CHAPTER 350: _ EVIL AMONGST US

My vision was blurry. My breath came in haggard pauses, and it felt like I would cease to exist at any moment. No amount of physical pain could compare to the ache I was feeling in my chest.

Even when I tried desperately to deny the sight in front of me, nothing changed. My mother remained seated on the chair, her eyes frozen with disbelief, shock, and terror.

My mother. The woman who had stuck desperately by my side despite how much I denied her. The woman who struggled every day in her own home. The woman who suffered in silence. The woman who was there for me when I was at my lowest, and the woman who supported me till the very end.

My mother— that woman, was gone from my life now. I would never feel her warm embrace again. I would never see her radiant smile again.

I would never be able to grumble at her unrelenting talks of wisdom.

My mother... was dead?

It felt like my entire world simply vanished without a trace. If there was a canvas with a beautiful drawing on it, then that drawing had simply been erased. It would never be brought back.

"What?" That was the only word that escaped my lips.

My eyes were still furrowed in confusion, disbelief, and... guilt.

Was it because I left the villa? Had the murderer taken the opportunity to strike because I wasn’t home?

The murderer... who was it?

I felt a cold palm on my shoulder.

"Don’t touch me!" I yelled as I recoiled furiously. I outstretched my hands with murderous intent, before finally snapping back to my senses. A maid stood in front of me, shaken by my intense reaction.

Now that I looked around, several maids had gathered in the hallway. Some were on their knees in tears, others looked on dejectedly. We all stood there like sorrow’s finest piece.

Why were they crying?

"What’s going on?" I muttered in confusion.

"I’m sorry.." The maid whimpered. "I’m so sorry, Señor Axel..."

Why was this maid apologizing to me? I frowned and turned my head. Then I saw my mother’s corpse and it dawned on me once again.

So it wasn’t a terrible nightmare..

I rose to my feet and walked forward in a daze. My body was working fine, yet I remained hollow. It was like the engine of a vehicle had been ripped off. My heart was broken, and there was no way to possibly mend it.

"Where is she?!" I heard Álvaro’s bellow behind me. He rushed forward and crashed in front of his mother, next to me.

"Mother! Mother! No, wake up, por favor! Tell me this is a terrible joke!"

I glanced down at him.

Right...

Despite Álvaro’s terrible personality, deep down, he also cared for his mother. In his own twisted way, anyway. Everyone in the villa did. Mother was the single thread that held the family together whenever things went up in flames. She was the one who tried to play the mediator, yet was mistreated by both sides.

Still, she carried on, silently pulling everyone together whenever she could.

She was the glue that kept the Montenegro family from falling apart.

She was my mother. And I loved her.

In truth, she was everyone’s mother. Mine, Álvaro’s, Luis’s, María José’s... she treated everyone like her own.

And now she is gone.

It was strange. At first, I felt extreme shock and pain. Now, all I felt was an emptiness that couldn’t be described with words. All that remained of Axel Montenegro was a shell. An empty husk.

And that annoying sensation in my left hand.

I scowled. My left hand was tightly clutching something, and my fingers were starting to ache. I wanted to throw whatever I was holding aside, but then I saw it from the corner of my eye.

It was a locket. The locket Lucia had handed to me.

It was the locket that could sense nearby malicious intent.

My brows knitted into a frown. Hadn’t this locket reacted just a while back? Where had I been earlier?

My forehead ached when I tried to think, and I was about to toss the matter aside, when Hugo’s pain-laden voice resounded in my head, "No, Axel. Keep thinking. Don’t you dare let go of that thought, compa."

What?

What the hell was my wolf talking about?

Right... the locket. It reacted earlier. I think I was about to knock on Luis’s door when it did.

What does that mean? Someone was in Luis’s room? Is it the murderer? Is the murderer hiding in Luis’s room? Oh no! What if the murderer moved on to kill Luis too?!

"Axel." Hugo’s chilling voice sounded once more. "Don’t you fucking do it! Don’t you dare ignore what is right in front of you, carajo!"

What are you talking about? I frowned.

Luis could be in trouble. I needed to save him! I needed to save Luis...

Luis.

My eyes slowly narrowed.

Back then, when the shapeshifter first appeared in our lives, I had guessed that whoever it was, was hiding in Luis’s room. That was the only way the person could’ve known about the things I had spoken about to Luis alone.

The shapeshifter seemed to know an awful lot about me. And that was why he could pretend to be me with flawless ease. The shapeshifter later revealed himself as Mateo, but that had merely been a cover for his true self. Because the shapeshifter—the demon—was in fact, Ignacio.

Ignacio snuck back into our lives and was able to fool everyone for so long.

He was able to fool everyone because he knew a lot about every single one of us...

And he knew a lot about us because he had been with us from the very start.

"Do you understand now?" Hugo said.

When Ignacio blew his cover, thanks to Lucia’s interference, he disappeared. And when he did, someone else appeared in our lives. No, not someone new. It was someone who had been with us from the very beginning. Someone we had overlooked.

The demon had been living among us from the very beginning.

My eyes suddenly turned bloodshot, and I spun around with fury boiling in my veins.

"LUIS, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"