16: Leaked Secrets

MAEVE

I was sitting on my bed with my laptop on my thighs, tapping my fingers steadily on the keyboard as I organized Lucien’s schedule.

Board meetings. Private flights. Dinner with investors. A charity gala he hadn’t approved yet. Gifts to his business partners. Donations to NGOs.

I moved things around, color-coded, and double-checked dates. Not like I could complain anyway. It was practically my job. 

My phone buzzed beside me.

I glanced at it absently.

EXPOSÉ: Who Is Lucien Thorne Really?

I frowned.

I didn’t even pick up the phone. I assumed it was one of those nonsense posts, those clickbait headlines meant to stir outrage, drag powerful men through mud for engagement. 

Lucien had enemies, so it didn’t seem very far-fetched. Even before now, there have always been conspiracy theories meant to drag him down. I went back to my laptop.

Another buzz.

Then another.

My phone lit up again, this time vibrating against the mattress insistently.  

THE THORNE FAMILY SECRET THEY NEVER WANTED YOU TO KNOW. WHO REALLY IS LUCIEN THORNE?

My fingers stilled on the keyboard.

My stomach did that slow, sinking thing it did whenever something was about to go very wrong.

Then another headline slid down.

HYBRID BLOOD? INSIDE SOURCES CLAIM MOON WALKER HEIR IS NOT WHAT HE SEEMS.

My heart skipped as I finally picked up my phone and tapped the link. The article loaded quickly, and I started reading. 

The Alpha Prince of the Moon Walker Pack was rarely seen growing up. While the public assumed this was protection, an effort by his father to shield his only son from threats, it turns out there may have been another reason.

My breath caught. What the hell was this, and how did it even become public?

I scrolled.

The truth, according to these sources, is far darker. Lucien Thorne is rumored to possess a hybrid blood; part werewolf, part vampire.

My chest went cold.

No.

That wasn’t possible.

I scrolled faster.

While vampires were believed to have gone extinct centuries ago, recent evidence suggests otherwise. And if these claims are valid, then the Thorne Empire has been built on a lie carefully guarded for decades. And this is where we should all ask ourselves if a family with this kind of dark secret is fit to rule over us. If Lucien Thorne should be an alpha prince or a caged animal.

My pulse roared in my ears.

How the fuck did they know?

That was the only thought in my head. 

Lucien had tried to pay me to keep that secret. He had looked me in the eye and offered me money to keep it a secret, and now it was everywhere. He hated the fact that I found out.

My phone continued to buzz nonstop. Messages. Links. The company group chats are exploding with conspiracy theories and rumours. 

My name even popped up a few times, someone asking if I’d seen it yet as his stepsister, another asking if I knew before. Some insisting that I must definitely know about it.

I dropped the phone like it burned me.

“No,” I whispered to the empty room. “No, no, no…”

The door of my room slammed open so hard the walls shook, cutting the rest of my words off. I looked up just in time to see Lucien.

His face was murderous. 

His jaw clenched so tight it looked like it might crack. His eyes were just so wrong. Gold flashing violently into red and back again, like two storms colliding inside him.

Two beasts warring for control. 

“You did this.”

My heart slammed against my ribs. 

“What?”

“You leaked it,” he snarled, taking a step toward me. “You told someone, didn’t you? You fucking sold it. Why? I gave you a blank cheque. You could have taken my money and just fucking disappear.”

“No,” I said quickly, panic clawing up my throat. “Lucien, I swear, I didn’t—”

He moved. 

One second he was across the room.

Next, my back slammed into the wall with bone-rattling force. The impact knocked the air clean out of my lungs. Before I could even cry out, his hands were around my throat.

Tight.

My eyes flew open in shock.

“Lucien—” I gasped, instinctively clawing at his wrists.

His grip tightened.

The room blurred at the edges as pressure built in my head. I kicked the air uselessly, my fingers digging into his hands, nails scraping skin that wouldn’t give.

He didn’t even flinch like he was feeling anything, even when my nails drew blood.

“You think I wouldn’t know?” he hissed, his face inches from mine. “I knew you would sell me out! From the moment I met you, I knew you were so fucking cheap! I gave you a fucking blank cheque, yet you still sold me out!”

I shook my head frantically, tears spilling from my eyes. 

“I didn’t,” I choked. “Just let me go. I didn’t do it, please—”

His eyes flashed violently, gold and red fighting for dominance. His chest heaved like he was barely holding himself together.

“You will fix this,” he growled. “You will clean up the mess you made.”

My vision started to darken.

“And if you don’t,” he continued coldly, squeezing harder, “I will kill you.”

My hands went weak.

“And your mother.”

Something inside me broke.

Just as the blackness started to close in, his hands dropped away.

I collapsed.

I hit the floor in a heap, coughing, gasping, dragging air into my lungs like it was the first time I had ever breathed. My throat burned. My chest ached. 

My hands shook uncontrollably as I curled in on myself.

Lucien glared down at me like he was contemplating between finishing what he started or doing worse things to me before he turned and walked out, the door slamming behind him with finality, while I stayed there on the floor, gulping air, my body trembling and shaking so violently.

How the hell did his secret leak to the media?