<h4>Chapter 65: Chapter 65 The Truth Revealed</h4>


    Cecilia’s pov


    The knock on the door was sharp and insistent.


    I didn’t have to look through the peephole to know who it was—my chest tightened the moment I sensed him.


    Alpha Xavier.


    Harper caught my gaze, her jaw set. Without a word, she reached down and slipped my phone beneath the sofa cushion, her movements brisk, purposeful. The tiny click of the recording app still echoed in my head even after she straightened up.


    "Stay put," she whispered, her eyes flicking to me before she crossed the room.


    I sat rigid on the sofa, heart hammering, every muscle braced.


    When Harper opened the door, Xavier pushed his way inside without hesitation, his presence flooding the apartment like a storm.


    "Cecilia..." His voice carried straight to me, low and raw, his gaze locking on where I sat.


    He took a step forward, and I could feel the weight of it in my chest.


    "I didn’t know about what happened this morning," he said, each word clipped, like they’d been scraped out of him.


    I forced my expression to stay calm, though inside, every nerve was screaming. The recorder was running. That was the only thing keeping me steady.


    "And?" I replied coolly. "What exactly did youe here to say?"


    Xavier sat down beside me on the sofa, his familiar cedar scent washing over me.


    Without hesitation, I rose and moved to sit opposite him, creating a physical barrier between us—just as I’d been creating emotional ones since discovering his betrayal.


    Xavier’s jaw tightened at my rejection, the Alpha in him was clearly displeased by my dismissal.


    "I’ll issue a personal statement tomorrow," he finally said, "exining everything that happened today."


    I arched an eyebrow. "Exin? How exactly do you n to exin this? Will you contradict the false usations your mother fabricated? Or will you admit to your affair with Cici?"


    The silence that followed was heavy with unspoken truths.


    "That kind of ambiguous exnation will only confuse people and generate even more spection," I said, voicing what I knew he was thinking. "You’ve always been brave enough to make mistakes, Xavier, but never brave enough to own them."


    Xavier leaned forward, his posture dominant—a ssic Alpha move designed to intimidate. "If we reconcile, given enough time, those rumors and spections will naturally disappear."


    A coldugh escaped me. "Your affair with Cici isn’t a rumor. The filth your mother tried to smear on my reputation—that’s the rumor. Either tell theplete truth, or say nothing at all."


    My challenge left him speechless. Like most wolves, he was instinctively drawn to protect his reputation and status within the pack.


    Admitting to his betrayal publicly would undermine his standing as Alpha.


    Harper, who had been listening silently, casually interjected, "So, Xavier, from what you’re saying, you’re acknowledging that Luna Dora’s usations against Cecilia this morning werepletely fabricated?"


    Xavier’s dark eyes shifted to her, forest-like and stormy. Something flickered across his face—knowledge he didn’t want to reveal—but he nodded reluctantly. "Yes."


    "Your mother was nearly imprisoned because of Cici’s schemes, yet now she’s speaking in her favor. Don’t you find that strange?" Harper pressed. "Could the Shadow Pack be behind this? Or more specifically, could Cici be orchestrating it all?"


    "Perhaps," he admitted. "It’s all possible. I don’t know."


    "So you’re acknowledging this is the most likely scenario?"


    "...Yes."


    "So to summarize," Harper continued smoothly, "your mistress Cici was publicly shamed because of that airport video that went viral. Seeking revenge and wanting to clear her name, she either threatened or bribed your mother. Together, they fabricated these damaging rumors about Cecilia, using your mother as the mouthpiece to simultaneously clear Cici’s name while smearing Cecilia’s reputation. Is that correct?"


    "...It is," Xavier sighed deeply before raising his hand to stop Harper’s next question. "Counselor Harper, I believe you’ve recorded enough evidence for your purposes."


    Harper’s expression turned sheepish. She’d been caught.


    I wasn’t surprised Xavier had noticed—he wasn’t Blood Moon Pack’s Alpha for nothing. His senses were sharp, his mind equally so. What shocked me was his willingness to be recorded, to provide evidence against his mother and his lover.


    [He’s trying to earn forgiveness.] I studied Xavier, conflicting emotions swirling within me.


    Eight years together, four as secret mates, and this was what remained between us—strategic maneuvers and recorded confessions.


    "Let’s end this, Xavier," I said finally.


    "If we don’t end this properly, Cici will never let go," I continued, meeting his gaze directly. "Today she manipted your mother into ndering me. What will it be tomorrow? The day after? You may not be killing me directly, but I’m dying because of you all the same."


