Chapter 151: The Threats
Oliver’s POV
I noticed my main phone vibrating on the nightstand. I reached for it, my fingers trembling. The caller ID flashed her name. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to breathe, and swallowed the raw pain that threatened to choke me. I had to compose myself.
I answered the call, my voice sounding hollow even to my own ears.
"Hello?"
"Oliver?" Her voice came through the line, sounding so sweet, so light, as if she hadn’t just offered her soul to a monster. "Hey, listen... please tell the driver not to wait up for me. I have a lot of things to do at the apartment, and it might take longer than I thought. Once I’m done, I’ll just drive myself back to the packhouse. Okay?"
I closed my eyes, the lie burning me more than the whiskey ever could. She was so calm. So good in her act.
"I understand," I said, my tone flat. "Be careful, Aurora."
"I will. Love you!" she said, and then the line went dead.
I stood there staring at the blank screen. Love you. The words felt like a slap. I didn’t wait a second longer. I opened a mind-link to my driver.
Bring the car back to the estate. Leave her there, I commanded.
As I pulled my mind back, a familiar vibration came from the floor of the safe. I turned back to the dark closet and picked up the Raymond phone. My heart skipped a beat as I read the new message.
Aurora: I’m going to the club. If I don’t see you in the next hour, I’ll fuck another Dom. I mean it, Raymond. Don’t test me.
I ignored the text and walked over to the bed, sinking onto the edge of the mattress. I felt empty. Like there was nothing left inside me. I stared at the wall, my mind racing through a thousand different scenarios.
Maybe I should just tell her the truth. Maybe I should walk into that club, pull off the mask, and tell her that I am Raymond. If she wants him this much—if she is willing to sell her soul for him—then surely she would be happy to know he’s been right here all along? We were both at fault. We were both playing games. Maybe we could just laugh about it and finally be honest.
But the fear stopped me. What if she never forgave me? What if she looked at me with disappointment, realizing that the "mysterious, powerful Dom" was just me? What if she didn’t want the truth? What if she only wanted the fantasy? If I told her, I would lose the only thing keeping us together—the lie.
I kept contemplating, my head in my hands, until the Raymond phone vibrated against my palm. I picked it up, my heart racing.
It was a selfie.
Aurora was in the club. I could see the dim, purple neon lights reflecting off her skin. She was seated on a tall stool at the long bar, looking breathtaking and sexy. She had captioned it: You have forty minutes left.
I frowned, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was only 1 PM. The club shouldn’t even be that busy, yet there she was, hunting in the middle of the day.
I decided to test her one last time. I picked up my official phone and called her. It rang and rang, the sound echoing in the silent bedroom. Finally, she picked up.
"Hello?" she said. The background was silent. No thumping bass, no noises. No voices. She must have rushed to the restroom to answer me, desperate to keep her secret safe.
"I miss you," I said, my voice thick with a fake sweetness that made me want to gag. "I was thinking... should I come over to your apartment? We could just hang out there."
She let out a light, airy laugh. "I’m not home, Oliver. I’m actually on my way to my best friend’s apartment right now. I need to pick something up and have a little talk with her. After that, I’ll be heading straight back to you. Stop missing me, big boy. Find something to do and keep yourself busy."
I stayed silent for a long moment. Her acting skills were terrifyingly good. She sounded so innocent, so normal. I started to wonder... is this the real Aurora? Is the girl I love just a mask she wears for me?
"Okay, baby," I said, my heart breaking into even smaller pieces. "I’ll see you later."
I ended the call and reached for the whiskey bottle again, taking a long, stinging pull. I tried to stay calm. I tried to tell myself she was just bluffing. She wouldn’t actually do it. She was just trying to scare Raymond into showing up.
Then, another text came. Twenty minutes more.
I started to panic. My wolf was pacing, scratching at the walls of my mind, urging me to shift, to run, to stop her. Go! He snarled. She is going to give what belongs to us to a stranger!
"She’s bluffing," I whispered to the empty room, though I didn’t believe it.
Then another message came, and this time, it was a picture that made the whiskey turn my stomach.
In this photo, she was no longer at the bar. She was seated at a low table in a dark corner. Across from her, I could see the lower half of a man’s body—his legs crossed, his expensive slacks sharp in the dim light. She had taken the picture secretly, so he wouldn’t know.
The caption read: Ten minutes left... or it seems I have found a new Dom to fuck me.
I couldn’t take it anymore. The jealousy, the rage, and the terror of losing her to some nameless man snapped something inside me. I couldn’t sit here and wait to see if she was lying.
I stood up, knocking the whiskey glass to the floor. I didn’t care about my decision to kill Raymond. I didn’t care about the implications of showing up again. I just knew that if anyone was going to touch her... it would be me.