Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates
Chapter 728-Someone Is Messing With My Brother

Chapter 728: 728-Someone Is Messing With My Brother

Maximus:

"You know you can speak with me, brother," I said to Norman, who was standing in the backyard with me.

I had seen him come out and stand there, looking at the empty area where Helanie had once run away with her mother. It was just empty now. Everyone was, all of us, our hearts, our emotions. There were no dreams left. But we had to remind ourselves that she could come back any day. We could go and see her.

Last night, even though I was upset that she had decided to leave, I realized it was necessary for her to go for her own safety. I could not be selfish enough to ask her to stay somewhere she no longer wanted to be.

"What if Emmet was on her side? What if Kaye believed that her mother was the victim? Would she have stayed then?" Norman asked, pouting and frowning.

I had not thought of it that way.

"I’m pretty sure she left because they were pretty much under attack, and everyone wanted them dead," I said, staring at my brother, who probably had deeper thoughts than I did.

"Why do I feel like my two brothers not standing beside her made her feel weak? Maybe she was wondering if we would also turn on her one day," he asked, turning to me. His eyes were red. He was restless, just like the rest of us.

But it was also true that I was extremely angry with Kaye and Emmet. Then again, I wasn’t sure if they were truly to blame.

"Norman, I’ve been meaning to talk with you, but I never got the time for it," I said, gesturing at the benches in the backyard so we could talk in peace.

"What is it?" he asked, steadily walking to the bench and sitting down.

I joined him, sitting across the table.

"I’ve been noticing Emmet’s behavior, and some things don’t make sense to me. There are too many inconsistencies in the stories being told about him."

I watched Norman slowly straighten up in his seat. I knew he loved all of us deeply, but he had always had a stronger connection with Emmet than with the rest of us younger siblings. That was also because we were a mess, and Emmet had always been his support and shoulder to rely on.

"Tell me more," Norman insisted.

"So Emmet is supposed to forget things, but he remembers Azura. Fine. That’s okay. It’s a curse, I understand, and she also cursed him on top of it. But the way he flip-flops, it seems like there’s more. And why didn’t he remember that he pushed Helanie in the well?" I asked.

"And before you say that was guilt, I don’t believe it. I heard when Helanie told him he was the one who had asked her to meet him at the well. But Emmet looked so clueless. I know others thought he was lying, that he forgot. But to me, it sounded like he was genuinely confused. He was supposed to forget and then remember once his memories came back. But that part never came back." As I kept talking, I could tell Norman was losing interest. I wasn’t saying anything meaningful anymore. I was repeating myself. I wasn’t good like the rest of them. It was hard for me to explain myself to anyone.

"Okay, please hear me out. I went back to the timeline, step by step. I thought about our interactions with Emmet and tried to focus on when he started to change, when he began abandoning Helanie, which began on the wedding night. But before that, there was one incident we had all forgotten," I picked up my phone to read from the notes I had written.

"That one day when Emmet came to the academy and he had bloodstains on his shirt, he said he had fought the Zharns in the woods. Do you remember that day?" I asked Norman and watched him zone out before nodding his head.

"Oh yeah, that same day—" He suddenly paused, and his eyes widened.

"What?" I asked, watching his face with interest.

"He was in the woods, right?" he asked and I nodded to confirm.

"Oh no," he uttered. "Helanie and I— we were in the woods together," He said quietly, and I stared at his face, remembering how her touch felt. I got distracted for a moment, afraid I might never be able to touch her again.

"Right. No, but I’m not sure if he saw you or not. But he did have an encounter with the Zharns. So I checked the camera footage, and I’m downloading the material to see if I can spot anything from that day, when he came out of the woods with the bloodstains towards the academy. So while I am getting the footage of the front camera of the academy’s building, I tried to do something esle as well. Do you remember the times he was found in the bar, both times after abandoning Helanie. Do you remember that?" I asked.

Norman nodded again.

"So I went to the bar to ask for the footage from those two specific nights, and guess what they told me?" I could already tell Norman was expecting me to say I didn’t get them.

"They told me they accidentally deleted those footage. All the other nights were still there. I asked for one more night, just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. And guess what? The night before those two, the nights after, even the ones in between, they were all there, except for those two. Do you not see that there’s something else going on? Someone else is involved in whatever is happening to Emmet," I concluded.

I saw a kind of relief wash over Norman, probably because he wanted to believe someone else was interfering rather than believe that Emmet was becoming something truly evil.

"One of the nights you’re mentioning is the night Helanie was pushed into the well, isn’t it?" Norman asked, watching me nod and tap at my phone.

"Exactly. One of those nights—Wait, wait, wait—" I groaned when I noticed him losing the path again.

"Maximus—we saw the scribbling on the papers in his bedroom," Norman said, cutting in before I could respond.

That was when I decided to share my thoughts on those scribbles as well.