Novel Sweet
Chapter 56
Chapter 56
The witness Janet wanted to talk to was Maxie.
Although Baron hadn’t been very nice to Maxie, he trusted her very much. He brought her to the first between–packs competition, and he even let her fill in as the substitute trainer while he was absent.
Maxie must know something about his dirty deals.
The only problem was whether or not she would be willing to tell Janet everything that she knew.
It seemed that Maxie was terrified of Baron. She didn’t even dare to say a word of defiance when Baron blamed her for the mad bear incident.
Baron must have found a way to control her somehow.
Janet needed to find out by what means Baron was controlling Maxie.
And she needed to win over Maxie’s trust.
Maxie was living in the central packhouse. Since she didn’t show up in the training field today, Janet thought she might have the luck of finding Maxie in her room.
Janet arrived outside of Maxie’s room and gently knocked on the door.
Nobody answered.
Janet didn’t give up. She knocked again.
This time she heard a series of light footsteps approaching the door, followed by a guardedly tensed voice asking, “Who is it?”
“It is me, Janet, from the Blood Moon Pack.” Janet leant closer to the door and
asked, “Can we talk for a minute?”
“I can’t think of anything we can talk about,” said Maxie warily.
It didn’t kick off with a great start.
But Janet didn’t leave.
Instead, she held the doorknob and insisted, “Give me a chance to talk to you Maxie. This is important. You don’t need to come out. We can talk through the door if you like.”
There was another long silence.
And then, the door was opened up a crack, revealing a small part of Maxie’s face.
“What do you need?” Maxie asked lowly.
“You were not at the training field today. I heard that Baron replaced you with Owen. But you were doing great training your soldiers. So what happened?”
“Gamma Baron felt that Owen is a better fit than me. And I don’t mind that, really. I was temporarily filling in anyway—‘
“Nonsense!” Janet gasped, raising her voice. “Both you and I knew that is bullshit. Have you met Owen? The guy knew nothing but waiving his fists in the air like a giant gorilla. And you are counting on a guy like him to train your soldiers?”
Maxie’s face went pale.
After a pause, she muttered, “This is Riverside Pack’s business. And you are Blood Moon Pack’s Gamma. This doesn’t concern you.”
She wanted to close the door, but Janet took a step further and put her foot between the door panel and the wall.
And Janet insisted, “But this is an alliance, Maxie. And we are going to the battlefield together one day. I can’t stand aside and do nothing when a real capable person like you gets bullied and dismissed, while scumbags like Baron and Owen take the control!”
Maxie bit her lips and subsided into silence.
Janet stared at her and asked abruptly, “What happened to your arm?”
Maxie was wearing long sleeves, But her sleeves rolled up when she tried to shut the door, revealing her upper arm skin.
There were a few striking bruises on her skin. All seemed relatively new.
Maxie panicked and quickly pulled off her sleeve to cover her skin. But it was too late.
“Don’t bother. I saw it already.” Janet said solemnly, “I get it. It isn’t easy for you to stand up against Baron’s tyrant. It took me a long time to learn about how to fight for my own right as well. But you can do it, just like me. This is your chance now, Maxie!”
Maxie inhaled sharply. Her lips started to tremble. This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.
She still had the door half–open. But she stopped trying to close it.
“What do you want then?”
Maxie asked eventually.
“Are you trying to get me back to the training field? We both know that Gamma Baron won’t allow that.‘
11
“And that is why we can’t let Baron take the wheel.”
Janet looked into Maxie’s eyes and said,
We need to take down Baron.”
A look of shock flickered across Maxie’s eyes.
“You are crazy!” Maxie gasped in disbelief, “Do you know who Baron is! He is-”
“A respected warrior’s son, right? And so what? His father won all those glories, not him. We can’t let him keep corrupting your army. Even your Alpha is with me on this. We have your back!”
Maxie was still shaking her head, “Baron is too respected among the soldiers. You can’t kick him out of power. You will cause a riot.”
“And that is why we need to show those soldiers that Baron doesn’t deserve their respect.‘
Janet took in a deep breath and got to the gist.
“Alpha Daran told me that there was an account book, documenting all details of Baron’s secret deals. If you happen to know where that account book is—”
“NO!” Maxie snarled abruptly.
There was a mixed look of fear and anger on Maxie’s face as she glared at Janet and cried, “Forget it! I am not giving you that account book!”
“Calm down, Maxie. Let’s work it out-
“No, I am done talking to you. Goodbye!”
Maxie slammed the door close with a huge bang and shut Janet outside.
Janet took a quick step back to avoid getting hit by the door.
Then she frowned.
So there was indeed an account book.
And Maxie knew where it was.
Which were all great news.
And Maxie didn’t seem to hate the idea of taking down Baron. She must hate Baron
too.
But why did she react so strongly when Janet asked her about the account book?
Did Baron threaten her with something?
Janet knew that she wouldn’t be able to get Maxie’s trust unless she found out what Baron threatened Maxie with.
Janet turned to leave Maxie’s room while still pondering on these questions.
When she reached the end of this hallway, she heard a series of conversation coming
from around the corner.
Two maids were talking in a cautiously low voice.
“…Miss Maxie was still in her room?” one maid asked.
“Yes. She hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday. Poor thing. I was thinking maybe I should bring her something to eat.”
“She won’t eat. She won’t even open the door. She is always like this after–you know.”
“Shush!” the other maid snapped, “Are you crazy? We are not supposed to talk about it! Do you want to be expelled? Or do you want to be dead?”
Janet narrowed her eyes standing in the shadow.
It seemed that these two maids knew what happened to Maxie. But they were too scared to say a word about it.
“I just feel terrible for Miss Maxie! She didn’t deserve to be treated like this.” the maid cried with an aggrieved voice.
“I know. But what can we do about it? We are only maids. There was nothing we can do about it.”
The two sighed and were ready to walk away.
Just before they left, Janet stepped out of the shadow and cried out, “Wait!”
Two maids jerked around in panic.
“Gamma Janet!” one gasped, “When did you-”
“I have heard everything.”
Janet walked toward them and surveyed their pale and frightened faces, “So tell me what happened to Maxie. And why did she lock herself inside of her room.“