Derek POV:
"Explain," I growled.
Leo, my Beta, was sweating. "I'm accessing the logs."
He turned the tablet.
Grainy footage. Two orderlies dragging a half-conscious Catherine. Then, hours later, Catherine stumbling out. She stopped at Anjelica's door. She watched me feeding her strawberries.
She had seen everything.
"Track her," I said.
"I can't," Leo said. "Her ID was flagged 'Deceased' two years ago. By your login."
I froze. I remembered signing a stack of papers Anjelica brought me. 'Routine cleanup,' she had said.
"She's a ghost," Leo whispered.
"Pull up the pier footage," I ordered. "From the night at the car."
The screen changed. There she was. Standing in the shadows. Watching me cheat.
My knees gave way.
"She knew," I whispered. "She knew, and I let them bleed her."
Shadow whimpered. You broke it.
"Find her," I told Leo. "I don't care if she's a ghost. Find my wife."
Leo walked into my office holding a red folder like a bomb.
"The independent lab results," Leo said. "Anjelica's blood type is O Positive."
The world stopped.
"O Positive," I repeated. "That's the most common type. I'm O Positive."
"Dr. Evans lied," Leo said. "Or he was paid to lie."
A red haze crept into my vision. My bones cracked.
It wasn't a medical emergency. It was a trophy hunt.
I ran to the nursery.
Anjelica was holding a yellow blanket.
"Derek! Look—"
She stopped. She smelled my rage.
I grabbed her by the throat.
"You are O Positive," I said.
"Derek... the baby..."
"There is no baby!" I roared. "Or if there is, it doesn't need rare blood! You stole it!"
"Don't lie to me!" The Alpha Command thundered.
Anjelica's mask fell. "Because she wouldn't die!" she hissed. "Five years! I crashed her car! I drugged you! I turned her son against her! But she was still there! I wanted her empty!"
I let go. She crumpled.
"Drugged me?" I asked, my voice quiet.
"Pheromone blockers and suggestibility serum," she spat. "Mixed with your cologne. You think you fell in love with me? You were high, Derek."
I looked at my hands. I had been a puppet.
"Get up," I said coldly.
