Babe..." Renn turned to pull her into a hug, but Angela stopped him with her palm raised between them. His lips parted as he froze, shock flashing across his face. Her expression was calm, too calm, and it made his heart beat faster. Something was wrong. She had been fine just moments ago.

Angela took a slow breath and crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes hardened as she looked past Renn and fixed her gaze on Kaito, who sat quietly while the others shifted in their seats. The calm on his face made her chest ache with anger. "Are you going to explain what is going on?" she asked, her voice tight.

Kaito finally looked at her, as if he was just noticing she had spoken. He sighed and rubbed his palms together. "We came out to talk. We are not doing anything else."

"I knew this would be your answer," Angela said with a soft, broken laugh. She nodded as if accepting something she never wanted to believe. Her blood burned inside her, yet Kaito still looked untouched by it all. The thought scared her. If he could be this calm now, then what else had he done and kept from her?

"What is going on with you, baby?" Renn asked as he reached for her hand. She slapped it away, her eyes flashing. "Is it really that serious?"

"I do not want to interfere, but this is serious, Renn," Hailey said, her voice sharp with fear and anger. She was tense, her hands clenched at her sides. Marcus’ brother would not let this go easily, not until he was sure they paid for whatever they had done. "If I were you, I would not hide it anymore."

Fear crawled through Renn as he looked from Hailey to Angela. Her face was cold, dangerous even. He could not tell if this was about Eliza or if she truly believed Kaito had cheated. Either way, the situation was slipping out of control.

"We are sorry..." Taros started, but the words came too late.

"Ask Kaito who Kaine is," Angela said, pointing at him with a shaking hand.

"Kaine?" Taros frowned, trying hard to remember where he had heard that name before.

"Yes, Taros. Ask him who the hell that is," Angela shouted. Her throat burned, but she did not care. The anger inside her was wild now, threatening to tear everything apart. Her eyes locked on Kaito, filled with pain and disbelief. "Why does it always have to be you lying to me?"

"Tell her who Kaine is, man," Renn pleaded. His voice shook because he could not stand seeing his mate in this much pain. "This Kaine’s talk has to end tonight."

"That is true, Kaito," Taros added, his eyes moving between his brother and Angela. She had asked him about that name before, and back then he truly had no idea who it was. He had even wanted to trust Kaito and doubt Angela’s fears. But now, standing here and seeing the look in Kaito’s eyes, it was clear he knew exactly who Kaine was.

Everyone was staring at him, waiting for an answer that felt like it might never come. The silence pressed hard on them all. Kaito swallowed and clasped his hands behind his back. He forced himself to stand tall, ready for whatever would follow. "I told you before, Amor. The girl you are talking about is no one."

Angela felt the urge to rush forward and slap him, but she held herself back. The pain hit her chest so hard it almost stole her breath. She stared at his face, searching for guilt, for regret, but found none. "You are lying again," she said softly, her voice breaking. "I do not know what I did to deserve this from you. Now I am starting to wonder if you were ever honest with me at all."

"Why would you say that?" Kaito asked, clearly shaken. He wondered if she had found out about Eliza, or if everything was simply twisting out of control.

"We saw the photo, Kaito," Hailey said firmly. She refused to stay quiet while he lied. "That girl could not have been just anyone."

"And I doubt you are not still seeing her," Seraphina added, then froze when she realized what she had just said. It was already too late. "Why would you keep calling her name instead of Angela’s?" she continued, regret creeping into her voice.

"Are you serious?" Taros looked more shocked than anyone. He had not expected that at all. It felt like his friend had been hiding something important from him. He turned sharply to Kaito, his voice tight as he asked, "What are they saying, bro?"

Kaito let out a tired sigh and shook his head like everything had finally worn him down. "Kaine is from my past, but Angela is turning it into something bigger than it is. She refuses to listen, and honestly, it’s starting to piss me off."

Angela froze. The words hit her harder than she expected. Was this really how Kaito saw her? Was this the side of him she had never noticed before? He was blaming her, acting like she was the problem, even though he was the one who kept letting this drag on without telling the truth.

"You think I’m the one dragging this?" she laughed, but the sound was broken and painful. She ran a hand through her hair and began to pace. "You really think this is on me?"

"This is not going the right way," Hiro said gently. "It would be better if we talked about this tomorrow." His thoughts drifted to what would happen when Angela found out the truth about Eliza. If she was hurting this much now, tomorrow would be far worse.

"Yes, baby," Renn said softly as he moved closer to Kaito. He grabbed his arm, trying to pull him back. "Let’s talk first before this gets out of control."

"I’m not talking to you tomorrow," Angela said as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest. She was forcing herself not to break, not to react the way her heart wanted to. "I don’t think things will ever be the same between us again."

Fear swept across their faces all at once. Every eye turned to her. The room felt heavy, like no one could breathe. They were stunned by her words, but she meant every single one. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Why?" Taros whispered. His blue eyes were already filled with tears. The thought of losing her, no matter the reason, felt unbearable to him.

"I can’t keep up with your lies anymore," Angela said, her voice steady but filled with hurt. Her gaze moved between them, full of anger and deep disappointment. "Today it’s Hiro, tomorrow it’s Kaito or Renn. Even you, Taros, you’ve started lying too. I can’t keep living like this, always pushed into a corner like I don’t matter at all."

"You matter," Renn said quickly, his chest tightening as fear wrapped around his heart. "You mean everything to us, babe."

"No, I don’t think so," Angela said, her voice shaking but firm. "Because if that were true, you would not have hidden the fact that you killed and buried Eliza." The words slipped out before Seraphina could stop her.

A heavy silence followed. The alphas froze, staring at their mates like the ground had vanished beneath them. Even though they shut her out of the mind link, Angela could still sense the storm in their thoughts. Fear. Guilt....Panic.

At first, she had not understood why they had pulled away from her. Now she knew. They had hidden something this huge without thinking twice about how deeply it would hurt her.

Did they even think about Marcus and his brother? They would come after her mates once the truth came out. Angela never wanted her family to become a danger to them, yet that was exactly what this secret had created.

"Did you really think I would never find out?" Angela asked, her voice rising until it echoed through the space and made them tremble. She no longer cared who heard her. Her chest ached as the truth settled in. This was real. It was not some fake video or twisted lie. "Why am I even asking you?" she laughed bitterly. "This is stupid. I was stupid. When Miss Valois told me earlier, I doubted her. I should have listened."