Fractured by N.O Darling

Chapter 0269

**Deacon’s **

| pick up the plate of food on the table. I'm sure the girl is wrong about this, She has been through a lot and is

clearly very scared, so I'm not surprised she suspects the food is poisoned. Given the rogue’s previous history of

attempting to poison food and water, I'm not taking any cliances.

“Here is what | am going to do. | will have this food tested and have you and the children moved to a place

where i know it is safe. That may takestto arrange, but in the meantime, I’m going to have some

food. brought from my own kitchen, where my children eat. If you are still worried, | will eat sof the food in

front of you,” I tell her.

“Why are you being nice to me? We are on opposite sides,” he asks, her eyes full of suspicion.

did, “Because | don’t believe we are on opposite sides. | believe you are a victim and didn’t choose this life. If

you die you wouldn't be so scared of your own people,” | shrug, giving her the truth.

“And how do you know I'm not just tricking you into thinking that?” She asks, her eyes finally meeting mine.

“Because from here on out you are going to answer my every question truthfully,” | say, lacing my words with

my gift and taking control of her mind with compulsion.

| see the split second of panic in her eyes when she realises what | have just done. | know | should feel more guilt

for doing this to her. She has already had enough free will stripped from her, but my daughter's life could depend

on getting the truth from this girl.

The girl sags in defeat; she knows she misjudged me. She had assumed that because | hadn't attempted to

compel her yet | didn’t have the ability. She had let her guard down and | had taken the opportunity. Maybe, once

this is all over, I'll find a way to earn her forgiveness.

“What is your name?” | ask.

“Lola Ford,” she says with a sigh.

“And how old are you, Lola?”

#19.”

“Do you know where Harper has been taken?”

“No, | have already told you, they don’t tellanything. | get taken to new places with barely any warning. |

only find out where when | get there,” she says, scratching nervously at her forearms and beginning to rock

again.

| study her for a moment, her demeanour is off, and she is most certainly worried that I’m going to ask her

something she doesn’t wantto. | just have to work out what that is.

“What was your role with the group?” | ask.

“I looked after the children, that's it,” she says.

“Do you know anything that could helpfind my daughter?” | ask.

“No,” she shakes her head.

“Then what are you so worried aboutfinding out?”

“I killed someone,” she sobs, and her rocking becomes more erratic as she cries loudly.

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Chapter 0260

“How?”

“I didn’t mean to. | was angry and he was being a jerk. We were arguing, and | shoved him. It was just supposed

to be a small shove to get him out of my face, but | shoved him so hard that he fell backwards and through the

window. We were on the 6th floor,” she says with a heart-wrenching sob.

“Who was it?” | ask.

“His nwas Paul Walton. He was my boyfriend. We had been together since

HP were 15.”

“How long ago did this happen?” | ask, writing down the nto give to my contact within the human police.

“Almost two years ago. Just after my 18th birthday,” she says, wiping the tears from her face.

“I'm going to guess you didn’t know you were a Grey until that moment,” | say, and she shakes her head.

“That's why | went to the assessment offices. | knew what I'd done wasn’t humanly possible, not from the tiny

shove. When | got there, they called for someone to pickup. I thought they were bringingto the Grey

realm. That's what the adverts said would happen, but | was taken to srundown building and told | was a

part of their faction and my father had been waiting for my gifts to awaken,” she explains.

“So you went into the actual assessment office?” | ask, sitting a little straighter in my chair, because if she is

saying what | think she is, then this is massive and means we have a mole in our assessment centre.

“Yes, | did the assessment and was confirmed as a Grey,” she nods.

“Which office did you attend?”

“The Somerset one.”

“Can you remember who did your assessment?

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“I can’t remember his name, but he had dark brown hair and blue eyes,” she says.

| write it down, even though it doesn’t narrow it down very much.

“Anything else distinctive you can remember?”

“No, sorry,” she shakes her head.

“On it,” Axel says into the mind link.

“I'm going to speak to your friend that was brought in with you, and then I'll make the arrangements | promised

you. Thank you for your help, Lola,” | tell her, standing to leave.

Lola nods and | take the plate of food and my notepad. When | open the door, Raff is outside, talking with Axe.

Josie, Sage and the rest of the guys step out of the other room to join us.

“I think it's safe to say we have smoles. You need to put your most trusted men in charge of guarding the

two women and the children until we work out who is working for the rogues. Can we also get this food tested for

anything in there that shouldn’t be?” | say handing the plate to Raff.

“Things just got a whole lot shittier,” Theo says, his eyes scanning the corridor as if he might spot an impostor

wandering around.

“We have failed so many, we should have done intense screening on everyone hired for the Grey assessment

Toles,” Josie comments.

“We will find the mole, and when we do, we will send Archie straight to them. This is a step in the right direction.

We can deal with the rest later. Let's just focus on the positives of what we have learnt,” Mason says, and we all

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Chapter 0269

nod.

“I'm ready to question the next woman. Hopefully, we can earn even more from her.”

“This way,” Raff says, and we follow him to a room a few doors down.

Shit, | know her,” Josie curses when we look at the nervous woman through the two-way mirror.