My Cheating Mate (Emma and Jeremy) novel Chapter 240

Chapter 240

Uncle Cas pulled out a tablet. “Start talking. Everything you know about Marcus Dane and Elena Frost. Every detail matters.”

Courtney talked. For two hours, she talked. Told us about conversations she’d overheard, meetings she’d been excluded from, phone calls where her father mentioned the other leaders. Locations they’d used in the past. Recruitment methods. Ideology frameworks. 1

Everything she knew. Everything she’d learned growing up in a household where extremism was normal and integration was evil.

By the end, Uncle Cas had pages of notes. “This is this is more than I expected. Courtney, you’ve given us actual leads. Patterns. Enough to work with.”

“Will it be enough to stop them?”

“I don’t know. But it’s a start.” He stood. “Grace, we should go. Let Courtney rest. She’s- she’s done well today.”

I stood too, moving toward the door. Then stopped. Turned back.

“Courtney, I’m sorry about your father. Even though he tried to kidnap me. Even though he was leading extremists. He was still your father and I’m–I’m sorry you lost him.”

She looked up, surprised. “Grace, you don’t have to

“I know. But I’m saying it anyway.” I paused. “Courtney, you made terrible choices. Hurt me. Helped people who wanted me dead. But you also–you also tried to make it right. Gave us intelligence that saved lives. Told us about Marcus and Elena when you could have stayed silent. That’s–that’s worth acknowledging.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly. “And Grace? I am sorry. For everything. The knife. The schedule. All of it. I know sorry doesn’t fix anything. But–I am.”

୮

“I know.” I looked at her–this girl who’d made my life difficult for years, who’d attacked me, who’d helped extremists, who’d also saved lives and was now grieving her father. “Courtney, I hope you find peace. Eventually. After all of this. I hope you find a way to live with your choices and build something better.”

“Me too,” she said. “Me too.”

Outside the interrogation room, Uncle Cas and I walked in silence for a moment.

“She’s telling the truth,” he said finally. “About Marcus Dane and Elena Frost. About the backup leadership. About not knowing until yesterday.”

“I know.” I leaned against him. “Uncle Cas, is it really not over? Is the Preservation Front still

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a threat?”

“The immediate threat the assault, the kidnapping attempt that’s over. Thomas Vex is dead. Their coordinated capacity is broken.” He paused. “But Grace, ideology doesn’t die with one leader. Marcus and Elena are still out there. Still planning. Still believing integration needs to be stopped.”

“So what do we do?”

“We hunt them. Carefully. Systematically. Using the intelligence Courtney provided.” He pulled me close. “Grace, you’re safe. That’s what matters today. The ongoing threat–we’ll handle it. But you don’t have to carry that fear anymore.”

“Connor and I completed our mate bond last night.”

“I know. I’m very happy for you both.” He smiled slightly. “Though the timing was- interesting. Completing the bond hours before a terrorist assault.”

“We didn’t know the assault was coming early.”

“No. But even if you had-” He looked at me seriously. “Grace, would you have waited? Would you have chosen caution over claiming your mate?”

I thought about it honestly. “No. I wouldn’t have waited. Connor and I–we needed that. Needed each other. Needed to feel connected and loved before facing whatever was coming.”

“That’s what I thought.” He kissed my forehead. “Grace, you’re braver than you know. Stronger than you give yourself credit for. The Preservation Front wanted you scared and small. Instead you completed your mate bond and faced the assault and now you’re showing compassion to someone who hurt you. That’s–that’s extraordinary.”

“I learned from the best.” I hugged him. “Uncle Cas, thank you. For protecting us. For fighting Thomas Vex. For being–for being you.”

“Always, little artist. Always.”

г

We walked back upstairs together. Back to where Connor was waiting, where my family was recovering, where the future we’d fought for was finally, actually possible.

The Preservation Front wasn’t entirely defeated. Marcus Dane and Elena Frost were still out

there.

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