13“I hope you do understand, Reece. Loyalty needs to be tested, sometimes, to be certain of our acquaintance, or alliance.”“Yes. You are right. And that’s why I asked you to know what I need to do to prove that I am in.”“Well, it all depends on you, Reece. You should be able to do anything. Just show us. What do we need to see or know, to be certain that you’ve totally left your cheap brothers?”Reece sighed, and then thought for a while.“Alright, I know what to do. Listen up.” He urged Lucinda, and Lucinda listened keenly. “I have a log book of ideas which my brothers and I came up with, for our district to be better and other things that would bring in money. Each idea if it is to be sold out, would cost a lot. Here it is.” Reece said, handing over the log book to Lucinda.Lucinda opened it, and stared at each of them, with widened eyes.“Wow.” She exclaimed softly. “You’re really giving this out?”“Yeah, I am. It’s going to be really beneficial for your pack or whichever pack h
14Reynold couldn’t believe his ears. Did Reece just threaten him, without budging, or feeling like he was saying the wrong thing?“Reece?” He called his name, still feeling unsure that he heard well.“You heard me well.” Reece spoke, and then rose to his feet. “Tired of seeing this loser’s face. I think I need to go.”“Even I am tired of seeing him, as well. Let’s leave the restaurant together.” Lucinda said to Reece and also rose to her feet, clutching her purse in her hands.She smiled at Reynold and then sneered at him.“I hope this teaches you one lesson; you can never win against Alpha Dan and I. So, if you’re smart as you claim to be, it’s time you back off.” Lucinda said, and then left with Reece.Reynold stood there, dumbfounded, not knowing what to say or what to do. This had never crossed his mind, that it could ever happen.As he got over the whole thing a little, he left the restaurant, and stepped out, looking around for Reece but he didn’t find him, neither did he find
15“Alpha King?” Reynold voiced out, still looking shocked.“Wow. You recognize me.” The Alpha King spoke.Then they heard the sound of horses coming towards their direction, which meant the guards were close. Reynold who didn’t want to miss his golden opportunity, decided to strike immediately.“I would like to meet with you, Alpha King. It’s over something I wanted to talk about, but I wasn’t given the chance to speak with you.”“Oh, I get a lot of letters, and all, everyday. Can’t recall which is yours, but here is my card. You can come over to my office, tomorrow.” The Alpha King said to Reynold.Reynold felt so happy. That was like the highlight of his day. Although, he had gone through a mess, tonight, but he was glad that he managed to achieve something.The contact card had all the necessary information that even his beta wouldn’t be able to deny that he met with the Alpha King.Then the guards arrived, and some of them covered the scene, while three others walked up to Reynol
16The next day, Reynold woke up, and the first thing he set his eyes on was the ceiling. He had slept off in that position and remained in that position.Then he sat up, and brushed his hair to the back, and yawned. He looked back at the toilet, and headed towards thay direction.The first person that came to his mind was Ingrid, but he wanted to brush his teeth before doing that.As he stepped into the bathroom, he did the necessary while staring at the mirror, and when he was done brushing his teeth, he focused on only the mirror.“Today isn’t going to turn out the way yesterday did. So, brighten up, Reynold. He encouraged himself and then stepped out of the bathroom.He changed into something else rather than wearing a robe, then he stepped out of his room and headed to Ingrid’s. But on getting to her room, he didn’t see her on the bed like he had thought he would. Then he knocked on her bathroom door, hoping she was there, and just taking a bath.“Ingrid? You in there?” he calle
17Reynold snarled at her in anger. He sized her up with his eye, wondering how such a girl would have an idea of how to heal Ingrid.“Baby, we should just ignore her. She definitely knows nothing and only wants to be seen and heard.” Ingrid uttered also sneering at Alyssa.Even if Alyssa did have the antidote, she didn’t want her to get involved. She didn’t want a situation whereby she would be recognized for helping her and the boys would start thinking twice about her personality. She would rather risk it and believe that Reynold will find a way.“Leave this instant.” Reynold ordered Alyssa.Alyssa who knew that if she tried to convince them that it could work, she could be punished and only leave her with regrets for even bothering to talk. So, she walked away.Then Reynold turned back to Ingrid.“So, yeah, regarding what you said before she interrupted, you’re right. I guess we’re lucky. I’m going to put it out in a way that he would be touched and have to do my bid. That way, th
18Reece was nervous, and didn’t know what to do or how to avoid this situation since Alpha Dan wanted a test of loyalty, but he had to keep up a straight face to look confident, and like it was no big deal.“I’m just kidding.” Alpha Dan chuckled, and returned the hand of truth into its box, and the person holding it, took it back.Reece could almost sigh out of relief if not that he didn’t want to give Alpha Dan any hint that he was nervous to the peak.“I don’t need to use it for you since I believe you are willing to join us. But I will also have a use for you which would prove how willing you are to join my pack.” Alpha Dan uttered“What’s that?” Reece asked, looking ready to do anything.All he wanted to do was to give Alpha Dan the impression that he is prepared to do whatever he wanted him to do.“Not a knowledge you are to know about, right now. I haven’t even thought and strategized about it, but when I do, I certainly will reach out to you.” Alpha Dan said to him, and then R
