<h4>Chapter 475: 475-Something Broke Between Us</h4>


    <strong>Ian:</strong>


    I was with my father when Troy started blowing up my phone. I had to put everything on hold because I was anxious to know if they found out anything about Clementine.


    "Hello?" I asked Troy, getting up from the bed and moving toward the window.


    "Dude, we reached the address, but it seems like someone else did before us," he replied.


    My frown deepened.


    "What do you mean?" I asked.


    "There were only dead bodies. Clementine was not there. In fact there is no trace of her ever being here."


    The moment he said that, I grunted and punched the wall beside me.


    "Then we keep looking," I hissed.


    As soon as I ended the call, I turned around and saw my father staring at me.


    "Let’s find Clementine," my father said firmly, wiping the tears from his cheeks as he stood up. "I will do anything to have her back in your life."


    The moment he said that, it hit me hard.


    As I stepped out of the room, I called Troy and Haiden again.


    "Hello, Troy. Both of you need toe and see me outside the academy," I told them.


    I knew they would usuallye immediately when Clementine was involved, so it surprised me when I noticed some hesitation.


    "Could it wait for a minute? I mean, I’m kind of near my pack, and I have to go inside, speak to everyone, and exin things to them about why I left so suddenly," Troy excused.


    Haiden added something simr.


    "Yeah, sure, we can wait, but I want you toe quickly. We cannot waste any more time," I warned them.


    They were on a conference call with me.


    "Yeah, sure. Don’t worry. We will be there," Haiden replied, confirming.


    I knew that stepping out of the mansion to meet Troy and Haiden, along with my father, was going to make them anxious, but we did not have another choice. So I decided to take my father with me.


    Once we arrived outside the academy, on the road where we used to wait for the cars to pick us up for the train station, Troy and Haiden arrived. It took them a few hours since they had to deal with their own issues back home or wherever they were.


    When they arrived, they looked at my father and then at me, as if hinting that they were unsure whether I truly trusted him.


    "It’s okay, guys. He’s helping us find Clementine," I reassured them, though they still gave my father a quizzical look.


    I understood that they had unresolved emotions toward my father. They did not know the whole truth. I did.


    "So did you go and look for Clementine?" I asked, mentioning Nook’s ce.


    "Yeah, it was chaos," Haiden exined. "There were dead bodies everywhere, almost as if someone had attacked them. And there were signs that maybe Clementine had been there."


    He then shared something they had not told me during the call.


    "But you said there were no signs of her," I replied in annoyance.


    "Yeah, but we wanted to tell you when we met up," Troy snapped.


    Haiden gave him a look, and I could tell it had been Troy’s idea not to tell me earlier, though Haiden ended up doing it.


    "Okay, from now on, we will not hide anything from each other," I warned them. "If we want to find her, none of us can lie. We all need to stay focused."


    "Whatever," Troy muttered, rolling his eyes. It was clear he did not want to work with us on this n, but he did not have much of a choice. Staying with us gave him more benefit than going alone.


    "Anyway, how do you know there were traces of her?" I asked Haiden, letting Troy cool off for now.


    "Well, there were silver chains in one of the rooms," Haiden replied, "and there was a wedding gown."


    The moment he said that, my heart jumped and lodged in my throat.


    "That asshole. Isn’t Nook like an old man?" I grunted, clenching my fist.


    "Wait, did you say Nook?" my father intervened, noticing something in our conversation.


    "Yeah. That is where we heard she might have been, because that man paid arge amount to council leaders for some reason," Troy exined to my father.


    I noticed my father’s face tighten.


    At the same time, Troy kept receiving calls from someone, and he kept shutting them down.


    "And did you see Nook’s dead body?" My father questioned Troy and Haiden.


    The two looked at each other, then shook their heads.


    "No, but we assumed he might be dead," Haiden replied and my father grunted.


    "You know who else Nook has been rted to?" He paused, watching our faces before he finished, "Clementine’s father."


    "So basically, he’s a fucking creepy old man that I will kill the minute I get my hands on him," Imented as anger rushed through my veins.


    It felt as if I had matured so much after meeting Clementine. I felt a responsibility to take care of my mate, the one who had been carrying the weight of the world until now.


    "That asshole," Haiden grunted, mentioning Nook, while Troy wore the same disgusted expression.


    "Father, do you know more about him?" I asked and my father nodded confidently.


    "There is another friend of his," my father remarked as he looked straight into Haiden’s eyes.


    Haiden’s posture stiffened.


    "I swear I’m not friends with him," Haiden replied quickly.


    My father pped his forehead.


    "No, not you," my father snapped.


    Before Haiden could rx, my father continued.


    "Your uncle. If anyone knows something about him, it has to be your uncle," he finished, leaving the room silent.


    "Well, then it is time that we go and press that sucker for some information," Haiden announced, watching all our faces.


    Finally, it seemed like we were all on board and working together to look for Clementine.


    I wished we would find her soon, because something told me that the connection I had been feeling with Clementine had suddenly broken.