    I took a deep breath, steeling myself. "Whether you truly regret what happened or still have feelings for me, a mistake is a mistake. We can never go back to how things were. What’s the point of the three of us remaining entangled like this?"


    "Once we’re officially done, she’ll have no reason to keeping after me. Whatever happens between you two afterward will have nothing to do with me."


    "Think about it," I finished, my words devoid of emotion.


    Unlike his previous protests, Xavier remained silent. He stayed at Harper’s ce for a long while. When he finally left, he hadn’t stated whether he agreed or still disagreed with the divorce. He only said to contact him if we needed him to make a joint statement.


    Xavier’s unexpected cooperation left Harper and me somewhat bewildered. We’d prepared for a battle and loaded our weapons, only for a key enemy to defect before we’d even fired a shot.


    "What should we do? Still go with the original n?" Harper asked, her expression conflicted. I could tell she was softening toward Xavier, which was why she was deferring the decision to me.


    I sat in contemtion, then nced at the darkening sky outside the window. "I’m hungry. Let’s have dinner first."


    Harper looked at me incredulously. "Really? Food at a time like this?"


    "Yes," I replied simply.


    Harper shook her head, amused despite herself. "Fine. Dinner first."


    ...


    At ten o’clock that night, a pinned reply appeared on the Shadow Pack’s official website, right beneath Luna Dora’s morning statement.


    It was from me—a video response where I confronted the usations head-on.


    The inte exploded instantly.


    Users frantically shared the video, gathering like pack members around a fresh kill, eagerly devouring the drama unfolding between two powerful wolf families.


    In the video, I appeared elegant andposed.


    My voice stayed calm and gentle as I told the story of Xavier and me—how we fell in love, how we faced many challenges to get married, and how Cici eventually came between us.


    My hands stayed folded on the table, steady, even though a part of me wanted to clench them into fists. I kept my tone even, not just for the audience—but for myself. I couldn’t afford to let emotion cloud the facts.


    I didn’t rush to deny Luna Dora’s usations. Instead of being aggressive, I focused on facts that mattered.


    There was no need for shouting or finger-pointing. The truth had more weight than any outrage I could fake.


    I said that Xavier and I met in high school, which made it clear we connected during our teenage years.


    I described the nervous smiles, the shared books, thete-night phone calls—details that painted a picture of young love anyone could believe in.


    I didn’t directly deny the im about a childhood engagement, but I asked a simple question: why would an 18-year-old boy chase after a girl still in elementary school?


    A quietugh slipped from my lips as I posed the question, letting the audience draw their own conclusions. Sometimes, disbelief worked better than denial.


    When I talked about the hard times we went through to get married, I hinted that Luna Dora had never liked me and had always treated me harshly.


    I didn’t need to call her cruel outright. My words were careful, almost reluctant—like someone trying not to speak ill of their inws, but failing. The messagended anyway.


    I also pointed out that the cooperation with the Shadow Pack only started recently. That didn’t match her story that our families had been close enough for an arranged marriage when we were children.


    The timeline didn’t lie, and neither did the dates on the contracts. I let the facts speak where emotions might have been twisted.


    After sharing our story, I presented real evidence to fight back against her lies.


    I took a breath, reached into the folder beside me, andid the truth out piece by piece. No drama, no theatrics—just cold, clear facts.


    I showed chat logs, voice recordings, and photos—solid proof.


    I exined the full truth about the money settlement. It wasn’t ckmail, like she imed. It was a deal we made after she found out her son had been unfaithful.


    The screenshots showed timestamps and signatures. The audio yed her voice, bitter but resigned, agreeing to the terms. It was all there—undeniable.


    As for her usation about me being in a hotel with another man, I revealed that she had deleted the second half of the hallway video.


    But I had the footage showing me leaving through the main entrance just nine minutester.


    My final piece of evidence was Xavier’s own words. He had admitted that his mother’s ims were false.


    His voice, low and tired, yed through the speakers. "She made it up. All of it." That sentence hit harder than any usation I could’ve thrown.


    Even after all that, I chose not to show the worst things I had—like shocking voice recordings and private photos from our bedroom.


    I wanted to protect Xavier’sst bit of dignity.


    It would’ve been easy to burn him with the truth. But I wasn’t here for revenge. I was here for rity.


    Once the truth came out, public opinion exploded again.


    The inte caught fire. Comments flooded in. Some people apologized. Some just watched in silence. But the tide had turned, and this time, it turned in my favor.


    And me? After finishing what had to be done, I went home, packed a small bag, and at eleven that night, I drove away from Denver.