Chapter 5

I held my breath, my thumb hovering a fraction of an inch above the scanner. I could feel the cold static of the device, ready to strip my life down to its chemical components and scream my secret to the world.

But the very moment my thumb made contact with the glass on the surface, everything went dead.

The floor-to-ceiling windows were the only source of light as every bulb in the boardroom flickered once and died. The hum of the air conditioning, the soft whir of the wall monitors all of it just when silent and we were plugged in darkness.

I froze, my hand still inches from the device and slowly lifted my head.

Agent Miller was frantically tapping the screen of his scanner. "What the hell?" He whispered to himself as he shook the device, his thumb repeatedly pressing on the power button.

Then his eyes met his partner, "Dan, check your comms."

"They're dead," Dan replied, his voice tight. "Everything’s dead."

I turned my head toward Kaelen. Who was leaning against the table, his eyes were narrowed, filled with suspicion and fixed directly on mine. 

He knew. He didn't know how, but he knew this wasn't a coincidence.

I felt a ghost of a smirk pull at the corner of my mouth, and didn't give him the satisfaction of seeing it.

The heavy doors to the conference swung open with a bang and Yui stood there, her silhouette framed by the emergency stairwell lights behind her. She looked breathless, her hair slightly mussed.

"Ms. Lancetii," Yui said, her voice sharp and carrying a perfect note of panic. "We have a catastrophic server failure in the basement. The fire suppression systems are malfunctioning and I need you in the security hub. Now."

I nodded, smoothing the front of my blazer with agonizing slowness and looked at Miller, who was still wrestling with his scanner as if he could spark it back to life with sheer willpower.

"Well," I said, my voice dripping with faux-concern. "It seems my IT department has failed us all today. Since your toys aren't working and my building is apparently trying to self-destruct, I’m sure you’ll understand that I have a business to save."

I turned my gaze to Kaelen and I let the smirk show this time, flashing him my fangs. "You and your... legal associates... can see yourselves out. The elevators are obviously out of commission, but I'm sure a big, strong man like you won't mind the stairs."

I didn't wait for his answer. I pivoted and walked toward Yui, my heels clicking against the polished floor.

The moment we cleared the boardroom and the doors clicked shut, my pace doubled. Eager to get away from them and their bloody detectors.

We reached my private office in record time. I didn't stop until I was behind my desk, seated on my leather chair. 

I let my head fall into my hands, the adrenaline finally starting to sour in my veins. "What took you so long?" I hissed, the words muffled by my palms. "I was a second away from having my hand on that filthy machine."

"The encryption on the A.S.A. devices are localized," Yui said, her voice low. "I had to trigger an electromagnetic pulse through the internal wiring to fry the batteries. It wasn’t a simple flip of a switch, Astrid."

I sighed and looked up to her gaze, she was leaning with her back to the closed door. "Tell me we found someone to kill this bastard." I purred, hating that I was even in this situation. 

William just declared war on me, and I would make sure it was the last thing he did.

But Yui only gave me a grim look."Yeah, about that," Yui whispered. “We have a problem.”

My brows furrowed as she left the door to come stand by the foot of my desk, "I put the word out through the usual channels," Yui muttered slowly, "I even doubled the standard bounty for an Alpha. Then I tripled it."

I looked up at her, "And? Who took the contract?"

"No one, Astrid." Yui stopped and looked at me, her face pale. "Every single fixer I contacted gave me the same answer. They won't touch him. Some of them didn't even want me to say his name over the line."

"What?" The word slipped out before I could even realize it, this was starting to give me a headache. "Since when do mercenaries care about the pedigree of a werewolf?"

"I know," Yui said, holding up her hands. "It didn't make any sense. So I did a little digging into his background. I went through the public archives, tax records, even the underground registries." She paused, licking her lips. "William Winchester. That’s it. That’s the only thing that exists, just his name and nothing more."

"What do you mean 'that's it'?"

"There are no birth certificates, Astrid. No school records, no dental files, no family tree. He doesn't have a past. The very first public appearance I could find for him was exactly fourteen months ago when he bought a failing tech firm in Shoreditch. Since then, he’s been growing Winchester Holdings at a rate that should be mathematically impossible. He’s acquiring a new company every three weeks."

I rubbed my temples, the dull throb of the headache intensifying behind my eyes. "So, basically, we know nothing. We have a man who appeared out of thin air a year ago and is now holding me by my neck?" I asked, livid that this was all she could find.

"It gets worse," Yui just had to add. "I tried to call in favors with the CEOs he’s already partnered with. I wanted to know how he operates, what his leverage is. Not one of them would talk. They all said the same thing, if I have questions, I should take them directly to Mr. Winchester."

I stood up and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the London skyline. The gray clouds were rolling in, matching my sour mood. There was no way no one was willing to spill a little bit of info on him.

Just who the hell was William Winchester? And why me? Why my enterprise? If he was acquiring companies like they were nothing, why come after me, what even was his end game.

All these questions just made my head hurt even more.

“You really should have listened to me and left him alone, Astrid.” Yui drew from behind me.

“Now is not the time,” I muttered mostly to myself. I had this feeling that this was all planned and thought out by him. 

He probably knew I would approach him last night, maybe he was even there to make me approach him, all so he could record me feeding off him and use it against me.

That sick bastard.

I sighed again, my head was aching so hard, and the sunlight coming from the window didn't help. But I knew he was somewhere out there, he was probably sitting in an office, watching the clock on my life tick down.

I looked at my watch, and it was exactly 2:00 PM. I was running out of time.

I had only a few hours left. But I wasn't going to give in to him. My father had taught me that if you can't outrun the trap, you kill the person who set it.

"It doesn't matter if the professionals are cowards," I spoke up, my voice cold and devoid of emotions. "That doesn't stop him from being killed. It just changes who pulls the trigger."

"Astrid, did you not hear anything I said," Yui asked, stepping toward me. "No one is taking the job. You can't just—"

"I heard you the first time, Yui." I turned away from the glass, my eyes flashing a dangerous red. “I'll do it myself.” I announced. “I’ve killed for less than my freedom before. And I would do it again. But first, I need you to find him."