Chapter 14

*Belinda’s POV*

I stood in the center of the cabin, the crumpled letter clutched so tightly in my fist that my knuckles turned white.

The air felt thin, like the walls were closing in around me. My heart was not beating with guilt. It hammered with pure, icy fear. 

Serena was gone. She had not just packed a bag. She had taken the evidence. She had taken the truth.

"Find her!" I screamed at my guards, who huddled by the door looking confused and clumsy. 

My voice echoed off the wooden beams, sharp and desperate. "I do not care how you do it! Drag her back here! If she reaches the Council, we are all dead!"

One of the guards shifted uncomfortably, his head lowered. "We cannot track her, Mother-in-Law. She left no scent. That guard of hers scrubbed the trail clean."

I felt rage boil up inside me. "Then keep looking!" I shrieked. 

I grabbed a wooden chair and hurled it against the wall. It splintered into a dozen pieces with a loud crack. The sound satisfied me for half a second, but it did nothing to calm the storm in my chest.

"Search every road, every forest path, every damn hiding spot between here and the border! She cannot have gone far!"

The guards exchanged nervous glances but nodded quickly. "Yes, Mother-in-Law. We will bring her back."

I did not wait for them to move. I scrambled out of the cabin and back into my carriage, my hands shaking so badly I could barely grip the door. 

The offshore accounts. The shell companies that linked Liliana and, by extension, Caden to the rogue gold. 

If the Alpha Council saw those numbers, they would not just strip Caden of his rank. They would burn the entire Thornblood legacy to the ground.

I pulled my phone from my pocket. My thumbs fumbled across the screen as I dialed Caden’s number. "Pick up, Caden. Please, just pick up," I muttered under my breath.

It rang and rang. The carriage began rolling back toward the main house, but the motion only made my nausea worse.

"Come on," I hissed, pacing the small space as much as I could. "You stupid, arrogant boy. Why are you not answering?"

He was probably with her. With that fragile, useless girl who had no idea that her so-called fated mate was a thief and that his mother was his partner in crime.

Finally, the line clicked. But it was not his voice. It was his voicemail, cold and mechanical.

"Caden, it is me," I shouted into the phone, my voice cracking. "I am at the cabin. She is gone, Caden! She took the ledger! The real one!"

I paused, breathing hard, waiting as if he might suddenly answer. 

The only sound was the wind in the background of his recording.

"She knows!" I cried, dropping my voice to a terrified whisper. "She knows everything! Find her before she talks! If she reaches the border, we are finished. Do you understand me? Everything we built, all the power, the money, the position, it will be gone. The Council will tear us apart piece by piece."

I gripped the phone tighter, my nails digging into the case. "Caden, listen to me. You have to stop her. Use every warrior you have. Check the borders. Check her old contacts. She cannot be allowed to speak. If she exposes the accounts, the shell companies, the deals with the rogues, they will execute you. They will execute me. Think of Liliana. Think of the pup she carries. Your legacy depends on this."

My voice broke again. "I have never asked you for much, son. But I am begging you now. Find her. Silence her. Do whatever it takes. We cannot lose everything because of one weak girl who finally grew a spine."

I hung up and stared out the window. The trees blurred past like prison bars closing in. I thought of Serena, the woman I had treated like a servant for three years. I had underestimated her completely. I had thought she was too weak to fight back, too loyal to leave. I had been wrong.

Now she was out there in the dark, holding the match that would light our world on fire. For the first time in my life, I was not the one in control. I was the one being hunted by my own secrets.

"Find her," I whispered to the empty carriage, though I knew no goddess would listen to a woman like me. "Find her and silence her, or we will lose everything."

The carriage hit a bump in the road, jolting me. I pressed my forehead against the cool glass and closed my eyes.

Images flashed through my mind: the ledger pages filled with our transactions, the signatures that could condemn us all, Serena’s determined face as she walked away. 

How had she planned this? How long had she been waiting for the perfect moment?

I dialed Caden again. Straight to voicemail.

"Caden, it is your mother. Call me back immediately. This is not a game. Serena has the proof. She knows about the gold, the rogues, everything. If you are with Liliana, get her somewhere safe. I will handle the guards, but you need to move now. Do not let sentimentality cloud your judgment. She was never truly one of us. She was always a placeholder."

I ended the call and leaned back, my body trembling. The fear was a living thing inside me, clawing at my throat. 

I had sacrificed too much to let one girl destroy it all. Serena thought she could win by running. She had no idea what I was capable of when cornered.

By the time the carriage reached the main house, I had already begun forming new plans. Guards would be doubled. Spies sent to every neighboring pack.

Bribes prepared if needed. But deep down, I knew the real danger was not just Serena. It was the truth she carried. And the truth had a way of destroying empires.

I stepped out into the cold night air, my wolf restless and snarling beneath my skin. "She will not win," I vowed quietly. "Not while I still breathe."

The wind carried my words away, but the fear remained, sharp and unrelenting.