Alpha's One Night Bride
Alpha’s One Night Bride – Chapter 31

It was true.

My mother had an affair with Boris Conway.

Boris’s study was on the other side of the manor. It reminded me of a mini-library. It was far enough away from the ballroom where I couldn’t hear the party going on and where we wouldn’t be interrupted.

Boris insisted we spoke further about my mother, but at a faraway distance from Nikini because she doesn’t know any of this information and he’d rather keep it that way.

Jonathan wanted to join in on the meeting, afraid of leaving me alone. But I insisted that this was something I needed to do by myself. So, he settled on waiting in the hallway and keeping a lookout for unwanted visitors.

Jonathan warned me not to mention anything more about my father to Boris. He was afraid that it might stir up some issues amongst Alpha’s; especially ones that were involved with the same wolf.

“So, what my father said was true?” I asked softly. “My mother had an affair with you?”

Boris nodded once.

“Yes,” he answered. “I wasn’t aware he knew.”

“He has a bunch of old journals and letters from her. She must have mentioned you in one of them,” I told him.

“I see,” he said. He didn’t seem surprised; more sad if anything. “Your mother and I had a complicated relationship. It wasn’t supposed to turn into much of anything. More of a one-night stand.” He paused for a moment. “But then it grew into more.”

“She fell in love with you?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

“And I love her,” he answered without hesitation.

“If you loved her, why didn’t you want to be with her?” I asked; I realized I sounded more accusatory than I meant.

“Because we were both with other people,” he answered. Then he added, “Ending the affair was the right thing to do.”

“But you loved each other.”

“If we hadn’t had ended it, you wouldn’t be here, Arina,” he reminded me. “And my children wouldn’t be here either. Life works mysteriously.”

I couldn’t argue with that; he was right. But at what cost? Was I worth my mother’s happiness? Her misery and her marriage to Rock only caused her death. Maybe if she were to end up with Boris, it would have saved her life. Regardless of if I was around or not, she didn’t deserve to die.

But then I remembered something Rock had told me.

“Wait…” I said, staring at him. “Rock… um… I mean my father, he told me that my mother was planning on running away to be with you. He showed me this letter she wrote for me. She was saying goodbye to me in this letter and saying that she wished she could have been a better mother.” I had to pause as I regathered my thoughts and pushed my emotions away. “She was planning on leaving me.”

He looked at me, perplexed. He placed his fingers against his lips as though he was thinking intently about something, and then he leaned forward towards me.

“Your mother would have never left you there,” he told me. I felt myself sighing with relief. Of course, I already knew she wouldn’t have left me, but seeing that letter and hearing what Rock had to say about it. The whole thing was just so confusing. “She loved you.”

“Then what was that letter? It was in her handwriting,” I told him.

“The only letter I know of is the one she wrote to you before she left here. She was planning on leaving you here. She mentioned something about Ironclaw not being fit for a baby right now and thought you’d be safer.”

“She brought me here?” I asked, shocked.

I looked around the study. I don’t remember ever being here. I don’t remember ever being in Silverside.

“Yes,” he answered. “It was the last time I saw her. She was telling me how Ironclaw wasn’t fit for a baby and that she wanted to leave your father and be with me. I haven’t seen her in over 2 years and suddenly she’s on my doorstep with an infant.”

I must have been the infant.

“She seemed scared, but she wouldn’t say anything against Rock other than the fact that she doesn’t love him. She kept saying she didn’t want to raise her daughter there and wanted to live here in the manor with me.” He paused for a moment. “I told her that it wasn’t possible. I told her she needed to go home to her husband. That our time has passed, and we were married to two different people. She had a baby. She had you.”

“So, she left?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

“Not exactly,” he said slowly. “I offered her to stay for a few days while Nikini was away. So, you and your mother stayed in the guest bedroom while she collected her thoughts and gained enough courage to go back home. I didn’t know this until after she left, but she was planning on just leaving you here. She wrote a letter and everything. But she somehow changed her mind and decided she couldn’t go through with it. A few days later she left and took you with her. I found the letter in the guest room and figured out what she was going to do.”

“If she left the letter here, then how did my father get it?” I asked.

My heart was beating heavily against my chest.

“I’m honestly not too sure. I threw away the letter,” he told me.

