Chapter 20
Chapter 20
I start to stand up and Aaron’s hand comes down on my
shoulder. “Don’t fucking move.”
But the pieces come together like a puzzle and I recognize
that I played right into Aaron’s trap.
Seeing what he wanted me to see.
Doing what he plotted for me to do.
“The account that I thought was mine,” I whisper. “You always
had it flagged for the Regional Collective.”
He nods.
So my father isn’t wrong. I did do this.
Even if my father is spared by the Council, he’ll still be
convicted by human courts. Shit, even Martha Stewart with all her billions, couldn’t beat an insider
trading rap. She went to
jail.
“Why? Damn it, Aaron. Why would you do this?”
“I already told you. Because of you.”
His eyes are cold and empty. “I’ve had this plan in place for a long time. But you forced my hand, Leah,
when you
threatened to divorce me.”
Her face is pale and her eyes are glassy with tears.
I don’t feel bad about that.
She’s lied. She’s refused to confide in me. She’s plotting to
leave me-and to hell with the aftermath for my pack or our
community.
She forced my hand.
I warned her. Multiple times.
“This will ruin them,” she whispers, her eyes dancing around nervously. “They’ll execute my father.”
There is a chance of that. Yes. “That is a possibility.”
“At the very least, he’ll be stripped of his title. And a pack
without an alpha is easy pickings.” She pitches her voice lower
still. “Was that your goal all along? To take what he has and to
hell with who you crush to do it?”
was not my primary objective. No. But as the situation has evolved, so have I. “It’s not my fault your
father ran his pack into the ground.”
Alpha Roberts gambles and drinks. He’s wasteful. Focused on
flashy cars and exotic vacations and fast women. He’s also
violent. Capable of unspeakable crimes and known for not caring about collateral damage.
“Leah… your father lost his way.”
“You bastard! How could you do this!?”
I believe we’ve already covered the how and the why. I’m not
going to argue with her. At least not here. Not in front of our
peers. We’re getting odd looks now and I know plenty of these wolves’ tongues will be wagging.
I’m not concerned with the gossip.
I’m focused on the outcome that my machinations will
achieve.
“Drop this whole stupid idea of a divorce, and I’ll lend my
support for the Council to be lenient.”
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Karolina leans forward. “Would you like to explain what your
mean by that?”
Leah glances back at me.
My muscles flex and adrenaline pumps inside me.
My wife knows what I am capable of. And she has to know
that if she says or does something to hurt my pack that there will be repercussions.
I walk down the rows of empty seats until I’m in the central
area and I move to stand beside her.
Then she shocks all of us in this room by dropping to her
knees…