Chapter 5 The Murder That Changes Everything

SELENE’S POV

“An Alpha has been murdered?” I asked as I watched Lucien lower his phone, the urgency in his expression changing the mood of the room instantly. “You just signed a major security agreement with me, and now someone inside your territory has killed an Alpha?”

“Yes, and it happened only minutes ago,” Lucien replied as he gathered the documents. “I need to leave immediately.”

“I’m coming with you,” I said as I reached for my handbag. “If this happened minutes after we signed the agreement, I need to understand exactly what kind of security situation Vale Corporation has just agreed to handle.”

We left Vale Corporation together, and within minutes, we were heading toward the crime scene with a royal security vehicle leading the way. The streets were already filling with patrol cars, and rumors were spreading faster than official information. I watched the city through the window, trying to ignore the growing feeling that something about this murder was painfully familiar.

“Where exactly was Alpha Vance found?” I asked as I turned toward Lucien. “And do you know whether anyone saw the killer?”

“He was found inside his private residence,” Lucien explained as he checked the preliminary report. “His guards were stationed outside, but nobody heard anything until a servant discovered him. There are no confirmed witnesses, and we don't know how the killer entered or left.”

My fingers tightened around my handbag as the uncomfortable feeling in my chest deepened.

Alpha Vance's residence was surrounded by armed guards when we arrived, and the entire property had already been sealed. Investigators moved through the entrance while royal guards kept the growing crowd away from the building. I followed Lucien inside and remained near the doorway while the investigators documented the scene.

Alpha Vance's body lay beside his desk, and the sight immediately made something inside me go cold. A single deep wound crossed his chest, precise and deliberate, while the silver weapon responsible had been left beside the body.

I had seen that kind of wound before.

Seven years ago.

My parents.

“Has anyone identified the weapon yet?” I asked, forcing my voice to remain steady as an investigator photographed the silver blade.

“Not yet,” he replied. “But whoever used it knew exactly where to strike.”

I forced myself to look away, but memories I had spent seven years burying came rushing back. My mother's body on the floor. My father's lifeless eyes. The silver dagger I had pulled from my mother's chest. Blood covering my white dress while everyone looked at me as though I were already guilty.

“Selene, are you all right?” Lucien asked.

“I’m fine,” I answered quickly, straightening my shoulders. “The scene is disturbing, that's all.”

He studied me for a moment, but an investigator called him toward the security station before he could ask anything else.

“The cameras were disabled for exactly seven minutes,” a security officer explained as he approached Lucien with a tablet. “Whoever did this knew the system well enough to create a gap without triggering the emergency alarms.”

“Find out who had access to the system and who knew about the maintenance schedule,” Lucien ordered. “Check every employee, guard and outside contractor.”

I studied the security map and immediately noticed a problem.

“The eastern entrance wasn't used,” I said, pointing toward the map.

Several investigators turned toward me.

“What makes you say that?” Lucien asked as he stepped closer.

“The cameras around that corridor would have caught movement before the blackout,” I explained, tracing the route. “Anyone entering through there would have needed more time than the records allow.”

Lucien studied the map before turning to his investigators.

“Recheck the timeline,” he ordered. “Don't build the investigation around an assumption simply because it appears convenient.”

My team arrived shortly afterward and began reviewing the security records. One of my analysts suddenly pointed toward the building plans.

“There's another entrance here. It's restricted and connects directly to the private wing.”

“That entrance wasn't mentioned in the original report,” I observed. “Who has access to it?”

“Senior household staff and authorized security personnel,” the investigator replied as he searched the database. “But there are no entries showing anyone used it last night.”

“Then check whether someone deleted an entry,” I suggested. “A missing record doesn't necessarily mean nobody entered.”

The investigators searched deeper into the system until one of them suddenly straightened.

“Your Majesty, we recovered a deleted access record,” he announced. “Someone entered through the restricted door at 8:17 p.m., but the identity attached to the access card was removed afterward.”

“Who had administrative access to delete it?” Lucien asked.

“We're still tracing that, but whoever deleted the record had access to the security network.”

“This wasn't a random murder,” he said. “Someone planned their entrance, their timing and their escape.”

“I agree,” I replied, studying the silver weapon sealed inside the evidence bag. “And I don't think the weapon was left behind by accident.”

“If someone wanted this to disappear as an ordinary assassination, they wouldn't have left something so recognizable behind,” I explained. “Someone wanted the investigators to notice the method.”

The words left a chill beneath my skin because I knew exactly what that method represented.

Before anyone could question me further, reporters gathered outside the property. Within an hour, the murder had spread across the kingdom, and the first comparisons to the Blackwood murders appeared on every major news channel.

“Breaking news from Ashcroft territory: Alpha Vance has been found murdered inside his private residence, and investigators have confirmed that a silver weapon was used in the attack,” a reporter announced. “Several sources are already comparing the killing to the infamous Blackwood murders that shook the kingdom seven years ago.”

I froze when I heard my family's name.

Blackwood.

“The similarities are already raising questions,” another reporter continued. “The Blackwood family was murdered using a silver dagger, and tonight's victim appears to have suffered a remarkably similar attack. Authorities have not confirmed whether the cases are connected.”

I turned away from the television, refusing to let anyone see what the report had done to me.

“Ms. Vale, the royal security team has cleared you to leave whenever you're ready,” a guard told me as he approached with my coat. “The investigators may be here for several more hours.”

“I'll be heading back to the hotel now,” I replied as I slipped on my coat.

I walked toward the waiting car, and the sounds of reporters, guards and investigators slowly faded as the driver pulled away.

I leaned against the seat and stared through the window as the city lights passed by. My mind kept returning to the silver weapon, the wound and the deliberate way the killer had left the evidence behind.

Seven years ago, my parents had died under almost identical circumstances, and I had been blamed for their murders.

Now an Alpha was dead, and somehow, the same method had returned.

I tightened my fingers around my handbag and looked at my reflection in the dark window.

“This isn't a coincidence,” I muttered quietly to myself. “Someone brought the past back for a reason, and I'm going to find out who.”