Renzo’s POV
I knew sothing was wrong the mont I woke up.
The room was quiet, but it felt different. Heavy. Like the air had shifted overnight.
I sat up slowly and ran a hand over my face.
Jade.
The mory of her standing at the servant quarters door replayed in my mind. The way she clung to for a mont longer than usual. The way her eyes looked distant.
I told myself she was still grieving.
I told myself she just needed space.
I stood and dressed quickly.
Ryder was already awake, adjusting his cuffs.
“Did she call you?” he asked casually.
“No.”
Ronan stepped out of the bathroom. “Call who?”
“Jade,” Ryder said. “Renzo said she slept in the servant quarters.”
Ronan frowned slightly. “She did not co back?”
“She wanted to be alone,” I said.
Sothing about saying it out loud unsettled again.
Ronan turned to one of the passing maids outside our room.
“Go check on her,” he instructed.
The maid nodded and hurried off.
We moved to the dining hall for breakfast, but none of us really ate.
Ten minutes passed.
Then fifteen.
The maid returned.
Her face was pale.
“She is not there.”
My chair scraped harshly against the floor as I stood.
“What do you an she is not there?”
“The room is empty,” she said nervously. “The window was open.”
My stomach dropped.
Ryder was already moving.
We reached the servant quarters in seconds.
The door was slightly ajar.
I pushed it open fully.
The room was quiet.
Untouched.
The bed was made.
No bag.
No Jade.
I walked to the window and looked outside.
Nothing.
“She left,” Ronan said quietly behind .
“No,” I muttered automatically.
“She did,” Ryder replied.
The mory hit like a blow.
The bag on her shoulder.
Her hesitation.
The way she said she would call.
“She lied,” Ryder whispered.
Guilt slamd into so hard I had to grip the edge of the table to steady myself.
I let her walk away.
We rushed back upstairs to her main room.
Her closet door was open.
Several dresses missing.
Jewelry gone.
Her phone charger unplugged.
This was not a walk.
This was planned.
“She is gone,” Ronan said, voice tight.
A servant ran down the hallway.
“The Alpha has been inford.”
Within minutes, our father entered the room.
His presence shifted the temperature instantly.
“What is this I hear?”
“She is gone,” Ronan said flatly.
Our father’s gaze moved between us.
“Gone where?”
Silence answered him.
“She left during the night,” I admitted.
His jaw tightened.
“She carries my grand heir.”
The room went still.
“No one takes my heir away from ,” he said coldly. “Not even the mother.”
He turned sharply toward the doorway.
“Search throughout the pack. Inform the border patrol units. I want every exit monitored.”
Guards scattered imdiately.
My heart pounded violently.
We would find her.
We had to.
Before our father could issue further commands, a soft voice echoed from the doorway.
“Alpha.”
We turned.
Linda stood there.
She looked pale. Disturbed. Almost shaken.
In her hand was a folded piece of paper.
“I found sothing,” she said quietly.
Our father’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
“I went to check on Jade in the servant quarters cause I heard she spent the night there,” Linda continued gently. “I know things have been tense, and I thought maybe I could speak to her woman to woman.”
“She was not there,” Linda added, lowering her gaze. “But I found this in her room. In the servant quarters.”
She extended the paper.
“I believe she left it behind.”
My father took it from her.
The room was silent except for the sound of the paper unfolding.
His eyes scanned the page.
His expression shifted.
Not to anger.
To sothing colder.
“Read it,” Ronan said quietly.
Our father handed it to him.
Ronan read aloud.
“I am leaving. I never truly loved you. I only stayed because of the status that ca with being with you. I got tired of the confinent and pretending. The baby I am carrying is not yours. I cheated because you could not keep satisfied. This is my last act of kindness to you. I am telling you the baby is not yours so you do not waste your ti looking for .”
The words felt unreal.
Like they were being spoken underwater.
Ryder let out a sharp breath. “That is impossible.”
Linda pressed her hand to her chest softly.
“I could not believe it either,” she said in a trembling voice. “After everything you three have done for her. After welcoming her into this family. How could she do such a thing?”
Her eyes glistened as if she were holding back tears.
“I know she has always struggled with the adjustnt,” she continued gently. “But to betray you like this. To lie about the child.”
My ears rang.
Cheated.
Not yours.
Status.
The handwriting looked like Jade’s.
The curves of the letters.
The way she looped her y’s.
But the words felt wrong.
“She would not,” Ryder muttered.
Linda tilted her head slightly. “Are you certain? She has always seed distant. Perhaps she felt trapped.”
Her tone was soft.
Sympathetic.
Our father’s expression hardened.
“If this child is not of my blood, then this is not a family matter. It is a scandal.”
His eyes sharpened.
“And scandals do not leave this house.”
He turned to the guards who had gathered.
“Stand down on the border patrol alert.”
Ryder stared at him. “You are not sending teams?”
“If she has left to avoid disgrace, then we will not give her an audience,” our father replied coldly. “If the child is not ours, she has removed herself from relevance.”
The words struck hard.
Just monts ago he had spoken about no one taking his heir.
Now the possibility of illegitimacy shifted everything.
“What about confirming?” I asked quietly.
He looked at .
“She has made her position clear.”
Linda lowered her gaze again, shaking her head faintly.
“I always tried to include her,” she said softly. “Even after everything. I thought perhaps she just needed ti. I never imagined she would betray you like this.”
My hands clenched.
Betray.
Cheat.
Status.
The words scraped against sothing inside .
Did she hate us?
Yes.
In the beginning.
She resented the arrangent. The power. The confinent.
But last night?
She had cried in my arms.
She had trembled.
She had whispered that she knew we were trying.
Was that all an act?
Ryder stord out of the room without another word.
Ronan stood rigid, jaw locked tight.
Our father folded the letter carefully.
“This matter does not leave this house,” he said firmly. “If asked, she left of her own will. We will not entertain gossip.”
He turned and exited.
Linda lingered for a mont.
“I am truly sorry,” she said softly, looking at each of us. “You deserved better.”
Then she left as well.
Silence settled heavily in the room.
I stepped forward and picked up the letter from the desk.
My hands felt numb.
I read it again.
I am leaving.
I never truly loved you.
The baby is not yours.
I knew Jade hated parts of this life.
I knew she felt trapped at tis.
But cheat?
Because we could not satisfy her?
My chest tightened painfully.
Had I been blind?
Or was this sothing else?
The handwriting was hers.
But the tone.
It did not feel like her voice.
Jade was fierce when she was angry.
But this felt calculated.
Detached.
Cold.
Almost rehearsed.
I sank slowly into the chair beside the desk.
Ryder returned, pacing violently.
“Sothimg has to be wrong sowhere, she is not this kind of person, right?” he said as if looking at us to back him up.
Ronan did not respond.
I stared at the letter.
Did she really do this?
Did she truly use us for status?
Was the baby really not ours?
The thought made my stomach twist violently.
I pressed my fingers to my temples.
I had walked her to the servant quarters.
I had kissed her forehead.
I had told her I would make everything better.
And she had left.
If she actually cheated, then we had been fooled, and my brothers.
If she did not, then sothing was wrong.
I did not know which possibility hurt more.
I read the letter one more ti.
The ink was slightly smudged in one corner.
Had her hand shaken while writing it?
Or was that my imagination searching for comfort?
“She hated us,” I whispered quietly.
But even as I said it, doubt lingered.
And that uncertainty was worse than anger.
Because anger would have been clean.
This was not.
This was confusion.
Heartbreak.
And a question that would not stop echoing in my mind.
Did she really leave us? Just like that?
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