All Chapters of The Alpha's executioner: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

ELARA'S POV The drive back felt longer than it should have. I kept checking the rearview mirror, first because I couldn't help it and then because I needed to. The road stretched ahead of me in long ribbons of darkness, the estate still miles away, streetlights flashing across the windshield every few seconds in patterns that made my eyes ache. Behind me, far enough not to draw attention but close enough that I could always find it when I looked, was the same red car. Ronan. For the first time since leaving the restaurant, my heartbeat slowed. Not much. Just enough. The Beta's face kept appearing in my mind anyway. That look. That damn look. Not surprise, not anger, not even jealousy. Just that small, unreadable smirk before he'd turned and walked away as though he'd seen exactly what he expected to see and found it amusing. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and muttered to myself in the dark, "What are you doing?" The question had become a permanent resident in my head. Wh

ELARA'S POV"Elara." Kael's voice was low, too low, and that was somehow worse than shouting. The makeshift security room they had assembled inside the restaurant's private dining area suddenly felt too small, too warm, too crowded. The investigator standing beside the table glanced between us awkwardly before pretending to focus on his notes, and everyone else suddenly found something else to look at. I stepped forward and said, "I need a moment with my husband." Nobody argued, and nobody was stupid enough to try.Kael didn't say anything as he followed me out into the hallway, his silence staying with him the entire walk. The moment we stepped into the hallway, I knew a full-blown lie wouldn't hold, not because Kael had caught me or because he knew about Ronan, but because he was looking at me differently. The look itself was difficult to describe. It wasn't suspicion, not entirely, and it wasn't anger either. Anger was loud and anger burned. This felt colder than that, like someon

ELARA'S POV Not because he had been caught. Not because I had interrupted him. Not because he was afraid. The smile on his face belonged to a man who had expected me. A man who had known I would come. A man who had arranged himself exactly where he wanted to be and was now waiting for everyone else to catch up. For a moment, I couldn't move. My gaze flickered between them. The Beta. Ronan. The Beta. Ronan. As though my mind refused to accept they belonged in the same picture.Ronan's feet barely touched the floor. His fingers were wrapped around the Beta's wrist, not with strength but with desperation. The kind of grip people used when survival became instinct instead of choice. His face had darkened. His eyes were bloodshot. His chest strained against lungs that couldn't seem to find enough air. And the Beta... the Beta looked calm. Almost bored. As though strangling another man inside a hospital room was an inconvenience rather than a crime. Something hot surged through me. Not fea

ELARA'S POV The moment my bedroom door shut behind us, the silence changed.Downstairs, the house had still felt like a home. There had been servants moving through hallways, children laughing somewhere above us, the distant sounds of ordinary life carrying through the walls.Here, there was nothing.Just me.And Kael.The click of the lock echoed through the room like a warning.My pulse immediately quickened.Not because I thought he would hurt me.Because I didn't know what version of him I was standing with.The furious one.The disappointed one.Or the cold one.The cold one was always the worst.I remained near the door while he crossed the room without looking at me. Every movement seemed controlled. Deliberate. The kind of control people only exercised when they were holding something ugly beneath the surface.That scared me more than shouting would have.The hospital gown suddenly felt ridiculous.Humiliating.I wrapped my arms tighter around myself."Kael..."He didn't answ

ELARA'S POVI drove to the hospital with my hands tight on the steering wheel and my mind still stuck on the phone call with Kael, his voice echoing in my head long after the line had gone dead. The streets were dark, the streetlights casting small pools of light on the wet asphalt, and every red light felt like a personal insult when all I wanted was to get to Ronan before anything else went wrong.I parked in the same spot I had used earlier, killed the engine, and sat for a moment listening to the tick of the cooling engine. Then I got out and walked to the entrance, keeping my head down, not wanting to be recognized by anyone who might report back to Kael.The hospital lobby was quieter at this hour, the fluorescent lights humming overhead, the receptionist half-asleep behind the desk. I walked past her without stopping, heading straight for the elevator, but when I reached Ronan's room, the door was open and the bed was empty. The sheets were stripped, the machines were gone, an