Chapter 4: Jaxon's POV

The door of the office opened, and Nora walked in. “Hey, sis,” I said. “What’s up?” “Hey,” she said curtly. I sagged back in my chair as she paced the room, looking nothing like her usual self. I can tell she's nervous about telling me something.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “Huh?” Her head snapped around to look at me. “Yeah. I’m fine. Did you figure anything out about the financial issues?” she asked, obviously changing the subject. “Nothing new that I've not already told you.” I frowned at her in confusion.

“Hey, did you know Dad banished the betas and the enforcer?” She stopped pacing and froze in place. “What?” Her nervous demeanor disappeared and she became more like her old self. “Dad said they got pissed at him for not giving them more power over the pack, so they left on their own”. “And you believed that? Nora, you’ve known Arnold and the others for as long as I have. Does that make sense at all to you?” Sighing, she flopped into the seat opposite me. “I didn’t question it because everyone I asked said the same thing”.

Honestly, I was still too shocked by his death to worry about others. I’ve been gone a long time also. Dad was only sixty when he died. That’s not old for a shifter. Not at all. Rumors were he was drinking heavily, and he’d gained weight, even with his shifter metabolism.

I silently thought maybe he spent all the pack money on drinking alcohol, which still doesn't make sense because it wouldn’t explain the sheer amount of money that was missing. I should have been here to keep things in order. Maybe if I hadn’t run off all those years ago, things would have turned out differently. Or better still if I had come earlier after hearing about his death had not wait until Nora called me and begged me to return, maybe things would've been salvageable.

My sister and I had both gone out ways few tears after Mom died, and Dad changed. Nora and I have always thought maybe mum had died from the emotional baggage she had to deal with by being Dad’s partner because that man cannot live without having affairs with other women. Most of the pack members suspected mom knew about it but the last straw was when a woman brought my father's love child to the pack. She finally succumbed to deah and dad became an alcoholic.

“Can we fix this, Jaxon? The finances?” my sister's voice brought me out from my deep thoughts. “I’m not sure. I’ve owned a lot of businesses over the years. I’ve got experience with finances going from red and into the black in a twinkle of an eye. This—” I looked pointedly at the stack of papers on top of my desk “—is bullshit, but I think we can get the ship righted. It would help if I could figure out where the hell the money went, though. Maybe I’ll get lucky, and Dad decided to hide it in a safe or something.” Nora let out a sigh and nodded. “Wouldn’t that be lovely?”.

“Is there something else you wanted to tell me? You were tense earlier. I can see it all over your face. Is there anything else I need to know about?” She smoothed her dress with her hands and avoided eye contact with me. “No, nothing else, that was it. I need to head out. I’ll talk to you later, okay?” “Sure, let me —” Before the words were even out of my mouth, my sister had rushed out of the room. I stared at the door behind her, trying to figure out what all that had been about.

My phone rang, the caller ID said it was the office. Now that we’d returned to Moonridge, and I were now in charge of the family business including the local water company. “This is Jaxon,” I said, answering the phone. “Hey, Jaxon. It’s Helena at the office. Have you checked the disconnect and reconnect sheet? I’ve got a lady bothering me because her water hasn’t been turned on yet. I sent it few days ago, and she’s saying it’s still not on. The app over here says you acknowledged it, but no one has been sent. Did you tell one of the guys, and they forgot or it's a mistake on your part?”.

When was the last time I’d looked at that sheet? I’d been so neck deep in digging through Dad’s paperwork that I’d completely forgot to check the app we used for assignments. “I’ll get right on it right now, Promise.” “Good. Best believe if she calls back, I’ll transfer her right to you.”

“Thanks,” I said, and ended the call. Scrolling through the app, I found the assignment sheet she was talking about. Over a dozen old assignments with attached addresses slid by on my screen, each outlined in green to show it had been acknowledged. Beside each job, a green check mark sat next to the address. While a group was labeled as complete jobs, the one at the bottom was outlined in green but had a red mark beside it. There also wasn’t a technician assigned to the address. Damn, this must be the lady's own. With all the stress, I must have seen and acknowledged the notification, but never got around to assigning anyone to the job.

Forgetting to provide a service a customer was paying for was not a good start to things especially since I'm now the new owner. I was about to get a technician on it when I saw the address of the lady's house. My heart beat took another rhythm, that I'm sure couldn't be healthy. The number and street name were very familiar, and I'd even driven past the same address on my drive round the town to reacquaint myself with this place. The state of the house had told me no one lived there, although it looks well taken care of.

A few subtle questions I asked here and there, had revealed that Emery had departed Moonridge a few months after I had. Helena said it was a woman who’d called. Could it be her? Had Emery come home after all these years? Even thinking about her sent chills up and down my arms. Crushing guilt hit me once again for what I did and didn’t do. For years, I’d thought about reaching out to her, apologizing for running from what we had. I just couldn't bring myself to face her and acknowledge the fact that I did her bad to her eyes. To think that Emery hadn’t even known I was leaving when I did, I just need things abruptly and left.

My anger at my father had blinded me to everything else and I’ve regretted my decision ever since. Before I could stop myself, I called Helena back. “Yes, Boss?” she asked. “The reconnection? Did the woman sound old?” “I don’t know what you mean by that, but the woman I spoke with didn’t sound elderly.” “Okay, I’m heading there now. I’m gonna take care of it.” “Boss, you can call one of the techs to do it. That’s all you should have to do. You’re in charge now, no need to go running all over the place when you have more than enough employees”.

“I know,” I said quickly. “I want to. I should have assigned it to one of the guys days ago. Since I didn't , it's on me, there's no need for them to rush to fix my mistake.” “Sure. Let me know when it’s done, then I’ll file the paperwork.” “Will do,” I said. Grabbing my truck keys, I got up and headed out of the office.

There was only one way to know if the woman who’d moved into the house was Emery, I'd have to go there to see it myself. The thought of seeing her again, or maybe having the chance to fix what I’d broken, gave me and my inner wolf more hope than I’d had in years. For all I knew, she had rented the house out, or she’d sold it. But a small scratch that big part of me, hoped it was her.