Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

68 Chapter 68

68 Chapter 68

Damien’s POV 1

The silence in the car stretched between us like a taut wire, heavy with implications I wasn’t ready to fully acknowledge. My hands clenched and unclenched on my knees as I struggled to process what Caleb had just told me. Anna hadn’t been my mystery woman- she’d been a desperate hotel cleaning lady trying to sell stolen goods.

“Tell me more about what she looked like that morning,” I said, my voice hoarse with barely controlled emotion. “Her hair color, her build

-anything you can remember.”

Caleb’s brow furrowed in concentration as he stared out at the passing streetlights. “Her hair… it was definitely blonde, just like it is now.

That awful brassy blonde that screams ‘cheap dye job. As for her build…” He shrugged apologetically. “I’m sorry, but I honestly can’t say

for certain. That cleaning uniform was so baggy and shapeless, and she was hunched over, clutching that pendant like her life depended

on it.”

My heart sank even as a terrible hope began to bloom in my chest. Blonde hair. Anna had always been blonde, even five years ago. But

the woman from that night…

Caleb was staring at me with undisguised confusion, his brow furrowed as he tried to piece together what he’d witnessed tonight.

“Damien, I have to ask,” he said carefully, “why would you hire someone like Anna as your assistant? I mean, from what I saw tonight, she

doesn’t exactly seem… qualified for a position in a major corporation.”

I ran a hand through my hair, suddenly feeling the weight of my mistakes pressing down on me. “You’re right. Under normal

circumstances, I wouldn’t let Anna within a hundred feet of my company, let alone give her access to sensitive corporate information.”

Then why did you?”

The question hung in the air between us, and I found myself staring out at the passing city lights as I struggled to find the words to

explain five years of desperate searching and mounting frustration.

“Because she had something that belonged to me,” I said finally. “That pendant.”

I leaned back against the seat, the familiar ache of longing settling into my chest. “A few weeks ago, Anna showed up at my office lobby,

screaming about being my lover and waving my pendant around like some kind of trophy. She claimed she was the woman from that

been looking

“And you believed her?”

in Caleb’s voice made me wince. “I wanted to believe her. God help me,

made you

I shuddered slightly. “Anna smells like cheap perfume and desperation. The woman from that night smelled like spring flowers and something uniquely her

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68 Chapter 68

was with had dark hair,” I said quietly, more to myself than to Caleb.

between my fingers.”

with certainty. “Trust

for

Caleb said with certainty. “Trust me, there’s no way someone

blonde for natural

a tidal wave. I’d been wrong. Completely, utterly wrong. For weeks, I’d believed Anna was the woman from that magical night, my potential mate. I’d given her a job, based

decided to call Lucas. The beta answered on the

sleep.

you have any idea what time

I need you to do something for me,” I said without preamble, my voice carrying the alpha authority that

someone to recover the security footage from the Moonlight Grand Hotel from five years ago.

fifteenth, specifically.”

as he came fully awake. “Damien, that’s from five years ago. You have checked that

and even if they do, the quality might

care about the difficulties,” I interrupted, my grip tightening on the phone. “Use whatever resources

favors we have. I need

the pendant again, isn’t

word came out raw, stripped of any pretense. “I think I’ve been

some calls tonight,” Lucas promised. “But Damien… even if we find something,

intact and useful are-”

it,” I said firmly.

ended the call and slumped back against the leather seat. Beside me, Caleb was watching me with

for,” Caleb said carefully, “what was

the thousandth time. But now, instead of the bitter disappointment that usually accompanied these memories, I felt something

beautiful,” I said softly, my voice barely above a whisper. “The most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She had these incredible emerald green eyes-not just green, but this deep, vibrant shade

dim light, and

find Caleb watching me

to the subject despite the ache in my

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