#Chapter 62: Midnight Surgery…Again

I wouldn't allow Marcus to drive me home, despite his urging. Instead, we end up in his private apartment, where he's now pouring me a very large brandy and darting concerned glances over his shoulder at me. I'm trying to keep it together, but it's almost impossible. I loved Charis like a mother for most of my childhood; she was the person I was most distraught to lose when I went to prison and was cut off from the family. Her death is not only a devastating blow to me on a personal level, it's also eating me alive with guilt. I knew this. I knew that Charles was thinking of murdering his mother, and I knew that he's started to spiral out of control. I didn't act fast enough. I was so busy protecting myself, and Emmett, and the gang, and Marcus, that I forgot to protect Charis. I assumed we had more time. I assumed that, becuase Charles was preoccupied with the attempted murder of the Alpha, with deseating Marcus, with trying to seize control over the gang, that any talk of