Leo’s POV

​Scar is alive, Liam... The words were right there, pressing against the back of my teeth, screaming to be let out. But for some strange reason, I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t say it now.

​Saying it now would crush the tiny bit of trust Scarlett had left in me. She had begged me not to tell anyone she was alive. She told me she just needed two more years—in two years, her plan would be finished and she would be free.

​I told myself I was keeping quiet for her sake, but deep down, I knew the ugly truth. I wasn’t staying silent because she begged me to. I was staying silent because I wanted her all to myself for these two years. For the first time in my life, there was no competition. No sharing. I wanted to be the only one with her, the only one she looked at, without my brothers in the way. All my life I have always had to compete, and now that I had the chance to have her alone, I wasn’t going to give it up for anything.

​"Hell no!" Father Lennox roared, looking insulted. "We didn’t kill her. Why would we kill her?"

​"You had every reason to kill her!" Leonard snapped back, his claws starting to peek out. "You wanted her gone to ’save’ us, didn’t you? Killing her would be the easiest way to make sure we never fought over her again!"

​I swallowed hard, my throat feeling tight. I knew my parents didn’t kill her, but I couldn’t say how I knew. I looked at their faces, searching for a slip-up. Did they know she was alive? Or were they just as much in the dark as my brothers?

​Then, a thought hit me like a lightning bolt. Scarlett. Did she know about the prophecy? Was that why she faked her death? It all started to make sense. She wasn’t just running from the pain—she was running from us. She knew we would destroy each other, and she chose to die to save us from ourselves.

​"Sons, Scarlett was like a daughter to me," Mother said softly, her voice full of pain.

​"No," Liam spat, his eyes red with fury. "She saw you as a mother, but you didn’t see her as a daughter. If you did, you wouldn’t have made her go through what she went through. Tell me, Mother—would you have made Lyra, Lana, or Jane go through what Scarlett did?"

​Mother went quiet. She couldn’t even look him in the eye.

​"Exactly," Liam said, his voice dripping with hate.

​"Sons, we know you have every right to be angry, but what we did was the only way," Father Louis said, trying to sound reasonable.

​Mother stepped closer, reaching out a hand that none of us took. "We didn’t have a hand in Scarlett’s death. Our plan was harmless. We just wanted you three to hate her so you would move on and marry other women. Now that you are married and your wives have your marks... we knew the prophecy was over. The danger is gone."

​I exchanged a quick glance with my brothers. The air in the room shifted. It was a joke, really—our parents actually thought the marks on our wives were real. They thought they had won.

​I waited for Liam to bark out the truth. I expected Leonard to growl that the marks were fake, that we had never marked those women. But as the silence stretched on, neither of them spoke.

​Instead, Liam took a deep breath, and his face became as cold as a winter morning. He looked our parents in the eye with a look of pure disgust.

​"Fine," Liam said, his voice flat and dead. "You got what you wanted. You broke us. You forced us into these marriages, and you made sure we marked those bitches. The prophecy is over. Are you happy now?"

​I felt a chill go down my spine. He was leaning into the lie. He was letting them believe they had won so they would finally sit back and relax.

​But I felt a strange sense of relief wash over me. For a moment, I was actually happy that none of my brothers revealed the truth about the fake marks. If my parents knew we hadn’t actually marked our wives, they would realize the prophecy was still a threat. I had no idea if they knew Scar was alive, but if they even suspected it, they would panic and think of another plot to separate us. As long as they believed we were tied to other women, they would relax.

​"Sons, we are so sorry," Mother cried, her voice cracking as she reached out. "Please, just try to forgive us."

​"No, Mother," Liam spat, the word hitting like a physical blow. He stood tall, his eyes burning with a cold anger. "Because of this act, we lost Scarlett. She is gone. I will never forgive you for that. I will never forgive this family. You all deceived us for years while we lived in a nightmare."

​Mother tried to step closer, her hand trembling as she reached for his arm, but Liam flinched back. "Please, Mother, don’t touch me," he warned, his voice vibrating with a dangerous edge. "I might do something I’ll live to regret."

​Without another word, he turned on his heel and walked away, the heavy thud of his boots echoing his finality.

​Mother turned her tear-filled eyes to Leonard. He didn’t roar like Liam. He just looked at them with a hollow expression that was much worse.

​"I am disappointed in all of you," Leonard said, shaking his head slowly. "I looked up to you. I trusted you. Whether you physically killed her or not doesn’t matter anymore. The blood of Scarlett is on your hands. You took her life the moment you started this lie."

​He didn’t wait for an answer. He turned and followed Liam, leaving the air in the study cold and thin.

​Finally, Mother turned to me. She looked so small, so desperate for me to be the one who understood, the one who stayed. I felt a surge of anger so hot it made my vision blur. I felt the pain of five years of mourning and the hate for the manipulation they had put us through.

​"Leo, please..." she whispered.

​I looked her straight in the eyes, my face full of hate. "You died five years ago," I said, my voice dead and empty. "And whatever came back today... is not my mother."

Mother shook her head, her hands shaking.

"I don’t know who you are." I spat. "The mother I loved wouldn’t have done this."

​I turned my back on them and walked away. As I reached the hallway, the sound of Mother’s loud, broken sobs erupted behind me. I heard the hurried footsteps of our fathers rushing to her side.