The Alpha's Unwanted Bride

Chapter 435: CULPRIT

The door slammed shut behind Lily as she burst into Anna’s chamber, her breath coming in shallow, frantic gasps. Her hair was loose, cheeks flushed red, and her eyes wild with something between disbelief and fear.

Anna, who had been reclined on a chaise with a cup of rose tea in hand, barely looked up.

”You better have a damn good reason for storming in like that.”

”She’s not dead,” Lily hissed, gripping the edge of the dresser like her legs might give out beneath her. ”Jasmine—she’s alive. She’s awake. Nanny Nia’s with her.”

Anna’s cup paused mid-air. ”What?”

”I saw her through the window. She’s talking. Smiling. That wolf is still at her feet, and Nanny Nia hasn’t left her side.”

Anna slowly set the cup down with a clink, her eyes narrowing. ”I told you to watch her. Not to get caught like a little brat peeping in windows.”

”You said she wouldn’t survive that fall,” Lily whispered, eyes darting. ”You said—”

”She wasn’t meant to,” Anna snapped. She stood, her voice low and sharp. ”You gave the herbs to Ned like I told you?”

Lily nodded quickly. ”Yes. I put it in his satchel and told him the ranch boy gave the horse. I followed everything. The herbs made the horse restless, just like you said.”

”Then what went wrong?”

”I—I don’t know. Maybe not enough?” Lily’s voice trembled now, her fingers twisting in the hem of her tunic. ”She should’ve hit her head harder. She was bleeding—I saw it—”

”Clearly not enough,” Anna muttered, pacing now. ”And now she’s alive. Which means we have a problem.”

The room had grown still. But the moment hung like thin glass, ready to shatter.

From the corner, Lisa, who had been seated quietly near the hearth, finally spoke.

”You think that’s the problem?” Her voice was cold, detached.

Anna and Lily both turned.

Lisa rose slowly, smoothing down her skirts. ”The real problem is gone. I took care of him.”

Anna blinked. ”What are you talking about?”

”Rudy.” Lisa’s eyes were flat, almost bored. ”He’s dead.”

Lily gasped. ”What—what do you mean dead? What happened?”

”I hung him,” Lisa said, her tone matter-of-fact, like she was recounting a chore. ”In the barn. He was getting nervous. I saw it in his eyes after Jasmine fell.”

Lily backed away a step. ”You—you killed him?”

Lisa looked at her. ”You’re the one who said he saw us at the stables.”

Anna’s mouth parted, but no words came for a moment. ”You’re sure?”

Lisa gave a slight tilt of her head. ”He was panicking. Would’ve cracked the moment anyone questioned him. He’s not like us.”

”He could’ve kept quiet,” Lily whispered, but even she didn’t sound convinced.

Lisa’s gaze snapped to her. ”No, he wouldn’t have. I saw how he looked at you, Lily. Like you were poison. He hated what we did to her. He just didn’t have the spine to stop it. And once she survived, he knew it’d come back to him.”

Anna’s expression hardened, calculating. ”So now we have a fucking whore who won’t die, and a body hanging in our stables like a warning.”

”Not a warning,” Lisa murmured. ”A message. One we didn’t mean to send.”

Anna exhaled slowly, pressing her fingers to her temple. ”We’re not amateurs. This was supposed to be quiet. Clean.”

”Nothing about this has been clean,” Lisa replied. ”Ever since that girl stepped into this pack, everything’s unraveled.”

There was a pause.

Then Lily whispered, ”What if they find out? What if they trace it back to us?”

”They won’t,” Anna said sharply. ”They can’t. You followed what I said exactly?”

Lily nodded. ”Yes. Ned thinks the ranch boy gave him the horse. I planted the herbs where you said. No one saw us in the stables, except Rudy.”

Lisa looked at Anna. ”And now Rudy’s not a threat.”

”But Jasmine is,” Anna said bitterly. ”And if she starts talking about that saddle... if Erik finds out it was tampered with...”

”He won’t,” Lisa interrupted. ”Nanny Nia might suspect something, but she won’t say anything without proof. They’ll call it an accident.”

”Until Jasmine remembers something,” Anna snapped. ”She’s too close to too much. And once Xaden comes back, it’s over. We won’t be able to touch her.”

Lisa crossed her arms. ”Then we act fast. Finish what we started. This time, no herbs. No slipping saddles. No ranch boys. Just us.”

Lily hesitated. ”You mean....”

Lisa looked at her with something unreadable. ”You’ve come this far. You can’t be soft now.”

Anna walked back to the table, slowly picking up her cup again.

”She’s right,” she said, voice quiet. ”We finish it. Before Xaden returns. Before she remembers. Before the wolves start sniffing around too closely.”

Outside, thunder grumbled faintly, the clouds beginning to gather again like they had the night Jasmine fell.

Lily looked between the two of them, Anna with her perfect lips and poison smile, Lisa with her deadpan calm, and knew there was no way back now.

”Fine. But we have to do something first.” Anna said.

The others rose a brow waiting for her response. ”We need to take away Rudy’s body.”

”What?!” Both girls said in disbelief.

”Yes.” Anna nodded. ”We need to because if something gives it away. The slightest mistake made...

”I don’t make mistakes.” Lisa said.

”My servant doesn’t talk back at me!” Anna hissed in warning.

Lisa went quiet.

”Think about it. Yes you covered our tracks by staging a suicide and that’s great. But what if you left something out.” Anna asked. ”You can never be too sure because the smallest thing that you think

Is insignificant can lead to you and of they suspect you, then we might all be going down for it.”

Lisa swallowed.

Lily said nothing.

”So what are you saying?”

”I say we take the body and hide it somewhere. Throw in a river I don’t know, get rid of it. But do it before anyone finds it.” Anna said.