Chapter 10: Video Kill

Lola Pov

The next morning, the television in the penthouse was tuned to the Council’s emergency broadcast.

I stood in front of the screen, my arms crossed, watching Tristain stand before the high elders. He looked smaller on the screen, but his voice was still that deep, commanding baritone that used to make me feel safe.

"The assets were built under the Herdez name," Tristain told the Council leader. "My wife is currently incapacitated by her illness. These movements of capital are erratic. They are the actions of someone who is no longer thinking clearly."

I gripped my elbows. He was standing there, in the hall of power, trying to dismantle my life’s work with a straight face.

"She’s stealing from her own pack," he added, looking down at a stack of papers. "I am requesting an immediate injunction. We need to freeze all Nightwood Logistics accounts before she burns the entire foundation down."

I turned away from the screen and walked to the dining table where my laptop sat. My hands were steady, though my heart was pounding against my ribs. I picked up the phone and dialed Dre.

"Are you watching this?" I asked.

"I’ve got it on the side monitor," Dre said. His voice was thick with tension. "He’s doing a hell of a job, Lola. Two of the elders look like they’re actually buying the 'crazy wife' routine."

"They can buy whatever they want. They can't buy back what isn't there. Move the last files now, Dre. The encryption keys for the South-West routes. Move them into the blind trust."

"I’m on it. But I have to tell you, Lola... Tristain’s tech team is hitting the firewall every thirty seconds. They’re digging deep. They’ve tracked the origin of the last transfer to a server in this city."

"Let them dig. By the time they get through, the servers will be wiped. Make sure nothing can be traced back to this IP."

"It’s done," Dre muttered. I could hear the rapid clicking of his keyboard. "But you’re playing a dangerous game. If the Council signs that injunction, you won't be able to move a cent of the liquid cash."

"He played me for five years, Dre. He watched me build this company while he was plotting to replace me with a child he had with my best friend. This is only the beginning."

I hung up and slumped into the chair. The blue light from the screen reflected in the dark glass of the balcony door.

I felt a sudden, sharp pang of regret. Not for leaving, but for the girl I used to be. The girl who used to wait up for him with dinner. The girl who felt guilty for working late because she thought she was taking time away from her "loving" husband.

I stood up and walked out onto the balcony. The city air was cool. I leaned my weight against the railing and looked at the lights below.

"How could I have been that stupid?" I whispered to the dark.

My wolf didn't answer with comfort. She answered with steel. She pushed against my consciousness, a reminder that the weakness was gone. The betrayal was a fire that had burned away the soft parts of me, leaving something harder behind.

I felt the self-blame bubbling up, but I shoved it down. It wasn't my fault he was a monster. It was my fault I hadn't seen it, but I was fixing that now.

The heat in my hip was a constant hum. It felt like a low-voltage current running through my skin. I wasn't just getting better. I felt like I was being rebuilt.

I went back inside and checked the laptop. The progress bar hit 100%.

"System Cleared," the screen read.

I felt a ghost of a smile pull at my lips. Tristain was currently arguing for the rights to an empty shell. He had the name, but I had the blood and the bones of the company.

I was about to shut the lid when a notification popped up on my social feed. It was a "Breaking News" alert from the Crescent Ridge community page.

I clicked it.

Sofia appeared on the screen. She wasn't in a studio. She was sitting in the nursery…my nursery in our house. The walls were the soft cream color I had picked out. The rocking chair was the one I had sat in while I cried over my "infertility."

She was holding the baby. Her eyes were red and swollen. She looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"I don't know who else to talk to," Sofia said, her voice trembling. She looked directly into the camera. A stray tear rolled down her cheek. "Lola, if you’re watching this... please."

I felt the air leave my lungs. I sat down on the edge of the sofa.

"You left us," Sofia sobbed. The baby started to fuss in her arms, and she rocked her with a desperate, shaky motion. "You abandoned your child. I know you're sick, and I know you're scared, but she needs her mother. We all do."

She hugged the baby tighter. The child let out a sharp cry.

"Tristain is doing his best, but he’s falling apart," Sofia continued. She wiped her face with the back of her hand. "If you have any heart left, Lola, come take her. Come home before I’m forced to raise her as my own. I love her, but she isn't mine. Please... don’t make me do this alone."

The video ended with a shot of the baby’s face, the little girl I had held, the one I had promised to love.

I threw the phone across the room. It hit the rug with a dull thud.

"You bitch," I choked out.

The room felt like it was shrinking. Sofia was a master. She knew exactly which string to pull. She knew I loved that baby.

She was using a child’s tears to bait me back into a cage. She was setting the stage so that when I finally showed up, the whole pack would see a heartless woman who had to be saved from her own mind.