To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 243

Chapter 243: Ignorance is Bliss

FIA

I nodded. "It’s true."

Cian waited, his hand still warm in mine. The water lapped gently at our feet.

"I don’t understand it myself." I pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapping my free arm around them. "She didn’t feel like an apparition. She felt real. Very real."

The memory played behind my eyes. That woman on the road, and how strange she looked.

"It was like..." I searched for the right words. "Like seeing her appealed to my sense of justice? I wanted to save her."

Cian’s thumb traced circles on the back of my hand. He didn’t interrupt.

"That was when the accident happened." My voice came out flat. The words felt too simple for what had occurred, but I didn’t know how else to say it.

"That’s powerful magic." Cian’s jaw tightened. "Who do you think did it?"

I stared at the moon’s reflection in the water. The ripples from our feet distorted it, breaking the perfect circle into fragments.

"I couldn’t be sure. I seem to have a lot of enemies now." I let out a breath. "It wouldn’t be past Hazel or my stepmother to try."

"Garrett also says you wanted your sister dead." Cian’s voice stayed even, but I felt it through the bond. A slight pang of jealousy. It was sharp as it was quick. "Did your sense of justice also want that because of Milo?"

I turned to look at him. His face was carefully neutral, but his eyes gave him away.

"I wish I was that noble." I shook my head. "I did it for you. So you shouldn’t be jealous."

His expression shifted slightly.

"I did it because..." I paused. My heart picked up speed. "I’m about to say something that will bother your spirit now. But I hope you hear me out without flaring hot."

"I don’t do that." He defended.

"You do."

"I really don’t."

"You’re doing it right now."

"Okay. Okay. Of course." He said it immediately once I had him cornered. "I won’t flare hot."

"I mean it."

"I do as well." His grip on my hand tightened just a fraction.

I took a breath. "One of the emissaries that came for me was Milo’s brother."

Cian went very still.

"Hazel wanted to escape justice because if Milo’s murder could somehow be proven by his family, it would mean death for her. So his brother, as well as his grandmother, were being hunted." The words came faster now. "He asked for my help. And he gave me a reason to help him."

"What reason?" Cian’s voice was quiet.

"Alpha Gabriel had reached out to her." I watched his face carefully. "I had his business card but it probably got lost in the wreckage."

His jaw clenched.

"I don’t know what your enemy would want from my sister. But it couldn’t be good and when I got to the elders circle, it started to feel like a power was set out to protect Hazel."

"The arrival of house Strati." It wasn’t a question.

I nodded. "That wasn’t all though."

The water was cold against my feet now but I didn’t pull them out. The discomfort kept me grounded.

"My stepmother’s mother somehow managed to get the heir to the Lily of the Valley pack to save Hazel." I swallowed hard. "I tried. I wanted my sister dead. I was scared of what was to come. But I had to settle for what I could. Something that would still haunt her mind so badly, she wouldn’t have time for me or you or Gabriel."

My throat felt tight.

"But it still haunts me that an enemy of yours took interest in her." I looked at Cian. "And also... when did she even meet Gabriel?"

He frowned.

"Milo’s brother infiltrated her so deep. He knew plenty about her. But it was clear..." I paused, remembering the timeline. "It seemed clear that the time frame she got that card was at Alpha Julius’ wedding."

Cian’s eyes widened.

"And what I am about to say might be a fucking stretch to you," I held his gaze. "But you have to trust me."

"You think Gabriel has more people working in here, don’t you?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

I sighed and nodded.

Cian looked back at the pool. The moonlight turned his face into sharp angles and deep shadows.

"Garrett insinuated that..." He stopped. Started again. "Ronan was one."

The name hung between us.

He stared at the card. The moonlight caught on the bloodstains, making them look almost black. His breathing had gone shallow. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

I moved closer, pressing my shoulder against his. I didn’t say anything. What could I say? That I was sorry? That I understood? Words felt useless against this kind of pain.

Garrett stood silent, giving Cian space to process.

Cian’s fingers tightened on the card. For a moment I thought he might tear it in half. Instead, he just held it, staring at Gabriel’s name like it held all the answers to questions he’d been too afraid to ask.

"I have to know this myself. I have to know for sure."

I drew a slow breath, the words pressing at the back of my throat before I could stop them.

"Do you want to confront him?" I asked.

Cian stilled.

The bond tightened, sharp and sudden, like I had touched a bruise he did not know was still raw. His gaze dropped back to the card, to the darkened smear of blood.

"I don’t think letting him catch a whiff that we suspect him is—"

"No," he cut in before I could finish. He shook his head once, decisively. "Not yet."

I waited.

"I knows what will happen if we mess this up somehow, they’ll prepare," Cian continued. His voice was steadier now, colder. "I don’t want that. What I want... I want to see what he does. It is the only way I can believe this to be true. It is the only way it can somehow make some twisted sense."

He turned and held the card out to Garrett.

"Take this to Ronan," Cian said. "Tell him it’s something you forgot in the chaos. Say you only remembered it after. Say you think Gabriel could somehow be connected to what happened. To you. To Fia."

Garrett accepted it, eyes narrowing. "And if Ronan asks questions?"

"Don’t give him any answers," Cian replied. "Just the card."

Garrett inclined his head. "Understood."

When he stepped away, the night felt heavier, like it was listening.

I looked back at Cian. "You’re testing him."

"Yes," he said quietly.

His fingers curled, empty now without the card.

"I want to know what he does," Cian said, "when he thinks he can cover something up."