Page 6 of Her Wolf

Cora perked up at that but, almost immediately, her eyes narrowed and her mouth thinned. “Why?”

Heat grew inside Neo’s chest. He clenched his hands in fists, digging them into his armpits so he wouldn’t slam them into the wall.

When he spoke, his voice wavered like a candle flame in a draft.

“Because he fed my mother to his fucking pet, that’s why.”

Saying the words out loud churned a bitter anger inside him. The anger itself wasn’t unexpected; its extent was.

He’d loved his mother, but he never could have thought her death would affect him so much. Perhaps it was because he hadn’t ever expected her to die.

Cora’s face went blank. She blinked, long and slow, and then turned slightly toward the gray-eyed man with the tattoos.

“Bailey…” she murmured, holding out a hand to him.

Neo glanced across and then did a double-take.

Bailey had gone white.

“What?” Neo asked, turning back to Cora. But her attention was on Bailey, not him. “What?” his voice was too loud in this confined space.

A hand touched his shoulder just as Bailey stormed from the conference room. Lars didn’t even stop him—he took two hurried steps back and lifted his hands as if in surrender when Bailey strode past.

Santino whispered, “He worked for your father at—”

But the door slammed, cutting him off.

“At?” Neo demanded, spinning to face Santino.

“Bailey was a spy,” Cora said calmly, drawing Neo’s attention back to her. “He worked for Javier.” She paused, lifted her chin, and added, “And Gabriella.”

Neo’s heart pounded. Not from the announcement, but from what he’d recognized on Bailey’s face.

Shock.

He felt it too.

Why the hell was Bailey working for Cora now?

“Your mother. Do you have proof?” Milo asked. His rough voice made Neo look up.

He gave the man a mute nod, swallowed hard, and said, “They made me watch.”

At this, Santino slunk back against the wall. He tried his best not to glance at the man, but he couldn’t stop himself.

Santino looked at the floor, refusing eye contact with Neo.

He couldn’t blame Santino; the man had been following Javier’s direct order. And perhaps it was better he had been the one holding the back of Neo’s neck while Eddy hacked off his mother’s head. She’d been alive but gagged. It had barely muffled her scream. A scream that still echoed in his ears after Eddy had tossed her head into the lion’s enclosure.

That was all there’d been time for him to watch; Neo had a wedding to get to. And Santino had made sure he’d gotten into his tuxedo before heading back to the lion enclosure.

As soon as Neo had emptied his stomach, he’d stumbled downstairs, into the park, and onto the altar. Like a dream, everything afterwards happened to someone else.

Until Javier had fallen to his knees, and he’d seen blood staining his tuxedo.

He had Cora to thank for that.

Just as he had Cora to thank for his mother’s gruesome execution.

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