Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates
Chapter 710-The Great Emmet McQuoid

Chapter 710: 710-The Great Emmet McQuoid

Helanie:

"So, tomorrow night, we will prepare the grand feast." Darcy had been talking for the past ten minutes, acting like she was the mastermind behind this Mate-full-moon-thing dinner party. I kept my silence, sticking to the edge of the sofa. One of my hands was stretched out on the armrest, while the other rested in my lap, my leg crossed over the other. I kept my head down and my eyes fixed on the ground.

My mother had decided to skip the arrangement talk because, obviously, it wasn’t easy for her to face Darcy. I couldn’t even look at her. The brothers had been acting weird, too.

"Okay, we will do that," Norman said, sounding stunned by his mother.

"What is it? You guys have been pretty awkward with me tonight." Darcy finally pointed it out.

While Kaye had defended her, he hadn’t said a single word to her since we came downstairs. I noticed him checking me out several times, and his gaze confused me. Was he angry with me? Was he guilty for upsetting me? Did he have something to say? But then I would always look away, so I never knew what his gaze meant.

"Nothing," Norman said.

"Norman, can’t you forgive Emmet? Bring him back home." She started again, reaching for Norman’s hand, and I only side-eyed the action.

But Norman instinctively pulled his hand away, as if reaching for a vine, seemingly unaware that his mother had been reaching out to him. She pressed her fingers together and pulled back again, leaning into the chair.

Lord McQuoid didn’t look fully present either. I guess he wished my mother were here instead of Darcy.

"Mom, it’s not about forgiving him. He hasn’t apologized, but I never asked him to leave. This is his home too, and I still love him. But there’s this scratch in my heart. Just because Helanie isn’t our blood doesn’t mean any of you should treat her any less. Her pain, her sacrifices, they should be respected."

I wanted to roll my eyes so badly at Norman’s words. I guess I was just angry. I knew he was saying all this to make me feel better after he and his brothers had practically refused to believe in my mother’s innocence.

And once again, I understood why. They had an excuse, that their mother had been tortured in their childhood, which explained why she was so unstable now.

But to me, it was the other way around. She had only been tortured because she had tortured my mother.

"I’m so worried for him. I mean, I’m glad he found his fated mate, even if it’s with a girl I didn’t approve of. But still, I’m just upset that he has to go live there all by himself, when he should be here, living in his home."

The way she said it, while making direct eye contact with me, made me scoff and turn my head away. I knew exactly what she was trying to do. She was trying to make it seem like it was because of me that her son had left.

"Anyway, my guest room is ready. I’ll go and take a rest now," she said, dramatically getting up and leaving for the guest room where the twins were sleeping.

She would always bring them around but kept them behind closed doors, with nannies and guards. After she left, I got up to leave too.

"Can we talk?" Kaye said, in his softest tone.

I turned to look at him and then shook my head.

"No, Kaye. We’ll talk once we have evidence," I said, because I knew what he wanted to talk about, and I didn’t want to revisit that topic again. I briskly walked away and went to my room.

That night, I was extremely agitated. And even though I was still upset with my mates, the minute Norman lay down in the bed, I began to crave his touch. I guess we both did.

So, convincing myself I was only doing it for Norman, which wasn’t entirely true, because I wanted his touch too, I slowly rolled over to him and hugged him.

He was quick to wrap his arms around me and pull me closer to his chest, as if he’d been waiting for it. I knew he hadn’t been sleeping well these past few days because we hadn’t been cuddling. But the moment we did, I noticed how his body relaxed and he began to fall asleep again.

The next morning arrived, and we left for the academy because we had some issues to address.

"Wait, what? You think I pushed him?"

We had summoned Hans into Norman’s office to talk about the accusations against him. It wasn’t a small matter. It needed to be addressed, and since we had an eyewitness.

"You have a crush on my girlfriend, and that’s why you pushed me into the shark-infested water," Lamar said, loud and clear.

We were all present in the office, me, the brothers, and my friends, except for Emmet.

"Wait– yeah, it’s true. I do like Jenny," Hans admitted, shakily looking away from Jenny, who probably had no idea this was the case. And I could tell Lamar wasn’t very happy to hear that either.

"But I would never push him into the water! What am I, a murderer?" he complained, pointing a finger at his chest.

For some reason, I could tell he wasn’t lying. But then Lucy saw him. That’s when Emmet walked in. He was holding a tablet in one hand, and with the other, he had Lucy by the arm, dragging her into the office.

We were all shocked when he arrived. And then, he dropped the final bomb on us.

"It wasn’t Hans who pushed him in," he said, pushing Lucy into the room. She awkwardly rubbed her arm. We all watched Emmet’s face, waiting for him to continue, and he did.

"It was Lucy. I saw the footage from the camera."

He made us all stare at each other in shock. We didn’t even know he had cameras everywhere.