Chapter 485\u00a0<\/p>\n
Riley\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
:\u00a0<\/p>\n
I took a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to know,\u201d I said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My voice trembled, but there was no mistaking the determination behind it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucien hesitated, just for a second, before handing me the thick stack of\u00a0<\/p>\n
papers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
74\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
I reached out with slow fingers, feeling as if the weight of those pages could crush my chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment I flipped to the first page, my eyes scanned the printed words-and the blood drained from my face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each line carved open memories I had tried for years to suppress. Every vague suspicion, every pain that once lingered without a name, was now written in black and white.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had always believed I was kidnapped after birth. Taken by traffickers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the truth was so much worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t strangers who had stolen me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was my own father-Alpha Alaric of the Ebonclaw Pack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t lost. I was abandoned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He left me in the Rogue-infested borderlands like discarded trash.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All those years I barely survived in that brutal, lawless place\u2026 it was by his design.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And Scarlett\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had always thought she was an adopted child taken in to fill the void I left.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the records told a crueler tale.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlett was no orphan. She was the child of Alpha Alaric and Dean Elira Blackthorn-the High Matron of Mooncrest First Hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The same woman who had performed my mother\u2019s prenatal care.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The same woman who-after I was gone-appeared at Luna Zara\u2019s doorstep with a baby in her\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:25 Fri, Jan 16 T\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 485\u00a0<\/p>\n
arms and a prophecy in her mouth:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis child will mend the Luna\u2019s broken heart.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They believed her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara raised Scarlett as her own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
:\u00a0<\/p>\n
All while I-her true daughter-was rotting in the dirt and shadows among Rogues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric had arranged everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He cast me out to make room for the child he had with his mistress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then, step by step, he helped Elira rise to power.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t stop the snarl rising in my\u00a0<\/p>\n
throat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A\u00a0<\/p>\n
74\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlaric\u2026\u201d I growled through clenched teeth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tears blurred my vision, hot and feral.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I bit the inside of my cheek and forced myself to read on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elira was born with a degenerative kidney condition. Coincidentally, she was a perfect match with Zara.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Zara underwent a cesarean to deliver Riley, Alaric ordered Elira\u2019s surgery at the same time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The surgeon-already bribed-removed one of Zara\u2019s kidneys during the operation and transplanted it into Elira.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My vision tunneled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So that was why Zara always looked so frail after my \u201creturn\u201d to the pack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why she never had energy. Why she always clutched her lower back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And\u00a0<\/p>\n
every\u00a0<\/p>\n
time I clashed with Scarlett, she would say:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I hadn\u2019t carried you, my body wouldn\u2019t be this broken. Can\u2019t you just get along with her? Must you fight her? Are you trying to kill me from stress?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
No. It wasn\u2019t childbirth that ruined her body.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was the fact that her kidney was ripped out to save her husband\u2019s mistress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:25 Fri, Jan 16 T\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 485\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
And she punished me for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For what?\u00a0<\/p>\n
For being the one who was betrayed?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I let out a bitter laugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A deep, broken sound tore from my chest. It wasn\u2019t amusement. It was despair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Was this fate\u2019s idea of justice?\u00a0<\/p>\n
A cruel kind of irony?\u00a0<\/p>\n
My laughter echoed through the room, a sound no wolf ever wanted to make-too close to a death-howl.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucien stood quietly, his usual icy composure replaced with something like grief.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words came.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Caelum turned his head away, jaw clenched, unable to keep looking at me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Slowly, my laughter died into a hollow sigh.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It carried twenty years of suffering.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
You always told me I was a curse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A debt sent to punish you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was Alaric.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the one who came to collect-your health, your pride, your heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wonder what you\u2019ll feel when you learn the truth:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Your cherished adopted daughter is the product of your husband\u2019s infidelity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That your own kidney keeps your husband\u2019s distress alive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That your beloved mate threw away your child and crowned his bastard as your\u00a0<\/p>\n
heir.\u00a0<\/p>\n
3\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:25 Fri, Jan 16 T\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 485\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes and imagined her face when she found out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The horror. The devastation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I won\u2019t lie-somewhere in my battered heart, I felt satisfaction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wiped away the tears streaming down my cheeks and looked back down at the documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next part made my blood run cold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had always thought the Ebonclaw Pack\u2019s power was built by Alaric\u2019s ambition and strength.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But no.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was nothing more than a gilded parasite. A charming leech.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A low-born wolf who married up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I thought he became ruthless only after his affair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the truth was clear now-\u00a0<\/p>\n
He had always been this monster.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1.0K\u00a0<\/p>\n
W\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joseph King is an editor and storyteller who ensures every chapter is clear, polished, and engaging for readers.<\/p>\n
Midnight Letters by Daniel Crowe 485 Chapter 485\u00a0 Riley\u2019s POV\u00a0 :\u00a0 I took a deep breath, forcing myself to stay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pack-princess"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}