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Ava swallowed as she realized her secret could no longer be kept. But all she could do was try.
“Answer him, Ava,” her mother said.
“I was in the City Moon Pack. He went there while I was not there. He did not find me there, so he is asking this.”
Stephen shook his head. “That doesn’t make sen-
Ava grabbed his wrist and interrupted,
”
“Mom and Dad, I am taking Stephen with me. I have something to talk to him about.”
Harper stopped her as he said,
“But he was saying something.”
“Dad, he has a misunderstanding that I would like to clear up.”
Harper nodded his head. Ava looked at her mother, who was looking at her suspiciously.
‘I am sorry, Mom. I can’t tell you about it right now. Otherwise, you would not let me go out of this pack again,‘ she thought and went to her room with Stephen.
Stephen quietly observed what Ava was doing. She closed the door and pressed her back against it.
Stephen sat on the bed with his arms folded against his chest.
“So?”
Ava lowered her head and mumbled,
“Brother, I have been lying to all of you.”
Stephen kept listening to her. But his brows arched when she said,
“I had been in the Thunder Howl Pack all these years.”
He got up from the bed and exclaimed in shock.
“What!”
Ava glanced at his angry face, then mumbled,
“Yeah. But trust me, they are not bad.”
Stephen gave her a stern look. “What do you mean they are not bad? That is our rival pack, have you forgotten that?”
She looked down and kept her eyes on the floor. “I know.”
“Then why did you go there?”
“I had my own reasons.”
The answer was obvious. She did not want to tell him about the reason.
The room turned silent. The cold breeze came inside the room, blowing the blinds, which gently touched Stephen’s body.
He stared at his sister, whom he had not seen in four years.
He had a question for her that he always wanted to ask.
“Why did you do that, Ava?”
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Ava froze when she realized that he was talking about the incident from four years ago.
She closed her eyes, tightening her fists. She did not want to talk about it.
“Why did you cheat on him like that, Ava?”
Ava’s inner strength diminished. Her brother never had any faith in her.
She slowly raised her head and looked at him.
“Brother.”
“No, Ava, you have ruined everything. I…”
He paused, and the disappointment in his eyes was visible. “I thought you were a nice girl who should not be played. Because of this, I got into a fight with lan too. But in the end, you were the one who played him.”
Ava was just staring at him. She was also disappointed by him. How could her brother not trust her? Did he not know her?
They both fell silent at that moment.
Stephen’s eyes conveyed his displeasure with her. Ava could see that clearly.
Somehow, she felt like she was by herself on the long way. How would she explain it to him?
How would she tell him that she had no idea how those hickeys got to her neck? She did not know how she ended up sleeping She had no idea who had trapped her..
“You don’t trust me.”
That was all she could tell him.
Her words took him by surprise.
“I trusted you…”
She felt hurt that he did not trust her now. He continued to speak again.
“I entrusted you four years ago. That is why I tried to contact you when I heard you had left the pack. What did I not do to get you back into this pack? I even went to many borders to see if you had crossed paths.”
Ava was not expecting this. Did he really trust her? She felt guilty for causing him such concern.
“But why? I sent a message to you, Mom, and Dad. Didn’t you get it?”
“Yes, we did. Do you know that Mom became ill after receiving your single text message? She was completely shattered. You did
her.” not tell her why you left the pack. I was here to deal with the situation. But there was no way Dad and I could ha
Ava realized she had made her family very worried. As she thought before, she was selfish when she left the pack. But then again, it was her fate to make her leave the pack.
How would she have discovered her true identity if she had not left?
“I am sorry, Brother. Thank you for taking care of Mom. I am grateful to you,” she mumbled, fixing her gaze on the floor. Stephen breathed a sigh of defeat. He had the thought that when he met her, he would scold her. But after meeting her, he could not continue to be rude to her.
As a big brother, he approached her. He held her arms, causing her to lift her head.
Ava gazed at him with eyes that were filled with tears. When Stephen thought back to the old Ava, he recalled how she used to be
so emotional like this.
“I have always assumed that you are a completely innocent young girl. Why did you do that to him? You knew how much he
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loved you, right?”
Ava averted her gaze from him and took a deep breath.
“He never loved me, Steph.”
Her reply made him furious. “What are you saying? You were the one who betrayed him, and now you claim he never loved you?”
She shut her eyes when he yelled at her. Anger was mixed in with his furious tone.
Stephen released her arms and took a step back.
“I can’t believe this!”
Ava opened her eyes because she could not take it anymore.
She looked at him and said,
“I never betrayed him. I never cheated on him, Stephen. It was he who never trusted me. His love was not real. He never loved me, Stephen. He never loved me the way I loved him.”
