Chapter 115: What is hers.

July 20 2026, 11:24am.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Elara?" Tristan yelled angrily at the woman whom he used to love more than life.

For a couple of days now, she has, however, switched from the dainty little princess he used to adore into something so vicious, he could no longer bring himself to look at her...

...and it all started after her last hospital visit!

His hands balled into fists as he watched her stare out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Her skin was pale and flushed and her hair... goddess, her hair looked like it had not experienced the love of a comb for weeks now.

When she spun around, her eyes were so maliciously dark, it made Tristan’s breath hitch in his chest. He stepped back involuntarily and whispered; "D-did something happen? Are you hiding something from me?"

"I should be asking you that!" Elara snapped back, her voice cold. Nothing about it reflected the soft angel she always presented herself as.

She advanced towards Tristan slowly but with the strides of a predator stalking its prey, and then she seethed;

"Why did you break up with me?"

Tristan frowned, his eyebrows drawing together with a mix of worry and confusion. He wondered why sweet Elara was acting this way and asking him such absurd questions when she should already know the answers to them.

He stepped forward tentatively, only to see her scramble backwards like she could not manage a moment in his presence.

She seethed; "Is it because you know we’re siblings?"

Her question made him momentarily stunned. Hell, what were they if not siblings? However, because he did not know the truth that she did, he found himself frowning as he spat;

"Aren’t we siblings? Is that not what we’ve always been from the moment my father married your mother?"

"No—"

"You are and will always be my sister, Elara, but that doesn’t change my love for you! It never would. You are the woman after my heart... the only one I’ll ever love whether our parents like it or not. I know that I haven’t been there for you these past few days but I figured that since Flynn would always be around you, it is best I stay away!"

His response made Elara’s shoulders drop. Her eyes lowered as tears stung at the back of her eyes.

He does not know! She thought to herself, hating the fact that he was just as clueless as she had been, yet, feeling better because for some reason, she knew she would have not been able to handle the betrayal of knowing he had found out first.

"Elara?" Tristan murmured softly, but she did not respond. Instead, her hands limply dropped to her sides and she squeezed her eyes shut only for a moment before his warm hands gently palmed her cheeks.

She smelled his worry for her even before she lifted her head to meet his intense gaze, and as soon as this happened, her body trembled slightly and she melted into a puddle at his feet.

"Talk to me, Elara..." his voice was warm. Soothing. It carried all the care you could imagine with each word dripping with love and adoration.

Goddess, she wanted to tell him the truth. She wanted to tell him about what she had overheard their parents talking about.

’I am your sister, Tristan!’ She almost screamed at him but the thought of not being able to hold him like this after he found out the truth had her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth.

She could not tell him! Not when she knew the consequences it would bring.

She could not lose him too, not when he was the only one who loved her to a fault.

Her wet lashes lifted slowly as she brought her gaze to meet his warm ones and then she murmured; "I feel... inadequate."

Tristan frowned. "Inadequate?"

"Yes," she whispered, successfully switching the topic to something less scandalous. "Flynn has refused to go on with the wedding. Father does not seem to be on my side, and you... you who has always been on my side told me you had a date the last time we spoke to each other... so I figured that you had chosen to break up with me."

"No, Elara!" Flynn cried, wrapping his fingers around her neck and bringing his warm lips to press a kiss to her forehead. He remembered what she was talking about and yes, he had said that in a bid to push her away.

Why?

Because he’d decided that their relationship was wrong.

However, he never knew that she would be this affected by it! He never knew that she would go as far as bullying the less fortunate people in the pack and getting into incessant trouble just to let it out.

His fingers trailed soft motions around the nape of her neck as his lips brushed over her temple. He asked; "Is that why you have been acting out? Is this the reason you were caught bullying Berlin and a few other girls only a couple of hours after your discharge from the hospital?"

The thought of Berlin made Elara frown again, but deciding to push the thought away, she melted right into Tristan’s arms and pressed her face into his chest. Her body bloomed with warmth from being this close to him, and for a brief moment, she could not help but think:

How could he be my brother if he feels so good against me?

"Elara, answer me..." he chided softly, snapping her out of her thoughts, and with a silent gasp, she lifted her head one more time and nodded.

"Yes. I started acting out because I thought you left me."

Her response made Tristan feel worse. The guilt and self-deprecation he once felt increased by a thousand-fold.

His fingers curled into her hair as he brought his lips closer to hers and then he muttered;

"I’m sorry, my beautiful one, I will make it up to you. I will send you some money, about ten thousand dollars for shopping and I’ll give you—"

"...give me access to your late mother’s vault!" She cut in, interrupting him.

Her sudden but stupid request made Tristan’s hands instantly fall from her hair. He took a step back as though she suddenly burned and frowned at her, his bottom lip turning downward as he snapped;

"That belongs to Nyx’ara and you know it! I do not even have the right to touch it!"

His outburst did nothing on Elara who frowned and turned away, her eyes watering all over again as she cried; "then you don’t love me!"

The vault contained Nyx’ara’s inheritance plus a couple of things that were meant to remain hidden. It was supposed to be given to her on the night she turned eighteen but she had been locked up that same night and forced to spend three years in jail.

How Elara came to know about it, Tristan had no idea.

However, the only thing he knew was her inability to have that one thing.

So he shook his head, pulling her close until she was pressed against his chest and drawled; "I cannot do that, my love. The only person capable of giving that vault to you is Father, and I have to convince him for that to happen."

"And you know he wouldn’t agree!" Elara cried softly, but Tristan only responded by kissing her one more time on the head.

"He has no choice. I will make him do it." He said coldly, but even he knew that that was impossible. All he had to do now was make Elara believe him enough.

And she did.

She beamed a smile at him and pulled him into a tight hug.

But just as she did that, the door creaked open and someone stepped in, pulling them both out of their respective reveries.