Page 6 of A Second Chance for the Beta

“There is stuff I managed to save from their private possessions,” he explains. “A bit of jewelry, miscellaneous and memorabilia, pictures… personal things.” He takes a small jewelry box out of the tightly secured safe in his wall, handing it to me. “This one is special,” he says. “Your mother told me to give this to you when you are ready.” He pauses. “It was months before she died. I think she knew she wouldn’t make it,” he adds quietly.

I swallow, opening the box to find a beautiful necklace in it. It has a ruby stone and a little pendant. I need a moment to catch my breath again and calm down my heartbeat and the overflowing sadness I feel for never having met my family. For not having one memory of them.

“It was her favorite piece,” Emmet says quietly.

“Thank you for saving it,” I mutter.

He nods, gesturing towards the boxes. “Feel free to make yourself comfortable.”

My heart jumps at the realization that he saved so many things. They might not be valuable in a financial aspect, but they are for me. Emmet leaves Annie and me alone and goes to the kitchen to prepare tea and make a few calls.

He is so sweet to have prepared a little playpen for the twins. Asteria is finally drowsy, so she falls asleep fast, while Annie keeps Aurora on a blanket where she can crawl around. She is obsessing over a plush elephant, so we are safe for now.

We start methodically, going from one box to another. “This must have been your mom’s engagement ring,” Annie says while inspecting a ring. “It’s beautiful.”

I take it, smiling when I look at it. I need to verify with Emmet, but I think Annie might be right. I look at some more items while Annie returns to going through her folders. It’s surprisingly fun to spend the morning like this. That is until I take a box with pictures into my hands. I just know this is going to hit differently. It’s one thing to hold objects my parents owned, but this… this is them…

Annie looks up, having noticed my tension. “Do you want me to leave you alone?” she offers quietly.

“No, please stay,” I mutter.

Annie nods, puts her work aside, and sits on the sofa next to me. We don’t talk at all while I go through the pictures. One after another, I’m faced with memories of my parents. I can’t remember them, but seeing these pictures makes me almost feel like I do.

Most of them have names written on the backside. I go through a whole bunch of them until I see a very young woman next to my parents and a baby. I turn the picture, eyeing it. It saysCandy with Ella.

“Who is Candy?” I mutter when I show Annie the picture. “She is holding me here in this picture with my parents.”

“She must be close to them,” Annie muses. “Let’s ask Emmet.”

I nod, linking him to ask for his help. Fortunately, he has finished his calls and is eager to answer my questions. “You are taking a look at the pictures,” he analyzes, his eyes sentimental.

“Yes.” I hand him the picture with Candy and me. “Who is this girl?”

“Candy…” He frowns. “Oh, Candy… Candy…” He sounds frustrated while saying her name. “Wait a moment!” he exclaims. “It has to be Candance… she was your father’s daughter from his first mate. You know, he was older than your mother. He had a child from his first mate. Goddess, Ella, I am so sorry, I completely shoved that memory aside. I should have told you much sooner.”

I had no idea! Okay, I didn’t ask Emmet anything either, because I still needed time before facing everything, but now I’m starting to realize this might have been wrong.

Funny, both mom and we were second-chance mates,Nefeli muses.Seems to run in the family. Not to mean it in a bad way, we got an awesome mate.

“She is my half-sister,” I whisper. “Where is she?”

Emmet’s eyes cloud over in sadness. He doesn’t need to tell me for me to know.

I grasp Annie’s hand, feeling a bit calmer when she squeezes it gently. “How did it happen?” I ask quietly.

“The old alpha found her and killed her,” Emmet says quietly. “I saw her body. There is no doubt it was her.”

Sadness fills me for the sister I never met. I roam through the pictures before another one of Candy appears. She is a bit older than in the one with me as a baby. And my eyes widen as I see she is holding a baby again. This time, it isn’t me though. “Who is that?” I ask Emmet.

Emmet takes the photo from me, his brows furrowing. “It’s Candy again… but the baby…”

“You haven’t seen it before?” I ask when he hands me back the photo. I turn it slightly. “Candy and Charlie.”

Something in my stomach tugs.Nefeli, do you think…

It’s a possibility,she answers.

“It could be her baby,” I whisper. I might have a nephew out there in the world. “I mean, it’s a stretch, but it could be!”