19Reynold went back to the main office away from home, filled with joy, knowing fully well that soon, Alpha Dan would get the bomb.He worked on other documents he was meant to work on until night fall when he retired.“Time to go home.” He said under his breath and then walked out of his office, taking some necessary things along with him.He got into his car and then remembered that he wanted to search up that secretary. While he could have easily put a call through to Reece to help him make that search, he couldn’t, since Reece was no longer a part of him.“Oh! There might be no need for me to make use of a phone or a laptop to research on that woman.” Reynold smiled, recalling that the he had purchasd a particular device that worth a lot of money and all he had to do was to clip it at the back of his ear.And that device could do just that.He was going to wait until he got home before he decided to do that so he could give it his full concentration rather than be distracted on t
20As Reece got into his car, he stared at the box for a while, and sighed.Then he drove off to a place which was a little far from Alpha Dan’s company, and parked his car just until he was done.He opened the box, and to his surprise, it was the hand of a little child. He could have almost thrown the box away, but he had to be calm so he wouldn’t make it known that he had touched the box.“What the hell!” He voiced out, still in shock.Then he brought out his phone, and took a photo of the box, then covered it up back, and placed it on the seat beside him, and took a deep breath before he started the car, drove off.Alpha Dan had sent him a text of the address he was to take it to, so all he had to do was to drive off to the person’s home.In about thirty minutes, he got to the mansion, and got down from the car with the box in his hand.He walked up to the gate, and the security guards turned to look at him, and stared at the box before they stared at him back.“I’m from Alpha Dan.
69Ingrid’s Pov“Who are we to see and why do I have to be careful?” I asked him out of curiosity.“Well, that’s because… Look, the woman who can leas us to the priceless gem is a granny to a man who has my face. Fortunately, he is currently not in the city, so I can act like him. I have gathered my research and know just all the things I need to know. The woman is a granny right now and she played the role of a mother and did all she could do for the man with my face when he was younger. She was there for him in every way that he needed someone to be there.”“Okay…” I urged him to continue.“So, she’s back in New York City and she wants to see you and me. You know that she has definitely gotten the hang of the whole marriage thingy. Obviously, she would want to find out who is the lucky woman. But she doesn’t know the marriage isn’t real.”“Oh, I understand. That’s great. But why do you look a little weird regarding this?”“Well, she can be a little weird and all. Just be fine.”“Alr
68Ingrid’s PovFor the past few days, my health has been a little discomforting. I came down with a cold and it didn’t seem to go away quickly even with the medicine that was provided. Maybe I was just missing Reynold and Ryan and wondering if they weren’t spending too much time with Alyssa.Days seem to go by differently here, so I hope they haven’t spent too much time over there without me.I wrapped myself with my thick bed covers and sniffled as I reached out for my phone to check out what was going on on the internet and that’s when I heard my room door open.“Hey, you’re awake already.” Reece said with a smile on his face.He was holding a tray with a glass of water and medicine.“Yes.” I replied and adjusted myself on the bed.When he got close to me, he sat at the edge of the bed and placed the tray on the bedside desk.“How are you feeling this morning?” He asked me and placed his palm on my forehead.“I’m a little better. At least, the fever is gone.”“That’s good news. Hav
67Alyssa licked her lips, nodding her head in approval of how delicious the food was. If she could have more of this for lunch and dinner, she would feel like she was in heaven on earth.She also couldn’t deny the fact that the food and the notes which Ryan gave to her, made her feel better than when she just woke up this morning.Now that Alyssa was done, the room fell silent and it started to feel boring to her.“What should I do today?” She asked herself as she got down from the bed.Then her mind went to her bedside desk. She had brought a book along with her to reach during boring moments, but ever since she got here, she didn’t really have a boring moment.“Let’s see how interesting you can be.” She said as she pulled her desk drawer out and picked up the book.Alyssa smiled and went back to sit on her bed, leaned against the headboard and covered from he waist down to her feet with her bed cover. Excitement bubbled in her heart as she felt it was going to be an interesting rea
