Chapter 212

“Anastasia told me you only cared slut holding the South,” Garland continued, his voice bitter yet resigned.

“She said that with Scarlett gone, the agreements with the Southerners would collapse. No kuna, no stability, no alliances. So when I heard Scarlett had returned from the West, I decided it was time to come straight to RedCape and finish the job. The South couldn’t help you, and I knew Keith wouldn’t intervene. You had no magic, no warriors, no weapons strong enough to face me. It seemed like the perfect opportunity-a win-win scenario.

But I was wrong,” he admitted, his tone hollow.

“I didn’t account for Keith stepping in. I underestimated Scarlett’s ruthlessness and strength. My arrogance, paired with the limited information Anastasia provided, was my downfall. That’s what cost me this fight. I accept my defeat.”

The weight of his words hung in the air, suffocating us in a silence none of us knew how to break. Neither Clay, Maxwell, nor I could bring ourselves to speak. The things we had just learned struck too deep, cutting through years of assumptions and old wounds.

I thought about it-about everything Garland had just revealed. My brother-in-law, Maxwell, and Clay’s cousins, those we had called family, had played a part in the chaos. Nikolay had removed them, not for power or control, but for the peace we had all enjoyed, the peace we had taken for granted. All the raids, the attacks on innocent people, even the destruction in parts of Red Cape-it all made sense now. The criminal groups had thrived in the shadows, taking advantage of the gaps left behind by Nikolay’s death.

And we hated him for it, hated him for what we thought was tyranny, when in truth, he had been the reason for the stability we enjoyed. The man we had despised, painted as a villain, had been the hero we didn’t deserve. I felt a wave of shame so strong that it burned in my chest. I couldn’t speak. Neither could Clay or Maxwell.