Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 210: Chapter 210 – They said you were evil, so I stayed away

That caught Seraphine’s attention instantly, the tension in her body tightening just slightly before easing again, her expression softening in a way that felt almost disarming.

”I’m not here to hurt you,” she said gently, her voice calm, almost reassuring despite the weight of the situation. ”I just need to understand what happened that night. Someone drugged the Alpha, and I want to know who was behind it.”

The girl hesitated, her lips pressing together as fear flickered across her face, but when she finally spoke, her words came out quieter, heavier. ”It wasn’t just the Alpha... your drink was spiked too.”

Seraphine’s brows pulled together, confusion settling in as she searched her memory and came up with nothing that matched that version of events. ”No,” she said slowly, shaking her head. ”You must be mistaken. I’m talking about the moon festival seven years ago.”

”We’re talking about the same night,” the girl insisted quickly, her voice trembling now, desperation creeping in. ”But you have to promise you won’t hurt me. I wanted to say something before, I really did, but I didn’t know how to reach you. Everyone in the pack... they said you were evil, so I stayed away.”

The words landed harder than anything else.

Seraphine went still, her thoughts catching for a moment, her lips parting as if to respond, but no words came out.

Evil.

That was how they saw her.

A quiet, almost hollow feeling settled in her chest, but she didn’t let it show for long.

Instead, she tilted her head slightly, her gaze steady on the girl. ”Do I look evil to you?” she asked, her tone even, though something deeper lingered beneath it.

The girl shook her head immediately. ”No... not at all. But we’re outcasts. We’re not allowed near packs. I’ve worked at that inn my whole life, and the only time I ever stepped into a pack was when Alpha Ravyn hired us for that event.”

Seraphine absorbed that slowly, the pieces fitting together in ways she hadn’t considered before.

”I see,” she murmured, then leaned forward just slightly, her voice soft but purposeful. ”Tell me everything truthfully, and you might walk away from this with more than just your safety.”

The girl blinked, startled. ”Wait, you’re not going to punish me?”

Seraphine let out a quiet breath, her gaze briefly drifting toward the front before returning. ”What would I gain from punishing you?” she asked simply, her tone grounded in logic rather than emotion.

Her eyes moved over the girl more carefully this time, taking in the small details. The tension in her shoulders, the faint signs of exhaustion written across her face. ”You look hungry... and tired. Have they not been feeding you properly?”

The girl lowered her gaze. ”The working conditions aren’t good,” she admitted softly.

Seraphine nodded once, as if that alone was enough to make her decision. ”Then come work for me,” she said, her voice carrying quiet certainty. ”Tell me everything, and I’ll take you to the city. You won’t have to live like this anymore.”

That did it.

The hesitation broke.

”There were two men with her,” the girl began, her voice unsteady but no longer held back. ”When she approached my colleague, he refused to help her. He said he wouldn’t get involved.”

Her hands trembled slightly as she continued, the memory clearly still fresh in her mind. ”She had those men cut out his tongue... just like that. She said he would expose her, even though he swore he wouldn’t.”

Seraphine’s hands tightened into fists, her nails pressing into her palms as something cold and heavy settled inside her.

All of this had happened right under her nose, and she hadn’t known.

”I was terrified when they came to me,” the girl continued, her voice cracking now. ”So I agreed. I didn’t have a choice.”

Seraphine didn’t interrupt.

”I was supposed to spike your drink,” the girl said, her words coming faster now, like she just needed to get them out. ”And then make sure you were taken to a room. She had already arranged for a gigolo to be there.”

Seraphine’s mind searched desperately for something, anything, to connect to that, but all she could remember was fragments, broken pieces that never fully made sense.

”I remember... someone forcing himself on me,” she said slowly, her voice dropping, uncertainty threading through it. ”I didn’t feel drunk. I thought... maybe it was just a nightmare. I tried to convince myself it wasn’t real, but then I woke up and there he was...”

She stopped.

The rest didn’t need to be said.

The girl shook her head quickly. ”No... it wasn’t like that,” she said, her voice urgent now. ”The drug made you hallucinate, and that’s why you believe you were being forced, but that’s not what happened.”

Seraphine’s gaze snapped to her.

”You were both drugged,” the girl continued, swallowing hard. ”You and the man. Neither of you were in control. That’s why everything felt wrong. She made me stand there, forced me to capture it all on video for her. It was her phone, so she took it away after it was done.”

The words settled heavily between them. Seraphine didn’t speak, only suffocated. No video about her and Ravyn had come out so where did Daisy keep it? Then, slowly, she asked, just to be sure her guess was right. ”Do you know who the woman was?”

The girl nodded faintly. ”She didn’t tell me her name at the time, but I found out later. Her name is Daisy.”

There it was, the final piece.

”She paid me well,” the girl added quietly, her fingers twisting together nervously. ”And she warned me that if I ever spoke about it, I’d be considered her accomplice.”

Seraphine leaned back slightly, her mind racing, the pieces finally forming a clearer picture but something about it still didn’t sit right.

Something was missing.

Her eyes narrowed just a fraction as she thought it through, her voice calm but laced with sharp curiosity.

”If her plan was to send me to a gigolo...” she began slowly, her gaze locking onto the girl again, ”then why drug Ravyn too?”