So, if that was true, then how did Rock end up with that letter? None of this was making sense to me. My mother wanted to leave me in the possession of Boris and Nikini Conway, so they could what? Raise me?

She would have rather me live here than Ironclaw?

I was grateful she didn’t go through with it; if she had, I would have never established the relationship I did with Jonathan. However, I couldn’t help but wonder why she never went through with it.

“What changed her mind?” I asked.

He thought about it for a moment before answering.

“She left without saying anything to me. So, I’m not entirely sure. But if I had to guess, I’d say that life without you, would have been difficult for her. You were her happiness and she loved you more than anything,” he answered.

I could feel my eyes growing misty as I fought back the urge to burst into tears.

“And you don’t know how Rock got that letter?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“I wish I did,” he admitted. “I can find out though,” he added.

A tap on the study door startled us both. I turned to see Jonathan staring at me.

“I think I hear Nikini. We should probably get going,” he told me.

He was right. We had a long drive to get back to Sabrebite and I hadn’t told Rock I was leaving town. Another breach in our contract; I told him I would inform him whenever I left town. I hadn’t spoken to him since our meeting a few days ago and he was going to be furious with me. I suppose it was probably time for me to address that.

Turning back to Boris, I gave him a small smile; I had him pegged wrong from the beginning. He wasn’t a snobby rich man; Nikini might be a snobby rich woman, but Boris was nothing like that. He seemed to genuinely care about his family and care about his city. He was the Alpha and the head detective, sworn to protect his city.

I wasn’t surprised my mother fell in love with him and I wasn’t surprised she wanted to leave Rock to be with him. My mother deserved happiness too and Rock did not make her happy. I wasn’t sure how much Boris knew about my mother’s relationship with Rock but considering how Rock hasn’t been prosecuted for physical abuse towards his luna, Boris probably didn’t know that much.

It was probably better if we kept it that way. As Jonathan said, we couldn’t risk word getting back to Rock about this investigation. He always said that he has eyes and ears everywhere, I didn’t think that included Silverside. But considering he was able to get his hands on a letter that my mom wrote and left here, of which Boris supposedly threw away, it was safer not talking more about this.

“Thank you for speaking with me,” I told him.

As I turned to leave, I saw Nikini walking towards us behind Jonathan. I knew we weren’t going to get out before she saw us.

Her eyes were already gazing over me, frowning as she went from Boris to me to Jonathan. Boris stood to greet her, but she threw her hand up to silence him.

“What’s going on?” She asked me as he neared the room. “Your job wasn’t to take pictures of the study. It was to take pictures of the party.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but Jonathan stepped in front of me. I could feel his worry as Nikini marched towards us angrily.

“I asked her to meet me in here,” Boris explained.

Nikini stopped walking and stared at him; I swear I could see the fire burning in her dark eyes.

“Excuse me?” She growled.

“They were just about to leave. I wanted to discuss the payment,” he lied.

Her lips flattened into a thin line; she wasn’t buying it.

“Her payment is having me view her portfolio,” Nikini reminded him.

“Yes, I know. But I wanted to give her a small incentive for a job well done. She worked hard in there,” he told her.

He was very convincing.

“Why did you have to bring that conversation all the way in here. Also, how could you not discuss that with me?” Nikini asked him.

Hurt flashed through her eyes; something I wasn’t prepared to see from her.

“It was last minute and it’s quieter,” he told her gently as he walked closer to her. “I was going to tell you afterward. I’m sorry for upsetting you, dear.”

She folded her arms across her chest and stared at him; I couldn’t tell if she was buying it or not. I didn’t want to stick around to find out. I grabbed Jonathan’s arm; he looked at me and read the expression on my face.

“We have a long drive,” Jonathan said. “We should get going.”

Nikini managed to pull her gaze from Boris long enough to look in our direction.

“And the photos?” Nikini asked. “When should we expect them?”

“I’m just going to do some editing work on them. Check your email in a couple of days and they should be there. I can send you some hard copies if you don’t want them digital,” I told her.

“Digital is fine. Once I receive them, I’m going to go through them. I might want a couple of them hand-painted,” Nikini said.

I nodded.

If I couldn’t paint them, I knew Mallory and Lucille would be glad to.

“Please send me your portfolio and I’ll take a look,” she said before switching her attention back to Boris.

He looked sheepishly at me one last time before Jonathan and I left.