Chapter 25 Six Days Left
After lunch Elara put Adrian down for a nap and went back to Kai's office where she found him on the phone sounding frustrated.
"I don't care what it takes, find out who's been sending money to the borderlands," he said and hung up when he saw her.
"The investigators hit a wall, whoever's funding Mandivus knows how to cover their tracks."
"What if it's someone close to you?" Elara asked. "Someone with access to pack finances?"
"Like who?" Kai asked.
"I don't know, a pack elder maybe, or someone in administration," Elara said, thinking about the kinds of people who would have both motive and opportunity.
"Or my father," Kai said quietly.
Elara's eyes widened. "You think Darius..."
"I don't want to think it," Kai said. "But he's been unusually interested in you and Adrian since you arrived, and he had the resources to fund Mandivus's operations without anyone noticing."
"But why?" Elara asked. "What would he gain?"
"Control maybe," Kai said. "Or information, if Mandivus was feeding him intelligence about borderlands activities that could be valuable."
"That's a serious accusation," Elara said.
"Which is why I need proof before I make it," Kai said and pulled up files on his computer. "But if my father is involved, that means you and Adrian are in more danger than I thought."
A notification popped up on Kai's screen—an email from Mandivus with a subject line that made Elara's blood run cold;
"Daily Check-In."
\- Mandivus
Kai opened it to find a message;
"Time for proof of life, video call in 10 minutes or the deal is off."
"He's serious about this," Elara said.
"Then we'll give him what he wants," Kai said and set up his laptop for a video call.
Ten minutes later Mandivus's face appeared on the screen, his expression smug.
"Good to see you're still there," he said. "And the boy?"
Elara woke Adrian from his nap and held him in view of the camera while he rubbed his sleepy eyes.
"Say hi," Elara prompted.
"Hi," Adrian mumbled.
"He looks well," Mandivus said. "Make sure he stays that way, I don't want damaged goods."
"He's not goods," Elara snapped. "He's a child."
"He's my future heir," Mandivus corrected. "Six more days, Sera, don't make me come back early."
The call ended and Elara held Adrian close while trying to control her shaking.
"I hate him," she whispered.
"So do I," Kai said. "Which is why we're going to destroy him."
The rest of the day passed, as Kai and Elara kept on planning and preparing, with investigators coming and going and security being increased around the estate.
By evening Elara was exhausted and Adrian was cranky from being woken up too many times for done reason or the other.
She was putting him to bed when Kai knocked on the door with papers in his hand.
"I found something," he said, his face grim. "I found some financial records showing payments to borderlands accounts, and they're coming from my father's private funds."
Elara's stomach dropped. "Are you sure?"
"The account numbers match, the timing matches, everything matches," Kai said. "My father has been funding Mandivus for three years."
"Why would he do that?" Elara asked.
"I don't know," Kai said. "But I'm going to find out."
He left and Elara sat there in the dark trying to piece together what this meant, if Darius was funding Mandivus then he wanted something from the borderlands Alpha, and the timing suggested it started around when Elara was exiled.
Which meant Darius might have known about her all along.
Her old phone which she repaired after she masked the one kai gave her buzzed with a text from an unknown number;
"Your time is running out. Tell the Alpha heir the truth or I will.
\- M.S."
Elara deleted it immediately but her hands were shaking because Mandivus was threatening to expose her identity and she had no way to stop him except to give him what he wanted.
She looked at Adrian sleeping peacefully and felt tears burn her eyes because she'd come here for revenge but all she'd gotten was more danger and more impossible choices.
Someone knocked softly and when she opened the door, Kai was there holding a bottle of wine.
"I figured we both could use a drink," he said.
They sat on the floor of her small room drinking wine and talking in whispers so they wouldn't wake Adrian.
"Tell me about Adrian's father," Kai said. "The real story."
Elara hesitated because the real story was sitting right beside her, but Sera wouldn't know that.
"He was someone I thought I could trust," she said carefully. "Someone who made me believe we could have a future together, and then he destroyed everything."
"That sounds familiar," Kai said. "I did the same thing to someone once."
"Then you understand why I can't forgive easily," Elara said.
"I understand why you shouldn't," Kai said. "But maybe forgiveness isn't about what people deserve, maybe it's about letting go of the pain they caused."
"That's very philosophical for someone who's half drunk," Elara observed.
Kai smiled. "I'm full of surprises."
They sat in comfortable silence for a while until Adrian stirred and mumbled "Mama" in his sleep.
"He's lucky to have you," Kai said. "A mother who'd do anything to protect him."
"I can even give him up if that's what keeps him safe," Elara said.
"Is that really what you're planning?" Kai asked. "To hand him over to Mandivus?"
"I'm planning to survive," Elara said. "However that has to happen."
Kai stood up to leave but paused at the door. "For what it's worth, I won't let Mandivus take him, whatever it costs."
"Why do you care so much?" Elara asked.
"Because Adrian reminds me of everything I've lost," Kai said. "And maybe protecting him is how I start making up for the things I can't fix."
He left and Elara finished the wine alone, six more days until everything fell apart and she still had no plan except hope that Kai's investigators found something useful.
Her phone buzzed again;
"Tell him tomorrow or I tell him myself."
\-M.S
Elara threw the phone across the room where it hit the wall and cracked AGAIN but hopefully it didn't shatter.
She pressed her hands over her face because she was running out of time and running out of options and no matter what she chose someone was going to get hurt.