<h4>Chapter 598: 598-Forever Toxic</h4>


    <strong>Charlotte:</strong>


    "Stop crying now," I rolled my eyes at my mother, who had been sitting on my bed and tearing up ever since she walked into my room.


    "Mom, just calm down. So what if you apologized? You were wrong too for using Emmet. Just tell me something —-did you really think Hnie said Emmet was assaulting her?" I asked, because I didn’t get to speak to my mother about the whole mess that she became a part of.


    She sniffled and cleaned her nose, her hands rubbed together in herp, and I knew instantly she had lied.


    "That was a wrong move," I said, finishing up my makeup, more specifically, finishing up my eye makeup to hide the swollen eyes and the bags under them.


    I haven’t been able to rest ever since Maximus transitioned. I know he’s in the basement, and my heart ached that they weren’t letting me walk downstairs to see him.


    However, even if I couldn’t see him, I would give him my blood to help him somehow. I’ve told Norman to let me know when to do that. Since Maximus was now in his beastly transition, he wouldn’t be drinking directly from someone. So we’ll have to give him blood in a bowl or something.


    "Mother, calm down," I sat down with her and rested my head on her shoulder.


    "How could I? You are also Team Hnie now. All you do is defend her, even when she’s stealing the brothers’ attention left and right," my mother tried to shrug my head off, but I wrapped my arm around her shoulders even tighter.


    "You’re not wrong though." As soon as I said that, she turned to me and I had to lift my head from her shoulder to look her in the eyes.


    "You know?" my mother scoffed. "You act like you’re unaware."


    I sighed and held her hand between my hands, "That’s because I thought that would help. That day when Romeo died, I watched Jessicae and meet Hnie like they were friends. I realized if I needed to guilt-trip Hnie, I had to befriend her first. At this point, isn’t it obvious that we can’t hurt her directly? We have to act like we’re her friends."


    My mother’s eyes started to widen in shock when she heard me finally tell her my true ns.


    It was true. I didn’t even sleep overnight and felt so guilty for treating Hnie wrong. I learned from Jessica’s situation. I wanted to make Hnie feel bad for getting close to Maximus, but things were different for me and Jessica. With Jessica, Norman had an engagement — yet it didn’t stop Hnie from stealing him.


    "So that’s what it was. No wonder I couldn’t help but see you stare at Hnie with that strange look of anger whenever nobody was looking."


    Of course, she was my mother. She knew me well.


    "Mother, we just have to change our ns. Be nice for now. And yes, I’m aware my n didn’t work either. Jessica got her mate stolen. Hnie is no one’s friend. There’s no amount of guilt that would make her choose others’ happiness over hers. But I’m nning something big — something so big that it will change our lives forever," I smirked as I stared into the distance.


    "You must tell Lady Darcy this. She was so upset with youst time," my mother excitedly sat up in the bed, finally smiling now that she knew she wasn’t alone in fighting against Hnie.


    "Mom, she knew. That whole yelling back and forth was her idea. We knew Hnie would hear us or someone else would and tell Hnie about it. That’s why we kept the door open," I leaned in to smile teasingly at my mother’s face before pulling back.


    "All the while we were nning something else." I had hit rock bottom when I found out Hnie had been epted by Norman. At that time, I realized she had bagged the big fish.


    The guy who controlled everything and I knew at that moment she would ruin it for me too. Maximus was still head over heels in love with her.


    I sometimes had a bad feeling about Maximus’ mate in the woods as well. What if she shows up? So Darcy and I nned something epic. We wanted Jessica to get on board with our n, but it was hard.


    She was too righteous.


    She loved Norman, but not enough to fight for him, to take drastic steps for him.


    "I will go see Emmet for a moment," the minute I said that and got up from the bed, my mother held my hand and gave me a look, warning me not to go see him.


    "That asshole is the reason I was ashamed," my mother hissed.


    "And he is the reason you stayed in the mansion. Don’t forget, he forgave you. And I’m not meeting him because I trust him or anything. I just need to find out where he stands with Hnie. The two haven’t been talking much, so maybe he doesn’t like her either. I just have to snoop around a bit," I freed my hand from my mother’s grasp and then carried my bag over my shoulder before leaving for Emmet’s room.


    Walking through the passage was hard. I could get caught.


    But thankfully, no one was focusing on this area anymore. The brothers were usually in Norman’s room or office, cooking something.


    I gently pushed the door open and walked in, finding books and research papers scattered around.


    I stayed there for a while but didn’t find anything useful. While walking back to my room, I got a call from Darcy.


    "So? How’s it going?" she asked me, sounding curious.


    "Well so far. The brothers are having a meeting," I said.


    "Yeah, I know. If my calctions are right, I know who Maximus’s mate is. I’ve started the fire and the mate wille out from the smoke herself."


    There was a wickedugh she always let out that made my heart beat faster. But I never told her that.


    "Great. My job here is done too." I smirked, remembering how I fooled Hnie into thinking that just like Jessica I’m also on her side.