Chapter 244: Chapter 247

Chapter 247 Audrey Saying that the following months passed by in a blur would have been putting it lightly.

After Edwin informed me of what was going on in the orphanages, our days became packed with constant work. There was so much to do, so much evil to root out and cut off at its source, and the list of things that needed to be done seemed to grow more and more by the day.

Claudia was immensely helpful in putting together a hiring team to find better and more trustworthy orphanage directors. Furious that her own daughter, amongst so many other human children, had been treated this way, she was like a fire burning through the work that needed to be done.

Before we knew it, we had an entire list of potential candidates to take over the positions, and the list spanned several pages.

“Claudia, this is enough candidates for an entire lifetime of orphanages,” Edwin said as he flipped through the list. “And they’ve all passed the background checks?”

My mother nodded, her arm tightening around my shoulders. “I know many of the candidates personally. Many of them are Silverbite pack members, but I didn’t think that would be an issue.”

Edwin glanced at me with a ghost of a smile passing his lips. “Of course it isn’t.” His Luna was the heir of Silverbite, after all.

Maybe someday the two packs would combine into one, if we had the guts to make it happen.

Charles and Peter, in the meantime, worked day and night to dredge out the corrupt orphanage directors and their cohorts. The work was done quietly and efficiently, and soon enough the Crescent prison practically had its own wing dedicated to the bastards.

That was where I came in.

“It’s all you, little star,” Peter said as he opened the door to the interrogation room. “Do your worst.”

I flashed my brother in law a wry sneer as I brushed into the room, where one of the corrupt orphanage directors sat waiting in a yellow jumpsuit.

His eyes widened upon seeing me.

“You’re the Silver Star,” he breathed, leaning back a little in his chair. The chains around his wrists clinked together as he moved away. “What are you going to do to me?”

“Don’t worry,” I said softly. Instead of taking the chair opposite him, I perched on the side of the table closest to him. He tried to move back a little more, but his chains stopped him from going very far. “Relax. I’m just here to take a peek inside that mind of yours.”

The director stiffened, but he had nowhere to go, and no mental defenses to stop me from slipping into his mind.

In the span of less than a minute, I saw everything.

Transactions. Crying children. Money. Greed.

When I was finished probing his mind, I slipped down from the table and took the handkerchief that Peter offered me.

“He’s guilty,” I said, dabbing at the little trickle of blood dripping from my nose. “Over the years, he sent more than three dozen human kids to a farm out east where they were used for manual labor.”

Peter nodded, jotting this information down as the corrupt director shivered in his chair, still stunned from having his mind.

groped by my invisible hand.

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+5 The farm would be shut down and the kids would be taken back into our custody, where they would be carefully moved to Crescent orphanages that were safe. And thanks to the task forces we’d put together, no kids would be ripped away from siblings or friends, and they would be going to warm, safe places where counseling would be readily available.

Everything would be streamlined down to the last drop.

And so it went over the following three months.

Of course, we did make mistakes along the way. Our first target had been the orphanage where I once lived, but there was a new director who we found to be innocent-kids hadn’t been ‘sold’ by that orphanage for years.

We had to apologize profusely as we released her. Thankfully, she was kind and understood our dilemma.

But despite the occasional hiccup, soon enough, we had managed to root out nearly fifty percent of the corrupt orphanage directors and track down a lot of the victims. There was still much to do in the way of funding and renovating the run-down orphanages, but it was a start.

And Edwin and I... we were happy. Fulfilled, even. We made a good team, and it felt good to see a positive change in our pack.

It was a bright and sunny Friday afternoon, right at the end of summer when the air was scented with the first leaves of autumn, and Edwin and I were sitting in his office at the estate. We’d decided to visit the estate for the week to check on things and get away from the city for a little bit.

Iwas perched on the edge of Edwin’s desk, tossing a stress ball back and forth between my hands as his pen scratched across the paper.

We were discussing plans for an upcoming charity event to raise funds that would be used to get started on orphanage renovations-just a routine charity event, the type of gala with live music and waiters carrying trays of champagne to loosen the rich socialites’ purse strings.

“I’d still like to take you out tonight, for what it’s worth,” Edwin mused without looking up from his work. “Just you and me.. What do you think?”

I couldn’t help but grin. “Can we try that new Thai food place in town?”

He nodded. “Sure. And then I was thinking maybe we could go see a movie-”

Suddenly, there came a knock at the door. Edwin called out, expecting the housekeeper to walk in. But instead of Hadley’s kind face, it was Charles who stepped into the room.

And he looked grave.

“Oh, good. You’re both here,” he said, stopping just a foot into the room. “Do you have a moment?”

Edwin and I exchanged glances before Edwin set his pen down. What is it, Charles?”

The Beta took a deep breath, hesitating as if unsure of how to begin. Finally, he pulled a manila folder out from behind his back and strode over to the desk, plopping it down in front of us. “I think it’s better if you see for yourself.”

I slid off the desk, leaning over Edwin’s shoulder as he flipped open the folder.

My heart nearly stopped in my chest.

“You’re sure?” I blurted out, shoving a lock of dark hair out of my eyes as I looked up at Charles.

Charles nodded grimly, his jaw set hard. “Positive. At least, as positive as I can be without the Silver Star’s mind reading 2/3 10:07 Wed, Oct 30 Chapter 247 abilities,” he added withra wry chuckle.

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+5 Edwin and I looked at each other, both stunned. Coldclaw shouldn’t have been an issue by now; Fiona and Axel were both in prison, and had been for some time now. The rogues who had been following them had scattered when I howled, and Peter and Charles had scared off the stragglers over the past months.

And yet the statistics didn’t lie.

“So you mean to tell me,” Edwin said slowly, deliberately, “that there has been an influx of children being sent to an unknown location in Coldclaw territory over the past few months?”

The Beta’s throat bobbed. “Yes. While we don’t yet know where the kids are going exactly, we do believe we may have narrowed the source of the influx.”

“That’s good, at least,” I said, straightening. “As long as we have the orphanages responsible, I can read the directors’ minds to find out where the kids are being sent.”

Hope fluttered in my chest. But Charles’s face turned even more grave, and that hope quickly withered and died.

“What?” I whispered, gripping my mate’s tense shoulder. “What is it, Charles?”

Charles sighed and stared at the desk for several long moments before he slowly, painfully, looked at me again.

“It’s your childhood orphanage, Audrey,” he whispered. “We believe that they may be the main source.”