66Ryan was with Reynold in Reynold’s room when Reynold decided to speak up.“To make things smoother for us here, regarding Alyssa, we have to do what we thought we would never do.” Reynold uttered.“What do you mean by that?” Ryan asked, out of curiosity.“We have to try to be soft to Alyssa, so she doesn’t push herself close to anyone that would make it difficult for us to lay our claim on her. You know, they could ask why we are being so protective of a maid. Rumors could start too.”“oh, that’s right. We definitely have to do something about that.”“But it’s just for this period. Can you do that?”Although, Ryan was still feeling annoyed towards Alyssa, but he had to let it go for that period.“Alright.” He agreed.~The next day, Alyssa woke up with her mood sour. What had happened yesterday wasn’t something she could easily get off her mind. She also hoped that she wouldn’t have to remember how the triplets always seemed to use her the way they wanted and leave her with hurtful
65Alyssa’s PovReece was running towards us and the look on Daniel’s face said a lot about his shock. He didn’t expect that Reece would find us.“Shit!” He cursed out loud and released me.As he released me in the deep, strong water, I yelled out to him.“Hey!” I yelled out as he was the only one who could hear me quickly.But he didn’t care enough to look back at me. The current was beginning to sweep my body away and I shrieked, trying to swim away and get to shore, but it was proving difficult to do that especially as the force of the water was really strong.Why would a man be this wicked all for a low that can never be profitable?“Help me!” I yelled out in fear, but Reece had not gotten close enough to hear my light voice. “Shit!” I cursed boldly as I continued to try swimming fast and strong.What if the current becomes more forceful and makes the water sweep me away swiftly and moves me far from reach?What if I got to the middle of the water, and a big sea creature jumps up
64Ingrid’s PovMy eyes widened and almost popped out due to the shock I felt. I blinked my eyes to be certain that I was seeing the right person and the same face was still before me.He had a smirk on and my heart continued to beat fast and faster like it was going to explode any minute from now. So, when he had told me that he understood the fact that we were married, he didn’t have it in mind to back out.All he wanted was to get Reece to himself and seeing as he had already said he was going to get rid of me, he probably meant death.“Please. Please don’t kill me.” I pleaded with so much fear in my heart.My legs were feeling wobbly and I also felt doomed that I had met my end already.“There’s no way I’m letting you go since you’ve been proving stubborn.” Daniel uttered devilishly.“Please.” I pleaded with a shaky voice as tears filled my eyes up.Then he dragged me by the collar.“If you scream, I’m going to kill you straight away before anyone would get here and I’ll get away
63Ingrid’s PovI put my phone under my belly and closed my eyes, pretending to sleep. At least, If I didn’t click on the message, the blackmailer won’t know that I have seen his message or that I’m not asleep.I opened my eyes again and my eyeballs kept drifting left and right as I scanned the room as well. Even as I had not checked the message, I felt disturbed about it. What if he could see me or he knew that I wasn’t asleep?Just then, I sat up and sighed in frustration. I picked up my phone again and opened the text. I let out a sigh and smacked my lips.“Alright, where?” I sent a text, and stared at the phone intensely.“The back of this hotel.” He informed me.Regardless of how scared and terrified I might be right now, it’s just best for me to step out to avoid more troubles. Besides, nothing can happen to me. Ingrid, you can do this. Don’t be scared.I slowly got down from the bed without making any noise as I didn’t want Reece to wake up from that. I reached for my jacket wh
62Ingrid’s Pov“I… I don’t understand what you mean by that, Reece. What is it that I could be hiding from you?” I said, turning my eyes away from him.I also had a feeling that he was probably talking about the way I have been acting all this while. I guess he has been noticing that I’ve been acting strange or he probably feels that I might know something about the reason the blackmailer came into the hotel room.“You should know what I’m talking about, Ingrid. I feel there’s something you’re hiding from me. If it’s something that’s so difficult to say, you can decide to tell me that there’s something you’ll like to tell me, but you need time to process it. I’ll understand.” Reece urged me.I was so tempted to tell him what was going on or to even give him a sign that I had something to tell him, but each time I remember when the blackmailer sent me a text about him having a gun, I become mute.I just can’t risk my life and Reece’ so it’ll be best for me to stay calm and know what e
61Alyssa’s Pov“Uhm… Alphas, is there anything wrong?” I asked, out of concern and anxiousness.I didn’t know if I had done something wrong that they were really angry about and I hoped that just wasn’t it.“No, there is nothing wrong. Except that you have work to do.” Ryan said as he walked up to me and pushed me on the bed.My towel came loose, but it wasn’t revealing my body and I was about to tuck it in back, but Ryan grabbed my hands and pulled me to sit up.“Please did I do something wrong? Forgive me.” I whimpered with my voice shaking.“You will do something wrong if you get me irritated, so shut the fuck up and sit calmly.” He raised his voice at me and I nodded.Suddenly, a knock came on the door and both Ryan and Reynold glanced towards the door.“Go get the door now.” Ryan said to me sharply and I nodded immediately and got up on my feet and walked to the door.I wished so much that this interruption was going to be one which would make them leave because they were making