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chapter 84

작가: Yahotgirl
last update 게시일: 2026-08-12 04:18:09

"Regardless of what it costs."

The words landed with a chill that cut through the salt air blowing off the coast.

"That includes us," Lucien said slowly. "Standing right here."

"It includes anyone still tangled in Cornelius's arrangement," Mireille said. "I never said I wanted to hurt you specifically. I said I wouldn't let sentiment stop me from finishing what I started, even if that means the cost falls somewhere I'd rather it didn't."

"Corinne is in a hospital bed right now because of you,"
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  • Dumped By The Alpha, I Married His Stepbrother   chapter 88

    "A failsafe."The hum grew louder, vibrating faintly through the floor beneath us, and every instinct in my body screamed to move, though toward what, I couldn't yet tell."Explain," Lucien demanded, stepping protectively in front of me."It's simple, really," Cornelius said, his composure fraying at the edges now, something almost manic creeping into his ancient voice. "A compound, aerosolized, released throughout the ventilation system. It will draw out and extract the specific markers I require from whoever carries them, regardless of consent.""You'll kill us," I said. "The same way your original experiment killed my grandmother.""Possibly," Cornelius admitted, with a coldness that turned my stomach. "But I've refined the process considerably since then. The odds of survival are better than they once were.""Better isn't certain," Marcus said, already scanning the room for any visible vent or access point."Nothing in this life is certain," Cornelius said. "I've simply learned to

  • Dumped By The Alpha, I Married His Stepbrother   chapter 87

    "Unless every single person in this room agrees to exactly what I require."Cornelius's voice carried no urgency, no threat in the way most dangerous men delivered their demands. Simply certainty, the kind that came from a century of never once being told no and meaning it."We're not agreeing to anything," Lucien said, "until you explain what you actually want.""Direct," Cornelius said, something like approval flickering across his ancient face. "Your mother had that same quality, before she decided disappearing suited her better than confronting me directly."Mireille stepped forward, her composure cracking for the first time since we'd arrived. "You knew I was alive.""Of course," Cornelius said. "I've known everything about everyone in this room for years, Mireille. Watching you build your quiet investigation from that cottage was, frankly, the most entertaining development I've observed in decades.""Then why let it continue," she demanded. "Why let me gather everything I gather

  • Dumped By The Alpha, I Married His Stepbrother   chapter 86

    "A welcome designed around our weaknesses."The words settled cold over the chamber, and for a long moment no one spoke."That's meant to frighten us into staying away," Isolde said finally, though her voice carried less certainty than her words suggested."Or it's simply true," Mireille said. "Cornelius has had over a century to study patience. If he's been watching this unravel, he's had every opportunity to prepare for exactly this moment.""Then we prepare too," I said. "Whatever weaknesses he thinks he's identified, we go in aware of that, rather than walking in blind.""That's easier said than accomplished," Marcus said grimly. "We don't know what he thinks our weaknesses are. That's the entire danger of this kind of manipulation. He's already three steps ahead simply by virtue of having watched us for so long."The senior elder studied the room carefully, weighing the tension radiating from every exhausted face gathered before her. "This council cannot in good conscience send a

  • Dumped By The Alpha, I Married His Stepbrother   chapter 85

    "A location."The words landed heavier than anything else Marcus had told us this endless week, and for a moment none of us moved."Where," Mireille demanded, stepping forward with an intensity that revealed exactly how many years she'd spent waiting for this exact confirmation."The council is still processing the full letter," Marcus said, scrolling further. "But the preliminary summary mentions a location three territories north, past the border most packs consider the edge of civilized land. An estate Bartholomew apparently only learned about himself in the final years of his own leadership, hidden even from him until he was deemed trustworthy enough to know.""That's consistent with everything I've theorized," Mireille said, something fierce and vindicated flashing across her face. "Cornelius wouldn't have trusted even his own grandson with that information until he'd proven himself useful enough to warrant it.""Why would Bartholomew leave this information behind now," Lucien as

  • Dumped By The Alpha, I Married His Stepbrother   chapter 84

    "Regardless of what it costs."The words landed with a chill that cut through the salt air blowing off the coast."That includes us," Lucien said slowly. "Standing right here.""It includes anyone still tangled in Cornelius's arrangement," Mireille said. "I never said I wanted to hurt you specifically. I said I wouldn't let sentiment stop me from finishing what I started, even if that means the cost falls somewhere I'd rather it didn't.""Corinne is in a hospital bed right now because of you," I said. "That's not abstract cost. That's a woman who's spent decades trying to atone for her own family's involvement, beaten because your people wanted confirmation of a tracking signal."Something flickered across Mireille's composed face, the first real crack in her control since she'd opened the door."That wasn't meant to happen the way it did," she said. "I gave clear instructions. Locate the information, nothing more.""Your people exceeded your instructions then," Lucien said. "Which me

  • Dumped By The Alpha, I Married His Stepbrother   chapter 83

    "Are you certain her death was ever as final as everyone assumed."Corinne's words hung heavy in the recovery room, and Lucien's face had gone pale in a way I hadn't seen since the night he first learned the truth about his own birth."My father grieved her for years," he said slowly. "I watched it break something in him that never fully healed. That grief wasn't performance.""Grief for what he believed happened," Corinne said gently. "Not necessarily grief for what actually occurred.""If she's alive," I said, "if she's the one who ordered Corinne attacked, then she's not simply a victim this family failed to protect. She's become part of whatever's still hunting us.""Or she's been forced into that role," Isolde said quietly, having arrived just in time to catch the tail end of the revelation. "The same way so many of us were forced into roles we never chose.""We need to find her," Lucien said, his voice tight with a complicated mixture of hope and dread. "If she's alive after all

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