Chapter 873

Baxter:

I laughed, and she joined me with a broken laugh, trying to cherish the moment we

had together.

“This is all I could manage right now. I couldn’t exactly bring an expensive bottle of wine with me. With the little I managed to steal away, I could only make you something simple.”

The moment I said that, my mother wrapped both hands around the glass.

“This is more than enough for me,” she said. “I’ll drink this. I would drink anything with my son, even if it were poison.”

Her words made my eyes water.

But I thought this was right.

My mother was restless. She was lost.

She desperately needed to rest.

“After you died, I took very good care of your son. I still keep him with me, while your wife ran away.”

We had barely settled into the moment before my mother once again began trying to poison my heart against Madeline.

“Forget about her. I didn’t come here to talk about her. If I had come back for her, I would be with her right now.”

At my words, a bright smile spread across my mother’s face.

Even now, she had no regret.

“Cheers,” I said.

She immediately reached out, and our glasses clinked.

“Will you leave after this? I don’t know how I’ll live without you,” she cried before taking another sip.

I took a sip from my own glass. It looked exactly like hers, but what was inside mine was completely different.

“You’ll have to live with the memory of me. I’ll try to come see you from time to time.”

As she listened, a smile slowly appeared on her face.

She started drinking, making me smile at her as I drank with her.

She began complaining about everything, telling me how much Madeline annoyed her and how my father had passed away.

Hearing about my father was the only thing that made me emotional, and why wouldn’t it? My father was a good man. He did not deserve to die like that.

Finally, she finished her drink.

She put the glass down and smiled at me.

“We’re going to be in power again,” my mother said.

I returned her smile.

“What do you mean by ‘we’?” I questioned.

“It’s an unfortunate alliance I made. With Madeline’s ex-husband,” she explained with a smile, slowly clearing her throat as if the drink was beginning to affect her.

“And you decided to work with him?”

My question slowly wiped the smile from her face.

“I mean, he was willing to help. Your wife ran away,” she said, forcing the smile back onto her lips as if trying to convince me.

“Did you ask Madeline where she went? Or did you just take Bodhi from her, leave her in the middle of a war, and disappear with him?”

The questions made my mother’s eyes widen.

“How do you know about that?” she asked.

“Didn’t you want to kill Madeline, only to end up deciding to kill Yuvonne first?”

As I began listing the things she had done in my absence, my mother’s eyes widened further, gradually filling with tears.

“Baxter, you know…” my mother started, but I pointed at her.

She never knew when to stop, but the drink was already taking effect. One moment she rubbed her chest, the next the back of her neck, and every so often, she coughed.

“The truth is, you betrayed me in the worst possible way. My sister was alive. You believed she was.”

As I pointed at her, her eyes widened.

“Even then, you kept punishing me over and over again. Nonstop.”

I tapped my fingers against the table, and she seemed to understand what was coming.

“I can explain everything,” she said, but another coughing fit seized her before she could continue.

“No. You can’t explain this. And let me tell you something. You failed.”

I hissed the words at her, slamming both hands onto the table as I stood and leaned over her.

She leaned back in her chair, staring at me with nothing but dread in her eyes.

“You failed us, and every one of your plans failed too!” I yelled, pointing a finger at

her.

“You have never spoken to me this way,” she whispered.

I noticed her hands beginning to itch as the skin started peeling away.

Her eyes widened as she stared at her hands, but they widened even more when she looked back at me.

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“The girl you kept raising because you believed my sister’s soul was inside her? Well it turns out my sister had more dignity than you gave her credit for. She never took over that girl’s body. So all this time, you were raising Madeline’s sister.”

My mother’s expression changed at my words.

She wrapped both hands around her neck, then suddenly began slapping herself.

“Wake up. Wake up. Wake up,” she told herself.

“Oh, you’re awake now. But now it’s time to sleep.”

The moment I said that, she pushed herself out of the chair, but before she could take a step away from me, another coughing fit hit her, sending her down onto her knees.

“I was never dead, Mom,” I added.

She tried to get up, desperate to question me, but by then, all her attention had

shifted to what was happening to her body.

She began crawling on her fours until her gaze fell on her fingernails.

She was changing. Transitioning.

She shifted onto one hip and pointed at the glass.

“What did you give me?” she asked.

I squatted in front of her, running my tongue over my lips.

“The same thing you gave Madeline’s father.”

Once again, her eyes widened.

“The monster? Madeline’s father? Rosetta’s father? Oh no.”

Finally, everything was clicking into place for her.

“You became so consumed by hatred that you convinced yourself you were above everyone else. You never even connected the dots. Even after seeing Rosetta you never noticed the resemblance between her and Madeline?”

I laughed, shaking my head.

“But you’re my son. Why would you do this to me?” she asked, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Because before I am your son, I am also an alpha, and I have duties. I am a father.

I am a man. I was a brother. And a husband. And I stand for justice.”

I finished, watching her jaw drop.

“Enough is enough. Now you’re going to transition into the same monster you turned

some poor, innocent person into.”

As soon as I said it, I began backing away.

My mother’s eyes started to bulge as the transformation became visible.

It wasn’t easy for me to watch.

No matter how angry I was with her, it was never easy for a child to watch his mother suffer.

“No, please forgive me. I’ll apologize to Madeline myself. Please,” she cried.

I turned my back on her and walked toward the car.

There was still one more thing I had to do.

One more monster had to be dealt with.