TRADING MY CHEATING HUSBAND FOR THE LYCAN KING novel Chapter 172

CHAPTER 117: IT ALL GOES BACK TO HIM

EMBER’S POV

“Unless a few council members tattled to Harrison over the years, and Gale got wind of it. Then Gale told him.” He shakes his head. “It’s possible. Gale and Logan were close. But still the things Logan implied he knew… those aren’t things that should have made it outside that room.”

I freeze inside.

அற்பவம்

Because I remember Logan’s break into the penthouse. Tearing through Knox’s office. Searching for something – a flash drive, Nathaniel had said.

And suddenly I’m wondering if it’s all connected. The break–in, the secrets, whatever Logan knows that Knox doesn’t.

“Is there anything else that happened that night?” I ask slowly, carefully, trying to keep my voice neutral even as my heart pounds. “Anything that could be… damning? Something someone might want to use against you?”

Knox shakes his head, frustration bleeding into every line of his body.

“I can’t remember. That’s the whole fucking problem, Ember. I don’t even know how Logan knows what he knows, or what exactly he knows, or how much of it is real versus how much he’s just fucking with my head.” He runs a hand through his hair, disheveling it further. “I’m not even that concerned about people knowing. I killed my cheating mate and her lover. That’s fucked up, but it’s not exactly a secret. The council knows. I just hate this feeling that there’s something I’m missing. Something right in front of me

that I can’t see.”

I hesitate, chewing on my lower lip.

Then, before I can stop myself:

“And Nathaniel… is it crazy that it feels like he’s hiding something?”

Knox stares at me.

The silence stretches long enough that I start to regret saying anything at all.

“I mean-” I stutter, suddenly unsure, “I don’t know. What could he even be hiding? He’s your beta. He’s been with you for over a decade. He’s the most loyal person you know.”

“I’m not sure yet.” Knox’s voice is measured, careful, like he’s walking across ice he doesn’t trust to hold his weight. “I trust the man with my life. I have for years. But he’s difficult. Closed off. Hard to read even on his best days.” He’s quiet for a moment, something shifting behind his eyes. “That night Celeste – after I woke up, Nathaniel was there for me. He was the only one there.”

Something in his voice changes. Becomes rawer. More exposed.

the night I killed

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woke up covered in blood,” he says quietly, his gaze distant, fixed on something I can’t see. “That’s the first thing I remember. Blood everywhere – on my hands, on my clothes, on the walls. Splattered across the ceiling. Pooling on the floor. And Celeste was…” He swallows hard, his throat working. “She was dead. Kieran too. And I don’t remember how it happened. I don’t remember what I did. There are hours of that night that are just… gone. Black. Like someone carved them out of my

skull,”

My chest aches for him. For this man who carries so much and shows so little.

“Nathaniel found me,” Knox continues. “He was the one who pulled me out of that room. Shipped me away from the location before anyone else could see the state I was in. He called for the cleaning, filed the papers, handled everything. Made the whole thing disappear like it never happened.” He laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “He never let me see the details. Said my wolf had had a traumatic response and I didn’t need to relive it. Said it would only make things worse.”

“Do you believe him?”

Knox is quiet for a long moment. “I don’t know what I believe anymore.”

He shifts on the couch, his shoulders tight with tension, and when he speaks again his voice is rougher, more fractured.

“It’s so fucking ironic, isn’t it? All it took to completely dismantle my control was Celeste and Kieran. Finding them together, seeing them-” He cuts himself off, jaw clenching. “It was like I was taken back to being a little boy again. A little boy who had just watched his mother die and couldn’t do anything to stop it. Who lost the most precious thing in his life and couldn’t hold on to anything after that.” His voice breaks, just barely, just enough for me to hear. “I couldn’t stay present. Couldn’t force myself to feel the

pain, to live through every second of it. So I let Phantom take control instead. And he went nuclear.”

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