Chapter 84
Claire’s POV
After Ivan called for me, I followed him down the hallway to one of the sitting rooms.
“What’s going on?” I asked him.
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“Nothing,” he replied. He was looking away from me, glancing out one of the nearby windows. The world was dark and quiet outside, and I wondered what his Alpha eyes could see in the shadows.
The darkness would give us the cover we needed to escape unseen, which was for Leo’s protection, but after what happened the night before, and with the dangers I now knew were waiting out there in the dark, I was unnerved.
The memory of how close that assassin had gotten to Leo’s room distracted me for long enough that it took me a moment to realize Ivan had said… nothing.
“Then why call me away?” I asked.
“You were looking at him like he meant something to you,” Ivan said. His voice was carefully blank, but I knew him well enough to know I had disappointed him. “I don’t have to remind you why that is a terrible idea.”
“I haven’t forgotten what he did,” I assured Ivan. Daphne had been the manipulator back then, but Gideon had still gone along with her. He had made his choices, and all of them were to listen to Daphne, to trust Daphne, while I had been cast
out.
I would have died – Nova would have died – if Ivan and his pack members hadn’t found me.
“He seems a good Alpha,” Ivan said. “And he seems to love his son.” Ivan turned then to look at me. “But you cannot trust him with your heart, not after what he did.” Sighing slightly, he shook his head. “You have stayed here too long.”
Ivan had wanted me to leave a long time ago, but I wasn’t going to abandon my son when I had only been allowed to be close to him again.
“Gideon doesn’t matter,” I said. “Leo is and has always been my priority.” I could tell that didn’t satisfy Ivan, who gave me a flat look, so I added, “Besides, we’ll be leaving soon now anyway and be seeing less of Gideon. Whatever nostalgia he might be stirring in me will wither away in that absence.”
At least, I hoped it would, and I would work hard to forget him. Ivan wasn’t wrong. Gideon had been quick to mistrust me in the past, and if he knew who I really was, he might fall back into those feelings.
But I wasn’t the naïve, overconfident girl I had been back then. Now, I had the experiences to back up my time warrior attitude, and I’d also gone through enough pain to know I didn’t want to suffer through it a second time.
“I won’t let him do that to me again,” I said.
When Ivan looked at me again, his expression was unreadable. “Just be careful,” he said.
I knew he meant with my heart.
“I will,” I promised.
Gideon’s POV
Holding each of their children’s hands, I led them down to the side servant’s entrance where one of Ivan’s cars was waiting. A trusted servant followed us, carrying two bags, one for each of the children. At the door, one of Ivan’s warriors took the bags and the servant retreated inside.
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Chapter 84
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I–trusted him. He was someone who had been on the staff since I was a boy. I had already explained the importance of secrecy, and he vowed to stay quiet.
Then, I kneeled and gave the children one last hug each, staring with Nova and ending with Leo. Leo held me tightly, his small fingers digging into the back of my neck like he didn’t want to let go. I didn’t want to let go either, but neither of us had choices in this moment.
This separation was only temporary. I had to remember that. “I’ll see you soon,” I told him, to remind him too.
Ivan and Raven left the house together.
Still holding my son, I told Ivan, “I am trusting you with the most important things in the world to me.”
Ivan nodded at me, and said, “I will take this seriously.”
As he moved ahead to his car, Raven stayed back. After my hugs, she held her hands out for the children, who moved then from me to her.
The three stood there for a moment, facing me, before they turned and hurried toward the car where Ivan was waiting.
As they entered and then drove away, I felt like a piece of my heart was leaving me.
There was a hole inside of me now, and it would never be filled again until I could make this place safe for my family again. Already, I missed Leo and Nova, and the steady, trustworthy Raven at my side.
I watched the cars disappear into the night, then I turned to Peter and one of my trusted warriors, Vincent.
“I want to make this pack safe enough for my son to return. That means we must get to the bottom of this contract as soon as possible,” I said. Daphne was the main suspect, of course, but being unable to approach her directly meant that I would have to go elsewhere for the answers I sought.
If I couldn’t question Daphne, why not speak to her father, who was still sitting in one of my jail cells?
“We are going to see Darius,” I said. “Now.”
Darius hadn’t been sleeping when we walked into his jail cell. From the look of him, disheveled with heavy bags under his eyes, he hadn’t been sleeping much at all. He had still been resting on his cot though, and sat up as we entered.
“A visit in the night, Alpha? What are you up
to?”
“Tell me everything you know about the contract that is out on my son,” I said bluntly, not bothering with pleasantries. Darius had already proven himself to be a traitor and a manipulator, like his daughter. All I wanted were facts, not sugar- coated half–truths and other bullshit.
“Straight to the point today, I see.”
“Tell me what I want to know,” I told him flatly.
“Yes, I’ve heard about it,” Darius said. “But I don’t know many details. Two hundred million dollars is a hefty sum. Someone truly hates you, Alpha. That kind of money is personal.”
“You hate me,” I said.
“I do,” Darius replied. “But I don’t have that kind of money, and even if I did, my target wouldn’t be a boy. For that price, why not remove the head of the snake?”
I stared at him, and at how boldly he was talking about killing me. “That’s treason,” I said.
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“I’m only taking about snakes,” Darius said. “What did you hear?”
“That’s all you know?” I asked.
“All I know,” Darius said.
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That he even knew that much was bothersome. He shouldn’t be receiving news of the outside world in a place like this, especially news of the underworld. There were leaks in the security here.
That was something that needed rectified.
I turned to Vincent to tell him to assign more guards to this particular cell, but what I saw stopped me in my tracks.
For a moment Vincent seemed lost in thought. Stretching out my Alpha senses, I could feel the swirl of greed around him.
“Vincent,” I said.
He blinked and his resolve hardened once more, the greed vanishing now. But it had been there.
Vincent was one of my most trusted warriors. For him to have been tempted, if even for a moment, by that amount of
money…
“Careful, Alpha,” Darius said, taunting. “Seems like you have more than one snake in your house.”
