Caught by the Mad Alpha King-Chapter 352: Truths (2)

Chris was informed that Andrew had arrived with his new fiancée.

He already knew the basics. The Black family had a contract with Andrew. Milo picked the match. Andrew would sign, smile, and do what he had to do, because that was what Andrew did when he decided something was necessary.

Andrew seemed fine with it. Chris had even believed he was fine with it... fine in the way a man could be fine while swallowing glass.

But when the staff added, almost casually, that the woman with him was a LaRosa, something in Chris’s chest tightened anyway.

LaRosa meant sharp money, sharper connections, and a family that didn’t do kindness unless it came with intent.

So Chris braced himself for "tolerating."

He did not brace himself for Andrew... liking her.

Because the moment they walked into the west drawing room, Andrew looked at Beth like he was constantly catching up to his own luck and resenting himself for noticing. Beth looked composed, elegant, and mildly amused, like she’d agreed to the engagement and then immediately started drafting contingency plans for his entire bloodline.

Chris kept his face neutral, because he was not going to give Andrew the satisfaction of seeing him entertained.

But inside, he was almost laughing.

He had never seen his brother so flustered around a woman. Not even close.

His amusement didn’t last too long.

"Christopher," Andrew said, and the room shifted.

Chris’s spine went a fraction straighter. Andrew used his full name only when the world was about to get ugly.

Chris blinked, slow. "What did I do?"

"Nothing," Andrew huffed, and Beth barely hid her grin behind her wine glass. "This is..." he paused like he hated the phrasing, "a wedding gift for me from Beth. You should know about it."

He slid a cream envelope onto the table.

Chris looked at it. Then at Beth. Then back at Andrew.

With mock seriousness, he asked, "You bribed him to run away before the wedding, didn’t you? I know he can be a stuck-up bitch, but he’s mostly a decent guy."

"What the fuck, Chris?" Andrew snapped, immediate.

Beth’s shoulders moved with a quiet, controlled laugh. "That’s not what I bribed him for."

Chris leaned back, eyes narrowing. "So you did bribe him."

Beth lifted her glass slightly. "I prefer ’provided leverage.’"

Andrew dragged a hand down his face like he was trying to keep the day from becoming a circus. "Just... open it."

Chris stared at the envelope a beat longer than necessary.

Then he took it, pulled the pages out and started reading.

He read quickly, like someone who had learned, very young, to scan for the line that would hurt.

First paragraph: name, date, formal language. Decorative, boring, safe.

Then the clause that mattered.

Chris’s eyes stopped.

His thumb pressed harder into the paper without him noticing.

He read it again.

And then again, slower, as if the ink might rearrange itself into something less inconvenient if he stared long enough.

Across the table, Andrew didn’t speak. He just watched Chris with that careful stillness he got when he expected impact.

Beth said nothing either. She let Chris have the moment in his own head.

Chris lowered the pages slightly and looked at Andrew.

His voice came out too calm. "This says Claude is the heir."

Andrew nodded once. "Yes."

Chris’s gaze sharpened. "Not Adonis."

"Not Adonis," Andrew confirmed.

Chris’s mouth tightened.

It wasn’t surprise, exactly. Not after everything Adonis had been insinuating, not after the way he moved like someone who believed he had inevitability on his side. But seeing it on paper was different. Seeing it written cleanly, sealed cleanly, executed cleanly...

It made the lies around it easier to spot. Which meant someone had been lying on purpose for a long time. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Chris’s fingers adjusted on the pages like he was holding something fragile.

"Where was this," he asked.

Andrew exhaled. "Hidden. I didn’t even know it existed until Beth put it in my hand."

Chris’s eyes flicked to Beth. "How did you get it."

Beth’s expression stayed even. "In my family, old documents don’t disappear. They get moved. Filed. Refiled. Stored under someone else’s name. I found the trail and followed it."

Chris stared at her for a beat, then said, dry, "That’s a very polite way to say you robbed someone."

Beth’s mouth twitched. "No. I retrieved something that was unlawfully withheld."

Andrew muttered, "She didn’t rob anyone."

Beth added calmly, "Not this week."

Chris leaned back in his chair with a long sigh, clearly bracing for the next question. Then his voice dropped, and the humor drained out of it like someone had flipped a switch.

"Did..." He swallowed once. "Did Adonis kill our parents?"

Andrew didn’t answer immediately.

He set his hand flat on the table, not to be dramatic, but because he needed something solid under his palm. His gaze stayed on Chris, steady in the way it always got when he was about to deliver something that would hurt.

"I don’t have a confession," Andrew said quietly. "Not yet."

Chris didn’t blink. "Andrew."

"Fine," Andrew said, and the word came out rougher than he probably meant. "I had resources and help from Dax before Beth was even mentioned by Milo. I’ve had the suspicion for a long time that something was wrong with how everything happened."

Chris’s eyes narrowed, sharp and immediate. "So you’ve been sitting on this."

Andrew lifted a hand before Chris could cut in, palm out. "Yes. And yes, I should’ve told you and Mia."

Chris’s mouth tightened. "Then why didn’t you."

Andrew’s jaw flexed, the answer clearly not flattering. "Because I had to be sure. Because if I said it out loud without proof, it would’ve become a weapon in the wrong hands or a panic spiral in ours. And because I could’ve been wrong."

Chris’s gaze didn’t soften. "You weren’t wrong."

Andrew’s hand dropped back to the table. He looked like he hated himself for how calm he sounded next.

"I also didn’t tell you," he added, quieter, "because you kept things from us too."

Chris’s eyes sharpened in warning. "Don’t."

"I’m not using it against you," Andrew said immediately, holding his ground. "I’m saying I understood what it means to carry something dangerous alone and not know when it’s safe to share it."

Beth, still composed at Andrew’s side, lifted her glass a fraction and murmured, almost dry, "This is the healthiest sibling argument I’ve seen in a while."

Chris didn’t look at her. His attention stayed locked on Andrew. "Say it clearly."

Andrew swallowed once, then did exactly that.

Chris sat there for a beat, absorbing it like he was forcing the information to fit into a shape that could be handled.

Then he stood.

"You should tell Mia," he said, voice even. "While I go have a heart-to-heart talk with my lovely husband."

Andrew’s mouth tightened. "Chris—"

"Not a debate," Chris cut in, already moving. "She hears it from you."

Beth lifted her glass slightly, like she was approving the logic. "I can stay. If she wants confirmation instead of comfort."

Chris nodded once. "Good."

He picked up the envelope and Beth’s folder, then left the room before he could change his mind.