Chapter 253: In Control
Chapter 253 of "Mated To The Crippled Alpha" begins revealing surprises: A soft knock landed on the bathroom door.Then Lewisâs voice came through, low and steady.... Read on to find out!
A soft knock landed on the bathroom door.Then Lewisâs voice came through, low and steady. "Elena, are you in there?"
My pulse jumped like my body was already answering him before my mouth could. "Yes, Iâm here."
"I need to talk to you about something."
"Come in," I said, too quickly.
I stared at the test stick in my hand. Just one line.
Lewis had been right.
I wasnât pregnant.
I waited for relief to wash over me, but it didnât come. What I felt instead was a quiet, sharp letdown that made my throat tighten.
The truth was... a part of me had wanted it.
The door opened, and the moment Lewis stepped in, his eyes found my face. He read me the way he always didâlike he could hear my heartbeat from across a room.
"Whatâs the matter?" he asked.
I held up the test, forcing my voice to stay casual. "I took it. Itâs negative."
He didnât look surprised. He just crossed the space and patted my head, gentle, grounding. "Itâs okay. Youâre still young. Youâll have children one day."
He said you.
Not we.
Something cold slid into my stomach. I looked up at him. "Itâs us."
A small pause. Too small to mean nothing.
"Yes," he said, like he was choosing the word carefully. "Itâs us."
I looked away before my face could betray me. My eyes landed on a tiny potted plant on the tableâa small Bodhi tree with plump round leaves. The fruit was cute too, green with a hint of red, like it couldnât decide what it wanted to be.
It didnât bloom. It went straight to fruit.
The thought made my chest ache in a way I didnât want to name.
I cleared my throat and pointed at it, pretending it mattered more than the heaviness in the air. "Itâs so cute."
Then I turned back to him. "What did you want to tell me?"
Lewis guided me out of the bathroom and pulled me down to sit. His hand stayed on my shoulder, firm and warm, like a promise.
"I went to the police station this morning," he said.
My heart sped up. "What did you find out?"
He exhaled. "Something big."
That one sentence lit me up. My fear, my frustration, my confusionâeverything snapped into focus. "Really? What?"
Lewisâs gaze sharpened. "That secret underground base is linked to a notorious international criminal organization. Bloodshade."
The name felt unfamiliar on my tongue. "Are they the ones selling organs?"
Lewisâs mouth tightened. "Itâs more than that. They profit from almost every kind of illegal trade you can think ofâorgan trade, trafficking, fraud, sex trade, drugs, weapons, all of it."
My stomach turned, but my mind kept pushing forward. "So theyâre just... money. No limits. No conscience."
"You could say that," he replied. "They feed off suffering. And the worst part is, they have top-level tech people and medical experts."
I stared at him. "Those experts... theyâre part of it too?"
He gave me a look like he hated the world for making me ask that. "Silly girl. Do you think they do this for fun? The people at the top have wealth and power, and their biggest fear is aging and death. So they build services for themselves. No morals. Just appetite."
I swallowed hard. The Morrigans were rich, but they were nothing compared to the real monsters hiding above them. Iâd always known that.
I just didnât know we were in their hands.
"So... what about you?" I asked quietly.
Lewis didnât dodge it. "Yes. Someone invited me once. I turned it down."
Then he added, flat and almost amused, "And Iâm not even interested in women, so you wonât catch me dead in a place like that."
I blinked, thrown off for half a second.
He didnât give me time to get stuck there. "What surprised me is that they reached into our lives at all. That base here is only one location. They have others across the world."
A heavy sadness settled on me.
All those hidden places. All those people taken and erased like they were nothing. Not everyone gets a second life. Not everyone gets a second chance.
How many disappeared without even a name left behind?
I forced myself to stay focused. "Have they figured out who runs this base?"
Lewisâs eyes turned colder. "Some people call her Dark Rose."
"An alias?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "No one knows her real age or face. Only that sheâs a woman. And sheâs cruel. This person likely has a vendetta against both the Hales and the Morrigans. Thatâs why she built this trap. Camilla and Silas were only tools."
My hands curled in my lap. "If they know that, why havenât they arrested her? Did she escape?"
"When the base was raided," Lewis said, "someone tipped her off immediately. By the time the authorities arrived, it was empty."
"What about Camilla? Cameras? Roads? Anything?"
He shook his head once. "She slipped away with a fake license plate. The latest report says theyâve already left Snowville."
I felt heat rise behind my eyes. "So they take lives... destroy families... and then they just walk away?"
"The dead canât return," I whispered, more to myself than him.
Lewisâs voice dropped, icy and sure. "Sheâll return."
I looked up.
"The Morrigans and the Hales are her obsession," he continued. "Once the storm settles, sheâll come back."
His jaw tightened like it hurt him to speak the next part.
"And I want her to return... and never leave."
A shiver ran through me. Not fear of him.
Fear of how calm he could be when his dominance rose to the surface. Fear of how steady he was when he decided something belonged to himâjustice, revenge, protection, me.
Still... at least we had a name now. A direction. A shape to the enemy.
Lewis squeezed my hand. "Elena, donât worry. Iâll get justice for you."
I squeezed back. "I believe you."
After Silasâs body was examined, it was returned to the Hale grounds. Because of his status, there was no big show. No flashy ceremony. Just a private funeral for him and Vicky, quiet and guarded.
No photos.
No stories.
Just a code name.
I watched the grave fill in, watched the earth cover a man who had once ended my life without blinking. Adam dropped to his knees, crying like the sound could dig Silas back out.
I felt nothing.
Adam looked up at me, eyes bloodshot, face twisted. I spoke first, calm and cold. "He loved Camilla. Heâd want to be buried beside her. With Camilla."
Adam snapped like I had slapped him. "Riley, how can you be so cold? He was a life. Heâs gone. Donât you have any sympathy?"
Sympathy?
A bitter laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
When Silas pushed that blade into me, he didnât hesitate. He didnât pity me. He didnât pause.
I didnât scatter his remains.
I didnât desecrate his body.
That was mercy enough.
"Adam," I said, my voice low, "thereâs no love without reason in this world. And thereâs no hate without reason either."
He muttered like a curse. "Youâre out of your mind."
I didnât answer. One day, he would understand what his son did to me. Maybe then heâd stop asking me for softness.
I stepped closer to Silasâs grave and spoke quietly, making sure every word landed. "Donât worry. Camilla will be with you soon."
Lewisâs hand moved at my back, steadying me. I pushed him forward gently in his chair and turned away from the grave without another glance.
As we walked, I lowered my voice. "Lewis, letâs set up hidden cameras around here."
His eyes narrowed. "You think Camilla hasnât really gone?"
I nodded. "Silasâs death will break her. Even if she ran... sheâll come back."
The bond between people like them wasnât gentle. It was obsession. It was need. It was the kind of attachment that made you do stupid things, dangerous things, just to touch the place where your person was last seen.
"At the very least," I added, "sheâll come to light a candle for him."
Lewis looked toward the setting sun. The cold light caught the edge of his face, making him look like something carved from stone.
"When she comes back," I said, "we catch her by surprise."
Lewisâs voice was quiet, but it carried that Alpha certainty that made my skin tighten. "Then everything changes."
He stared at the horizon like he could already see the next move.
"Itâs time for us," he said, "to take control of everything."