Chapter 182: Can you keep a secret?

Alyssa took a slow step forward, her expression morphing into deep confusion.

"Everything you know?" she repeated. "What are you talking about? What did Elvira do?"

"I swore I wouldn’t tell you," Samantha said harshly. "I was just going to sit back and watch her destroy you and Dorian. It was going to be my revenge against you for ruining my life."

"I didn’t ruin your life, Samantha," Alyssa replied, her voice steady. "At least, not deliberately."

"I was supposed to be Luna," Samantha yelled, her voice cracking with suppressed fury. "I should be in your place right now. I loved Dorian, until you took him away from me."

Alyssa knew she had to handle this matter delicately, seeing that Samantha still carried a lot of unresolved rage inside her.

She turned the key in the lock, securing the door, and settled into one of the leather couches.

"Samantha," she began, lowering her tone. "I didn’t take Dorian away from you. Maybe it’s time you own up to your actions instead of blaming everyone around you."

Samantha still looked furious, her jaw clenched tight, but she remained silent. Those were the same words Alec once told her.

"You pushed him away," Alyssa continued, holding her gaze. "With your arrogance, your coldness, your disrespect. You might have loved him, but your hunger for power overrode that."

"You don’t know anything about me!" Samantha snarled.

"That’s where you’re wrong," Alyssa replied calmly. "I know a lot about you. I’m good at reading people, and you were quite easy to read. From the first time you and I met, you made me the enemy. You tried to hurt me."

"Because you were a threat."

"Maybe I was," Alyssa agreed quietly. "To you, I was a threat. But be honest for once. Your arrogance made you lose Dorian, not me."

Samantha opened her mouth to argue, but to her surprise, the words died in her throat. She couldn’t speak.

"When Dorian found me," Alyssa continued, the memory softening her voice, "I had no idea he was engaged to marry you. And when I found out, I was going to leave."

Samantha turned sharply at that. She glared at Alyssa through a blurry wall of tears, a look of grim disbelief washing over her features.

"You were going to leave?"

"Yes," Alyssa nodded. "I was going to leave him. I realized I ruined what you had with him, and my presence only made things worse. But he asked me to marry him, and he searched for me for years..."

"I know that," Samantha muttered, looking away. "The whole of Wintercrest knows he looked for you for three years."

Alyssa chuckled dryly and shook her head. "It’s funny how he never found me in Gerald’s harem. But what I’m trying to say is, Dorian said he didn’t want the alliance anymore. And your attitude towards me only made him push you away entirely."

She let out a deep sigh and gestured helplessly with her hands. "I’m sorry I ruined your life, Samantha. If I could make amends, I would. But I really need your help. I know Elvira had something to do with the potion. I just can’t prove it. Tell me everything you know about her. What did she do?"

Samantha hesitated for several long seconds. She had vowed that she wouldn’t reveal any of Elvira’s plans to Alyssa or Dorian. But seeing how Elvira openly accused her a moment ago, she knew she couldn’t keep it to herself anymore.

"Fine," she said, her voice dropping. "I will tell you. I don’t care if you don’t believe me..."

"I’ll believe you," Alyssa assured her. "A moment ago, I told everyone I trusted you. That’s proof enough that I’ll believe you. But don’t lie to me, Samantha. Just tell me the truth. I want us to be allies."

Samantha regarded her in silence for a short moment before exhaling deeply. "Elvira’s return wasn’t a mere coincidence," she began. "It’s all a carefully laid out plan."

For the next half hour, Samantha narrated all she knew so far about Elvira; all the secrets she had uncovered, the information she had eavesdropped on.

When she finished, she expected Alyssa to storm out of the Conclave and bring down the gates of hell on Elvira. But none of that happened.

Instead, Alyssa looked calm. Too calm, it was almost eerie. Her blue eyes darkened just a shade, as if a dangerous thought had taken root in her mind.

"I should have known," she muttered under her breath. "All this time, I should have known."

"What are you talking about?" Samantha questioned, her brow furrowing.

"It all makes sense now," Alyssa said. She looked up at Samantha, her lips curling into a faint, calculating smile. "Can you do something for me, Samantha? Can you keep a secret?"

Samantha took a step back in surprise. "Are you crazy? I expected you to rush out of here and tell Dorian everything."

"I will tell him," Alyssa maintained. "Eventually. But it can’t be now, because Elvira will find a way to twist it. Dorian already thinks you’re responsible for the potion. If you try to attack Elvira now with what you just told me, he would assume you’re doing it to save your own neck."

"Mhhm," Samantha hummed, staring at Alyssa with reluctant admiration. "I guess you’re right. So what will you do with everything I just told you?"

"Nothing," Alyssa said calmly. "You and I will do nothing. Right now, Elvira is probably in a state of panic because she fears you’ll tell me everything. She will be expecting a reaction from me. When I don’t react, it will make her confused, and desperate. She will try to strike again, and that’s when she’ll slip up."

Samantha slowly shook her head. "Wow. I always saw you as a weak, immature girl. I never thought you had it in you."

Instead of getting offended, Alyssa just smiled coldly. "I’ve gone through a lot of hell, and I have the scars to show for it. Literally. I grew a backbone and a tough shell with every trauma."

Samantha lowered her eyes, realization washing over her that she was part of the cause of the trauma Alyssa had gone through.

"I’m sorry I tried to kill you," she blurted abruptly. "I know it’s late for an apology, and it’s lame. But I realize you really did nothing to me. I was just fueled by my father’s rage."

Alyssa had the sudden urge to give the blonde woman a hug, but she knew Samantha would just push her away. So she refrained from it.

"How about we forget everything, and start all over on a clean slate," she murmured. "We don’t have to be friends. We don’t even have to like each other. But at least we won’t be enemies."

Samantha nodded curtly. "Yeah. That would be... nice, I guess."

"Thank you," Alyssa nodded respectfully. "Here’s what we’re going to do. I need you to keep an eye on Elvira. Discreetly, of course. She can’t know we’re watching her. I want to gather enough evidence against her before I expose her."

"That won’t be hard," Samantha muttered. "Though I still don’t know why you won’t just tell Dorian."

"I have my reasons, Samantha. If Elvira is working with Conri like you say, I need all the evidence I can get. Conri is one of the most powerful men in the family. I can’t accuse him of working with Elvira without concrete proof."

"I understand," Samantha nodded. "I’ll keep an eye on her."

"Thank you. I’m choosing to trust you fully. I hope you don’t betray me."

"If I wanted to betray you, I would have done that a long time ago."

Alyssa’s lips curled into a cold smile. She was gambling with luck, and she knew it. She was taking a big risk by trusting the woman who once tried to have her killed.

But grief had a way of changing people for the better, and Alyssa was ready to bank on it that Samantha would turn out to be the perfect ally.