Chapter 28 028
Chapter 28 028
NICHOLAS
I read it once, flipped it over, then sat there staring at the wall for what felt like ages.
Full investigation. Forty-two days for preliminary findings. They froze my assets, locked my travel to Silver Fang land, and said a council liaison would show up by the end of the week. They planned to talk to everyone—pack members, old allies, anyone with dirt on Ironwood.
And there’d be plenty. I knew that. Fifteen years holding everything together, and now one damned folder blew it all apart. People who kept their mouths shut before, because it was safer to be quiet—now they’d start talking. They always do, once they smell blood in the water. Loyalty is just self-interest in a nicer outfit.
I put the notice in the drawer, picked up the phone, and called the only person I had left.
Garrett. Not pack. Not council. Hell, his name wouldn’t even get a blink from most people. He just handled problems quietly, didn’t ask questions, and knew how to cover his tracks. He’d done three jobs for me—never left a trace.
He answered on the second ring.
“I have something,” I said.
“Talk.”
I looked at the wall. I thought about Meira in that chamber. About Darius Vael’s cool, certain face, watching the pieces all fall exactly where he’d set them.
I took stock. What was left? What could I still use?
“Vael’s mate,” I said. “She’s pregnant. Living at the estate.”
“And?”
“I want her uncomfortable,” I said. “Not hurt. Don’t touch her. Just show her—she isn’t as safe as she thinks. Remind her that walls aren’t invincible.”
He stayed silent a moment.
“That’s Lycan King territory,” Garrett finally said.
“I know what it is.”
“Risk premium goes up.”
“Name it.”
He did. I agreed without even blinking. Money didn’t matter now.
“One rule,” I said. “She doesn’t get hurt. Nothing touches the pregnancy. Just scare her.”
“Understood. Four days.”
He hung up.
I leaned back and stared at the ceiling for a while.
Everyone thought it was over. The council dismissed the complaint, opened the investigation, Meira said her piece, and everyone cheered her courage. As if that closed the book.
It didn’t.
Darius Vael had something I needed. Not Meira—not anymore. That was over. But the investigation could still drag out, with the right leverage in the right spot. If Vael was distracted at home, maybe he’d slip up at council. If Meira was rattled, maybe she’d stop being useful to him.
It wasn’t graceful. Garrett’s work never was. But “graceful” bought me a council probe, a frozen account, and a liaison on my doorstep in two days.
Graceful was over.
Now I needed results.
////
Four days later, Garrett called.
“It’s done.”
“What happened?”
“Came in the eastern border. Two men, kept quiet. Stayed clear of the house. Found the woman walking the grounds alone. My guy got close and gave her the message.”
My chest tightened. “What message?”
“The one you wrote. Word for word.”
I’d chosen that message carefully. No threats on the surface. Just enough to make her think—the walls weren’t total, and if I really wanted to, I could get to her. The council investigation would drag on, and a lot can happen when time drags.
“She’s fine. Unharmed,” Garrett said.
“Good.”
“Vael’s going to know it was you.”
“Let him. Knowing and proving aren’t the same thing.”
He hung up.
I turned to the window. Looked out at Silver Fang’s grounds—green, so familiar, pack moving through their morning. Nobody out there knew what I’d just set in motion. Nobody guessed how close this all was to falling apart.
I had one play left. One card I’ve hung onto since before the council hearing—a secret about Darius Vael, one that’d wreck his standing with the council if it came to light just right.
I was saving it.
If Garrett’s message didn’t shake things loose—if Vael didn’t pull back, if he didn’t slow down enough for me to maneuver—well, I’d use it. I didn’t want to. That would set fire to the last thing I still controlled.
But I didn’t build all this just to watch it fall apart in forty-two days because my daughter decided to show a backbone.
I’m Marcus