A Wolf's Purpose

•Chapter 15• Back Again

"If this is some sick joke-" Jade started. She slowly stepped closer to the man across from her. He was standing up straight. He looked healthy. His hair was still gray. He was Bill, but...well. Alive and well. Louis was speechless. He watched as the girl approached her father. She reached out her right hand carefully and tilted her head ever so slightly. "It's not a joke." He assured her. She jumped a little at the sound of his voice. She hadn't heard it in months. Two small tears fell from her eyes as he reached out to her as well. She looked down at their hands. Their fingers touched briefly. Only the tips. Jade looked back up at her father. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, embracing him tightly. His arms wrapped around her as well, pulling her closer. "You're alive." Jade sobbed. She couldn't help the tears. They were all flowing out at this point. Bill was holding her tightly. When Jade pulled away, her hands immediately went to her father's face. "How is this even possible?"

"You were dead. We saw you." Jade tells her father. He shook his head and placed his hand on her cheek. "They had to believe it." He replied. "What who?" Jade asks him. Louis covered his mouth with his hand. "You didn't." he said. Bill gave a slight shrug in response. Jade noticed immediately. "So, what, you just pulled a prank on all of us or something? This was a setup?" She asks her father. Her tone turned around, sounding a tad more frustrated now. She turned to Louis. "And you knew about this?" she questions. Louis shook his head. "No, no, no," Bill quickly replied, "I mean, yes, it was obviously a setup. But-" He started. He let out a sigh. "Louis didn't know about this. No one knew." Bill informs his daughter. "But you let us think you were dead?" Jade asks him. "It had to be done," Bill tells her. He glanced up at his best friend still frozen by the door. "It had to be done." He repeated. Louis shook his head and turned away from them. His hands went to his head. "This can't be real." He whispered to himself.

Jade looked at her father. "What exactly had to be done." She asks him. Bill made eye contact with his daughter. "They had to believe I was dead for all of this to work." He answered. "What would work?" Jade questions, "Do you have any idea what kind of damage you've caused?" She continued. Bill looked at Louis again. "This was the plan." He reminds him. "This is not the plan I remember," Louis spoke quietly. "It is what we planned." Bill pointed out. He sounded like a crazy person. He was so convinced of his own truth. This was right to him. In his eyes, he did the right thing. Louis spun his body around, his arms dropping next to his body again. "Not like this." He said, "No way it was anything like this. This is sick." He said.

Jade turned to her uncle. "He had this idiotic plan years ago to pretend he was dead to get out of his trials. To get out of everything." Louis explained and pointed his finger at his best friend. "It worked, didn't it?" Bill responded with a slight chuckle at the end of his sentence. Jade looked at her father, fighting the tears again. All of this was extremely overwhelming. Her father was alive. And this was all a plan? "You have kids, Bill." Louis reminds him. Bill opened his mouth to protest when Louis cut him off again. He stepped closer to his best friend, gently pushing Jade aside. The two friends were standing face to face with one another. "Don't you dare say that everything changed after Parker's incident. They needed you. They took care of you." He said in a low tone. Bill became silent after that. He looked at his daughter. Her tired face hurt him. He remembered what all of his kids looked like. Always having to take care of him.

"So that was all fake too?" Jade asks her father. "Little one-" Bill started. "You could walk. You didn't need us to take care of you." She replied. The older man let out a sigh and shook his head while glancing down at his feet. Jade's eyes widened a little. "He fooled us all," Louis added. "Everything you said was a lie. So what you sent my brothers out there for what, exactly, some moral mission of yours? A sick moral mission?" Jade snapped at her father, "You let them abandon me. You all abandoned me. And for what?!" She said raising her voice. "If you two would just let me explain, first," Bill tells them. Jade pushed past her uncle. She looked at her father with watery eyes. "You made me turn on my brothers." She said. "Well-" Bill started. "I held a gun at Jayden's head. I wanted to kill them. I wanted to kill all three of them. I put everything on the line to protect your legacy because I thought that, deep down, you were a good man." Jade spoke.

"Little one, this all happened for a reason. I mean, look at what you have become. You've taken over the pack as if it's nothing more than a school project. You wanted to kill Leah. Something I never did. Something your brothers couldn't do." Bill informs her. "Because this is what you do, isn't it?" Jade gritted between her teeth. She stepped closer to her father. "Come back, and tell me that it's all okay? That this is all part of a bigger plan. It's not okay. What you did was cruel." She pointed out to him, "I betrayed my brothers for you. I wanted to prove myself worthy to you, even if you were dead. And you think you can just walk in here? You think I will drop to my knees, pleading, and weeping over your return. That you're not dead? I mourned for you. My brothers mourned for you." She added. Bill knew she was right. She was always right. She takes after her mother. "All of this was for nothing." Jade continued.

She turned to Louis. "Never trust anyone, right?" She repeated his words. "Jade, listen to me." Bill started. She shook her head and looked at him again. "You know I was so determined to find you, and avenge you, that I almost forgot that you were a killer. And that you only care for yourself." Jade said. "Little one, that is not true." Bill said sternly, "I wanted to tell you. I didn't want you to think I was dead. But it had to be done." He added. "Why?" jade asks him, "What had to be done? What was this master plan of yours that didn't even include your own children? Or your best friend? You let us take care of you, day and night. And you didn't need it. You were healthy all along. You used us. You let my brothers hunt down some innocent girl. What was your master plan, dad?! Please enlighten me! Maybe, just maybe then, I can understand how you could do something as cruel as this. Manipulating everyone around you, even your best friend, into something this sick and twisted. Pretending you're dead? Please explain to me how you could do something like that when we needed you?" She rambled at him. Bill held up his hands in defense. "I will explain everything to you, little one. Everything you want to know." He tells her. He reached out his hand to her again. "But please listen to me," he said. Jade made eye contact with her uncle. Not trusting this man's words completely.