Chapter 229 Embarrassing herself

Chapter 229: Chapter 229 Embarrassing herself

_Rowena’s POV_

The council hall of the Ebonmoon Pack was packed to the max on the day of the meeting.

High-ranking nobles, pack elders, and military generals sat in rows of mahogany seats, whispering eagerly among themselves.

I sat near the front of the hall, resting comfortably in a black wheelchair with my left leg propped up. Ezekiel stood casually behind my chair, leaning over to whisper sarcastic stuff into my ear every two minutes, while Kyle stood a few feet away monitoring my ankle’s resting state.

At the head of the chamber, sitting high on the Alpha King’s throne, was Alaric. He looked terrifyingly calm and handsome in his outfit.

But there was only one major problem.

The accused central figure, Brielle herself, was nowhere to be found.

Her father, Mr. Logan, stood alone in the center of the floor, looking pale, exhausted, and tired. But beside him, instead of a composed noblewoman, was his wife.

She looked like she would pass out or something.

She was pacing back and forth across the room, clutching a handkerchief against her chest, her loud, breathless sobs filling the room.

"Where is my sweet, innocent girl?!" she shrieked, her voice reaching a high pitch, making people cover their ears. "Where is my Brielle?! She has been missing since early this morning! Her bed was empty, her car was gone, and her phone went straight to voicemail!"

Alaric didn’t even blink at her drama; he simply leaned his elbow on the armrest of his throne, resting his chin against his knuckles as he stared down at her with cold eyes.

"Mrs. Logan," Alaric spoke, "Your daughter was summoned by official royal decree to answer for her fraudulent actions at the hospital. Her sudden absence will be treated as an admission of guilt and an act of treason against this council."

"Treason?!" Mrs. Logan gasped dramatically, stumbling backward as if she had just been struck by lightning. She grabbed her husband’s arm for support, though Mr. Logan looked far too embarrassed to even look her in the eye.

"How can you say such cruel, cold-hearted words, Alaric?!" She wept hysterically, waving her handkerchief in the air toward the throne. "Have you forgotten everything?! Have you forgotten that your mother and I were best friends?! We drank tea together! We planned your childhood birthday parties together! I held you in my arms when you were just a little pup!"

Behind my wheelchair, Ezekiel let out a low, muffled snort of laughter. "Oh, classic move," he whispered to me. "When caught red-handed, pull out the dead mother card. Ten out of ten."

"Be quiet, Ezekiel," I muttered under my breath, though a small, sarcastic smirk touched my lips as I watched the disaster unfold.

"Your mother would be rolling in her grave if she saw how you are treating us today!" Mrs. Logan continued, her voice rising to a screech as she pointed her finger at him. "My poor, fragile Brielle is out there somewhere, alone, terrified, and heartbroken because of the lies spread by this woman! Alaric, and to think you both shared a night, you took advantage of Brielle, and now she’s missing.”

She turned her bloodshot eyes toward me, glaring at my wheelchair with pure venom.

“What?” Ezekiel muttered, but loud enough for me to hear.

"She has corrupted your mind, Alaric!" Mrs. Logan cried, taking three staggering steps toward my side of the room. "Brielle is the victim here! She was framed! She is your companion, your rightful equal! You have to stop this ridiculous trial right now and deploy the entire guard to find my daughter before something terrible happens to her!"

Alaric didn’t move a single muscle. The coldness in his eyes grew even darker, his Alpha aura flaring up just enough to make the air in the room drop several degrees.

"My mother valued honor, integrity, and truth," Alaric stated. "She would have stripped your family of their noble title the very moment your daughter put my aunt Kristy’s life in danger with a fake prototype. Your past friendship with my mother does not grant your family immunity from treason."

Mrs. Logan stared at Alaric, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Seeing that her emotional manipulation, guilt tripping, and dramatic tears were having zero effect on the Alpha King, her face went through a series of expressions.

She let out a loud gasp, clutching her throat with both hands.

"My... my heart..." she squeaked out, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. "I... I can’t breathe! The shock... the cruelty..."

Slowly, she collapsed straight onto the floor.

The entire hall fell into a brief, awkward silence.

Mr. Logan dropped to his knees beside her, patting her cheek with a deeply exasperated, embarrassed sigh. "Martha... Martha, wake up..."

Behind my chair, Kyle took a slow step forward, looking down at the collapsed woman with a professional eye. He pulled his penlight from his pocket, clicked it on, and leaned over her.

"Is she alright, Dr. Kyle?"

Kyle checked her pulse for two seconds, flashed the light over her closed eyelids, and stood back up with a completely unbothered, amused expression.

"Her pulse is seventy-two beats per minute, her breathing is perfectly okay, and her eyelid reflexes are fully active," Kyle announced clearly to the entire room, his baritone voice echoing through the hall. "Physically speaking, Mrs. Logan has merely executed a textbook fainting. She will recover instantly the moment she realizes no one is buying it."

A wave of suppressed laughter instantly erupted across the room.

Mrs. Logan’s eyes snapped wide open at his words; that woman just couldn’t stop shaking herself. It was pathetic.

Her face turned a violent shade of red as she realized her performance had been completely dismantled in front of the entire pack elite.

"You... you insolent doctor!" Mrs. Logan shrieked, scrambling up from the floor.

"That’s enough!" Alaric yelled.

He stood up from his chair, looking down at the disgraced Logan parents with a gaze of pure disgust.

"Since Dr. Brielle has fled her summons," Alaric declared loudly, "the council hereby strips the Logan family of their seats on the medical board, freezes their primary commercial accounts, and places their estate under oversight until Brielle surrenders to the guards."

When he turned his dark eyes toward me, his cold expression instantly softened into a look of warmth.