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“You have to believe me, Jennifer,” he said, his voice cracking. “She didn’t mean to. She was distraught when I found her.” His throat bobbed, his hands clenching into tight fists before releasing. “And I couldn’t let them take her from me.”

The world around me blurred, the edges of my vision darkening.

“I... I had to do something,” he continued, his voice pleading, desperate for me to understand. “They were already dead, Jennifer. They weren’t coming back. And it was anaccident.”

I felt like I was suffocating.

“So you... what?” My voice was hollow. “Framed me formy parents’ murders?”

Mr. Cadmus flinched but didn’t look away. “I panicked. I found an old box of candy and injected some of my venom into them. Just enough to influence you. Not to kill you.”

The breath stilled in my chest.

“The phone call...” My voice was a whisper of realization. “You didn’t call to tell me they’d be late, did you?”

Mr. Cadmus’s lips parted, but he didn’t answer.

I already knew the truth.

“It was instructions,” I choked out. “You told me to cut their brakes.”

“It was the only thing I could think of,” he said, his voice wavering. “I needed you to confess. To make sure no one looked too closely for what really happened. I pushed the car to my house, put your parents’ bodies inside, and wedged a brick against the gas pedal.”

A cold horror spread through me, deep and unshakable.

“You called the mortal police?” Lobato’s voice cut through the silence, sharp and laced with fury. “You’re the reason they got past the banishing spell?”

Mr. Cadmus exhaled, nodding. “I needed her far away,” he admitted. “The mortal police wouldn’t be able to piece together the venom... or the basilisk’s stare.” His voice dropped to a near whisper. “And my wife would be safe. She could stay with me.”

I clenched my fists, my breath coming in ragged gasps. “Why are you telling me this now?Why try to poison me again?”

Mr. Cadmus’s expression darkened, the sorrow twisting into something resolute. “Jennifer,” he said, “I’ll always be eternally grateful that you gave my wife comfort in her final moments. But I can’t have you besmirching her memory.”

It felt like the ground had been ripped out from under me. A storm of emotions churned in my chest—shock, grief, betrayal—each one slamming into me like a tidal wave, threatening to pull me under.

Ms. Cadmus had played a part, yes, but hers had been a tragic accident. She hadn’t been in her right mind. I could forgive her for that.

But Mr. Cadmus? He had known. He had covered it up.

He held me in thrall with his venom, twisted my reality until I believed I was the one who had murdered my own parents. And the worst of it—he had used me. My hands. My body. He had made me cut the brakes.

A scream built in my throat, but it turned to ice as the full weight of his crimes settled over me.

He had stolen nine years of my life. Nine years of thinking I’d done the worst to my parents. Nine years where my grief had been warped. Nine years of Devlin thinking I’d rejected him.

And now, here he was again, willing to kill me,kill my mate.And for what? Just to bury the truth?

My fingers twitched at my sides, aching with the phantom burn of the magic I no longer had. If I had it now, I would have killed him where he stood.

Because forgiveness was a gift I would never grant Mr. Cadmus. Not for this. Not for any of it.

A low groan sounded behind me, and my heart leapt.

My mate.

He was stirring. Relief poured through me, but it was short-lived.

Mr. Cadmus’s eyes flickered toward Devlin, widening in alarm. The time for talk was over. Mr. Cadmus might have been old, but a basilisk—even an aging one—was still a predator. Against a witch with no magic? A guaranteed victory. Against Lobato—whatever kind of reptilian shifter she was—he might have stood a chance too.