"Adrianna met me at the lawn in front of the chemistry wing and handed me the note," said Pryce.

​​

"What kind of note?" asked Dmitri.

"It was a handwritten note," answered Pryce.

"Keisha, do you have that note with you?" asked Dmitri, turning to Keisha.

"No… I don't… I just read it and threw it away… and then went to the forest to find Adrianna. When I reached the meeting place, she attacked me from behind. I tried to keep up the fight, but she wouldn't back off. All she kept saying was that I should stay away from you. I told her that Niiya was already so interested in her - why should she go after you? But she kept hitting me badly and saying that it was none of my business. Ultimately, she hit me so much that I became unconscious," said Keisha with a sad look on her face.

"But Dmitri, don't worry. She cannot come between us because my love for you is far greater than her hatred for me," she continued as she went to hold Dmitri's hand.

Everyone in the gathering started gossiping. They were throwing murderous glares at Adrianna.

"She is such a devil."

"There is so much villainy behind that innocent face."

"What an uncultured girl."

"So desperate! If the supreme alpha doesn't want her, she shouldn't dream about him."

As the murmurs grew, Keisha looked proudly at Cora as though trying to express how well she had turned the tables. Cora nodded and smiled at Keisha.

Adrianna was feeling miserable. In front of so many strangers, there was no way she could prove her innocence. Her eyes became misty as she wondered how she could have forgotten about Keisha's gargantuan presence within Dmitri's clan. Keisha was not a simple person to deal with. But why would Dmitri's mother behave like that? She looked at her father and her siblings. None of them would come to her rescue.

She lowered her head and started leaving. She missed Ed so much. Why wasn't he with her in this time of need?

Keisha looked at Pryce and smiled at her while Pryce glared at Adrianna. She had taken her revenge. Not only had Adrianna been thrown out of Dmitri's life, she was not a part of Niiya's life anymore either. She was satisfied seeing Adrianna in that condition – miserable and gloomy.

As Adrianna started walking out, Dmitri stopped her, "Adrianna where are you going?"

Adrianna stopped and turned to say, "Sorry Dmitri, I didn't know that things would turn out this way. I don't have any explanation."

"Don't you want to prove your innocence?" he asked.

Adrianna became gloomy. "I didn't do anything wrong. I have too much pride to get involved in this catfight Dmitri," she said with pride before starting to head out again. Perhaps this was the end of it all. She enjoyed the feeling of being with Dmitri so much that she had become addicted to it. But the truth was something else. Dmitri belonged to Keisha and she had come in between them. She tried to be objective about it, but why was her heart aching so much. Every step became heavy.

"Stop!" shouted Dmitri.

"Let her go," said Cora.

Piqued at his mother, Dmitri raised his finger to warn his mother to stay quiet. Cora became quiet.

"Adrianna, stop right there!" he shouted boiling with rage. Adrianna stopped in her tracks.

Then he looked at Pryce and said, "What did she write on that note? Can you tell me by writing it on a piece of paper?"

"Sure," Pryce replied. She borrowed a pen from someone and wrote the message down on a piece of paper. She brought the paper for Dmitri to see.

Dmitri frowned and then asked Keisha, "Can you also write the message that Adrianna wrote?"

Keisha thought that Dmitri was testing her memory, so she wrote exactly what she had written on the note and handed it to him.

Dmitri put the two notes together and then said, "Thank you ladies." Then he dug his hands into his coat pocket and took out a crumpled piece of paper. He held it high in air for everyone to see it.

When Keisha saw it, her face became pale.

Dmitri looked at Keisha and said with a grimace on his face, "I hope you remember this note. This is the one that bears the same message that you have written here Keisha."

Keisha wanted to dig her grave as her white lie was being uncovered slowly.

Then, he looked at Pryce and said menacingly, "I asked you to write the notes in order to match the handwriting. The original one is in my hand, and I have it here for anyone to see what the truth was."

No one came forward as everyone was now becoming scared of the unknown wrath of Dmitri. The chiefs and others at the gathering were well acquainted with Dmitri's fierce nature. It was like a timed bomb that could explode at any moment. There was no way anyone could reverse it or slow it down. His demeanor even shook Cora. She could feel the beating of her own heart as it pounded futility against her ribcage.