her name? How can it be that someone hates me enough to commit multiple murders and akidnapping, but I don’t even know her name. To do all this, she would have had to dedicate all her timeto her hatred, to focussing on her anger. Meanwhile, she was such a small part of my life, of my day,that I didn’t even think of her as a potential threat until now, and only because Darrien’s phone call withhis mother triggered the memory. This is ridiculous. I think back to the day I met her. What did I say toher? What exactly caused her to direct all her anger and pain at me? Was there something I couldhave done differently? I know I wasn’t super nice to her, but Bellamy thought I did okay. He was supergrateful for my help, but now I’m thinking I just made everything worse. I just jumped into theconversation without thinking. What could I have said differently? I mean, she was already very angryand upset. All I really did was take her attention from Bellamy and drag it to myself instead. Maybe Ishould have just let her yell at us. At the time I thought she needed some time to cool off, but maybe ifwe gave her a chance to express her angry to get it all out, we could have helped her. Or maybe therewas nothing I could have done, nothing either of us could have done. I mean, she raised the kind ofman who would marry a girl while in love with someone else, just to try and get more power.

I’m pulled from my thoughts by Bellamy catching my hand, apparently done with his phone. He Pullsme towards him and wraps his arms around my waist. I lean into him and he buries his face in my hair.

“You’re supposed to be relaxing, trying to take a break before we go try and replace Kiara. I’m fairly sureyou’re just wearing yourself out and working yourself up into a frenzy.” He chastises me gently. I shrug.

183- Pacing and preparing

I can’t help it. I can’t just MAKE myself relax.” I object.

“You could try meditating?” Bellamy suggests helpfully.

“Nah, I’m too antsy. Too much nervous energy. I don’t think I could sit still long enough to clear mymind.” I explain. Even now, Bellamy’s arms around me are the only thing stopping me from bouncingfrom foot to foot.

“I understand.” Bellamy responds, and he does. I can feel how tense he is. Ready for action, to pushforwards and face everything head on, as he does. This waiting is as difficult for him as it is for me,maybe more so.

“We’re going to replace her, aren’t we?” I ask quietly. Bellamy pulls back to look me in the eye.

“We will replace her. I’m going to replace her. I won’t rest until I can put that little girl in your arms. Until you canbe sure that she’s okay.” He promises. I slide my hands up his ch*st to his shoulders, then lean up onmy tip toes and press a light k*ss to his lips.

“I love you.” I tell him shyly and Bellamy’s serious expression breaks into a smile.

“I love you too.” He responds, the smile still on his face. I move to go sit on the bed, knowing that if Istart pacing again, he’s just going to catch me. I do my best not to think, but it isn’t working. Mythoughts return to my earlier

rumination.

“Bellamy? What is Tristain’s mother’s name?” I ask quietly. Bellamy, who was approaching the bed tojoin me, freezes in place. His brow furrows as he thinks.

“L… I don’t know.” He sounds as horrified as I feel. He pulls his phone out and sends off anothermessage before coming to collapse on the bed next to me. He pulls me to his side and I curl up againsthim with a deep sigh.

“I wish I had spoken to Megan earlier. Had told her the truth about Tristain when I first suspected it.Things might have ended differently.” Bellamy admits, his tone vulnerable and quiet. I stroke a handdown his ch*st in a way I hope is reassuring.

“You couldn’t have known, and I had plenty of chances to tell her too. We both kind of messed up. Weshouldn’t have waited until her actual wedding day to speak up. We were both a little caught up in ourown issues at that point.” I respond. I don’t think my words actually make him feel better, they don’tmake me feel better either. I continue.

“But neither of us could have seen this coming, and we aren’t responsible for the bad things that otherpeople do..” I remind him. He nods and k*sses my head. His phone chimes and he checks it.

“Tristain’s mother… Her name is Cheryl.”

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Strings of Fate