Chapter 735:

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I turned to face my half-brother, Caleb Thorne. Though we shared a mother, his soul belonged entirely to the ruthless Thorne Syndicate, and he had always despised my loyalty to the Marshall Pack. He looked like a phantom in his tailored tuxedo, swirling a glass of amber whiskey with terrifying calm.

“Why the sudden rush to ship Marcus to the Alps, Elara?” Caleb asked, cutting straight to the point.

I tried to pull my arm free, masking my panic with professional annoyance. “It’s a standard work assignment, Caleb. We have a backlog of European restorations that need his attention.”

Caleb’s cold smile didn’t reach his eyes. He stepped closer, using his massive height and the sheer weight of his superior aura to box me in.

“You think you can play me, Elara?” he whispered, his voice dripping with cruel amusement. “I know exactly who triggered the slaughter at the Geneva shipyard two nights ago. It was our Alpha King, Dallas.”

My heart violently seized. I stared at him, the blood draining from my face. But his next words delivered the true, fatal blow.

“I also know,” Caleb continued, his eyes locking onto mine, “because I bribed your maids to plant a micro-audio bug in your home office. I intercepted Cassia’s frantic call about the brass gears. The European dark web is frantically hunting a legendary information broker who vanished years ago. They are looking for the ghost restorer who left an A signature on a First Era mechanical dire wolf.”

𝗥𝗼𝗺𝘢ոcе nо𝗏𝗲𝗹𝘴 𝗼n gа𝗹𝘯o𝗏𝗲𝗹s.𝖼𝗈m

The opulent club around me seemed to spin. He knew. He had somehow connected the black-market bounty to Adella’s hidden past. My inner wolf trembled violently under the weight of his exposure, but I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted copper, refusing to break.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I lied through my teeth.

Caleb let out a dark chuckle, thoroughly enjoying the sight of his prey backed into a corner. “Deny it all you want. But starting tonight, I am moving into your penthouse. I will be monitoring your communications and your movements twenty-four hours a day until I find out exactly what you are hiding.”

“Absolutely not!” I hissed, my pure hatred for his controlling nature flaring. “You will not invade my private space!”

The cruel amusement vanished from Caleb’s face. He unleashed the full, suffocating weight of his high-ranking aura, pressing down on my chest until I could barely breathe.

“If you refuse,” Caleb threatened coldly, “I will file an emergency injunction to freeze Marcus’s Pack Transit Papers at dawn. And then I will walk straight to Eleanor ‘Gigi’ Marshall. I will tell the Matriarch every single detail about Dallas’s unhinged rampage in Europe, and the filthy black-market background of your precious Luna.”

A sickening wave of defeat crashed over me. He had flawlessly targeted my only weakness. If Gigi learned the truth, she would strip Dallas of his crown and throw Adella to the High Council’s executioners. To protect my friend and my Alpha, I had absolutely no choice.

I swallowed my humiliation, my nails digging into my palms. “Fine,” I gritted out, my voice shaking with venom. “You can have the guest room.”

Caleb’s inner wolf let out a low, victorious purr.

I didn’t wait for his gloating. I turned on my heel and stormed away from the secluded corner, desperate to escape his suffocating presence. But as I pushed through the crowd of oblivious billionaires, I glanced back over my shoulder.

Caleb was already pulling his phone from his tuxedo pocket, dialing his chief intelligence officer. The New York defense line was officially breached from the inside.

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