Chapter 573

"The last I saw, she was at the mansion; she wanted to talk to Irene," he replied, though he avoided my eyes. I knew there was more to it, but I didn't have the time to overthink it.

"Take me to the mansion," I said, leaning back in my seat.

'Yes, Alpha," he replied.

It didn't take long to get to the mansion. He parked right outside the door, and I got out without a word. I walked into the mansion and stopped when I saw that Nan was there with Irene and Chester. All three of them looked miserable. They were heading into the parlor but paused when they saw me standing in front of them. Nan's scowl was enough to know that something was seriously wrong.

Chester wrapped an arm around her and pulled her away before she could say or do something she would regret. It was smart of him to make her leave because I wasn't in the mood to play these games.

My daughter stared at me with bloodshot eyes, and it was clear she had been crying.

"What's going on?" I asked her as soon as Nan and Chester were out of the room.

"Funny you should ask," she said, narrowing her eyes at me. "Why are you here?"

"Answer my question, Irene. I'm not in the mood for whatever this is," I told her, rolling my eyes. She was always so dramatic, and I seriously couldn't give a shit about whatever dramatic she was having right now.

"You had weeks to come here and make things right. You had months to tell her how you felt, and still you lied to her," Irene said, her lips pressed in a thin line.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm not an idiot, Dad. I know how you felt about her," Irene said, shaking her head. I could see the disappointment and hurt on her face. "I know you loved her."

I opened my mouth to speak, but she held up her hand, silencing me. No one has ever silenced me like that before, but her words... both my wolf and I relished in them. I realized that Irene was right; I was in love with Judy.

Tears filled Irene's eyes as she stared at me; she could see the moment I realized it, too.

"You broke her, Dad..." she whispered. "You should have come here sooner. You should have tried harder. How could you not call her? How could you not tell her?"

"I needed to deal with Rachel first," I

admitted, my voice coming outnoveldrama

softer than usual. "There's a lot that happened that you don't know about But I wanted to come back to to her with a clean slate, with proof that nothing that was said was true. I didn't want her to ask questions I couldn't answer because it would only break her heart even more."

As I spoke, I realized how true those words were didn't want to hurt Judy by not having real answers to her questions. But now I had answers and proof to go along it. Now I could finally tell hero everything and show her that I'm not the person the media has painted me out to be. Now I'm ready to move forward with whatever these feelings ih had for her are... now I'm ready to love her.

But the look on Irene's face gave me pause. I knew it wouldn't be easy to

tell her that I was in love with that 1

someone as young as Judy; I don't

expect rene to think of her as a

mother, nor do I expect Judy to take on the role of a mother to rene. But I wasn't expecting the pure disappointment and regret on

Irene's face when I finally confessed to having these feelings.

But before I could say anything more, Nan walked in with tears in her eyes.

"It's too late,” she whispered, shaking her head. Chester was trying to get her to return to the parlor, but Nan shrugged him off. "Judy's gone."

My brows dipped low.

"What do you mean she's gone?"

"I mean, she left..." Nan said, her lip trembling. "We don't know what pack she went to. She wouldn't tell us because she feared you'd force the information out of us with your Lycan abilities. But she took a position with an Elite Force, and she moved."

My blood went cold as I looked at my daughter, who was staring at me, her eyes now void of emotions.

"Tell me she's lying," I said, trying hard to keep control of my wolf who was now thrashing inside of me, begging to be released and find the woman he had fallen so deeply in love with.

"I wish I could," Irene murmured. "But Nan is telling the truth, Dad. Judy came here to say goodbye. They dropped her off at the airport a few hours ago. She's gone, and I don't think she's coming back."