Liam’s POV

​Hearing her voice through the tiny speaker made my knees go weak. I had to grip the edge of the hallway table just to stay standing. Five years. Five years of waking up in the middle of the night mourning for a girl I thought was rotting in the ground.

​"Scarlett," I breathed out. The name felt heavy on my tongue, like a prayer I had repeated thousands of times in the dark. "Where are you? Tell me where you are right now. I’m coming to get you."

​"No, Liam. Don’t come looking for me," she said. Her voice was calm, but there was a sad, tired weight to it. "I didn’t send that painting to the auction so you could hunt me down. I sent it to let you know I am safe. I am alive. But I am not that little girl under the oak tree anymore."

​"I don’t care about the damn painting, Scar!" Leonard shouted, pushing past me to get closer to the phone. Tears were finally running down his angry face. "You fake your death, you let us suffer for five years, and now you call us on a landline telling us not to come? Do you have any idea what you did to us?"

​The line went quiet for a second. We could hear the soft sound of her breathing on the other end.

​"I’m sorry," Scarlett said softly. "But I know about the prophecy, Leonard. That is why I had to leave. If I stayed, you three would have torn yourselves apart trying to decide which one of you would have me. I couldn’t watch the three of you destroy each other because of me."

​I felt a sudden shift in the air behind me. I turned my head slightly and looked at Leo.

​He was standing completely still in a corner. His face was deadly pale, and his hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides. He wasn’t saying a word. He was looking at the phone with an expression of pure terror. He wasn’t just shocked to hear her voice—he looked guilty. He looked like a man waiting for his worst crime to be exposed.

​My wolf growled deep in my chest. Something was wrong with Leo. He was hiding something big, but right now, getting Scarlett back was the only thing that mattered.

​"Scarlett, listen to me," I said, my Alpha tone taking over, thick and commanding. "I don’t care about the prophecy. You are mine.... Tell me where you are, or I swear to God, I will use every single connection in this world to flip this entire world upside down until I find you."

​A soft, bitter laugh came through the speaker.

​"You haven’t changed at all, Liam. Still trying to force the world to do what you want," she murmured. "But I’m not hiding from you men... I’m actually in China... I own a studio there... you can come find me if you want... I’m done hiding..... bye..."

​"Scarlett! Wait! Don’t you dare hang up—" I roared.

​Click.

​The line went dead. The loud, buzzing sound of the dial tone filled the hallway, mocking us.

​Leonard let out a loud, violent scream of pure rage and kicked the hallway table, shattering the wood into splinters. The phone crashed to the floor, the plastic breaking apart.

​I didn’t move. I just stood there, my chest heaving, the sound of her voice echoing in my mind. She was alive. My Scarlett was alive.

​Slowly, I turned around to face Leo. He was still standing there, staring at the broken phone on the floor.

​"Leo," I said, my brow furrowed in suspicion, a cold anger washing over me. "You didn’t seem surprised when she spoke. You didn’t even try to talk to her. Look at me, Leo. What the hell are you hiding?"

​"I am hiding nothing," Leo said. His voice was too flat, too calm compared to the storm Leonard and I were throwing.

​"Don’t lie to me, Leo!" I barked, taking a heavy step toward him. My inner wolf was clawing at my chest, irritated by his quiet behavior. "You looked like you saw a ghost before she even said her name. You didn’t even try to say a word to her. Scarlett is on the phone after five years of thinking she was dead, and you just stand there?"

​"We all react differently, Liam," Leo replied softly, finally shifting his eyes to meet mine. His gaze was cold and guarded, like a wall I couldn’t break through. "You roar and break things. Leonard cries and kicks tables. I get quiet. That is just how I am."

​"No, it’s not just that," Leonard snapped, wiping the tears from his face as he stepped up beside me. He was breathing hard, glaring at our triplet brother. "You look guilty, Leo. Like you knew this was coming."

​I let out a low growl, stepping even closer to Leo, using my Alpha presence to pressure him. The air in the narrow hallway grew heavy and suffocating. "Tell me the truth, Leo. If you know something more, say it right now."

​Leo’s eyes flashed with a hint of irritation. He didn’t back down from my pressure, but he let out a sharp, angry breath.

​"Stop thinking about me and look for a way to get Scarlett," Leo said, his voice turning firm and sharp. He pointed a finger down at the broken floor. "You heard her. She said she is done hiding. She is in China, and she owns an art studio there. Instead of standing here fighting with your own brother, we should be getting the jet ready."

​Before I could say another word, Leo pushed past my shoulder and walked away, his heavy steps echoing down the hall until he disappeared into his room.

​I stared at the empty space where he had been standing. My brow remained furrowed in deep suspicion. He was right about one thing—we needed to find Scarlett immediately—but he was wrong if he thought I was going to let this go. There was a secret hanging over his head, and I could smell the lie from a mile away.