Chapter 4: Alpha and Contract

She found Jeremy where she had expected him not to be - in a private wing of the hospital, near Sarah’s file. The hospital administrator pretended she was not there - books pulled closed and a deliberate gaze. But the Rathbones had privileges. Jeremy moved through the corridors like he owned the building, though he kept his hands folded politely. Up close, he was undeniably present in a way photographs could not capture, tall, broad-shouldered, handsome, and with a silence that felt like the slack tide.

“You persist,” he said without surprise when he stepped from the shadows outside the records office, voice a low thing that did not need volume to exert force.

 Lena bristled. “You are the one who follows your money into people’s lives and calls it charity. I want answers.”

“You want truth. You do not want what it costs.” He held out a hand—both an offer and a warning.

“Come with me. I can give you access to what you seek. I can protect you.”

She laughed bitterly. “Why would you help me?”

“Because you’re dangerous.” He paused, and for a breath she saw something flicker - interest, maybe, or respect.

“Because your sister Sarah mattered.” The words landed like a fist. He knew Sarah’s name.

“And because what hunts here is not fit for the world to know.”

 Lena folded her arms. “Or because you want to keep me close.”

His smile was slow and unamused. “Perhaps. But the truth is rarely single-motived.”

He laid conditions on the table without mincing. Access would come with oversight. She would have exclusive interviews, protected passage on Rathbone property, and sensitive documents opened to her. In return, she would not publish certain details until he authorized their release. She would cooperate with his inquiries and follow protocols the family established for outsiders.

The words she had imagined hearing - coercion, control - settled in the space between them. Jeremy's terms were smooth and absolute. He spoke of protection like a physical tether. He spoke of the cost in tones that suggested he had rewritten that ledger a thousand times.

“What do you want from me?” Lena asked, a journalist’s instinct for precision cutting through the fear.

He tilted his head as if weighing the syllables. “You will submit to the conditions of my house. You will abide by its rules. You will allow me to ensure your safety. You will be—” his voice dropped to a private register, “—under my protection.”

She heard the word submit differently than he intended: a professional compromise, an ethical Lena. To Jeremy, it was layered with ownership and a nuance that made her skin prickle. To Lena, it was both lifeline and chain.

“I won’t be a puppet,” she said.

“You won’t be,” he replied. “You will remain yourself, but we will mark—boundaries, as any pack does. Accept my terms and I will show you what lies behind their doors. Refuse, and you will find your investigation… difficult.”

There was danger in the offer, and possibility. Access meant answers. Answers meant the chance to find the truth about Sarah. It was tempting until the edge of the temptation showed teeth.

~~~

The interior of the Rathbone SUV was unnervingly silent as Lena kept her eyes on Jeremy as he drove through Seattle's sleeping streets, the cityscape melting away into dense woods and sprawling estates.

“You want answers,” Jeremy said, breaking the silence.

“But the truth in this town is buried beneath layers of lies and blood. And some secrets... well, some secrets protect those who wield power.”

Lena swallowed hard, gripping her camera tighter.

“I’m not afraid.”

Jeremy’s eyes flicked to her, something almost like respect shining through the storm of menace.

“Good. You will need that.”

Their destination was not on any public map. After miles of winding roads, they arrived at an imposing mansion hidden deep in the forest. Lights glowed faintly behind tall iron gates, and the air smelled of pine and something darker — decay, or perhaps old sins.

“Welcome to the Rathbone ancestral grounds,” Jeremy said.

“The heart of the family business, and where your sister's trail begins to thicken.”

Lena’s breath caught as they stepped out. She realized the weight of what she had bargained for - walking into the lion’s den with a predator who might not just offer protection but demand control.

“Tonight, you’ll see some of the family’s secrets,” Jeremy warned, his voice low, “but remember in these woods, loyalty is currency, and enemies wear familiar faces.”

Lena tightened her grip on her camera.

“I’m ready.”

~"~

She signed a non-disclosure agreement in a small, tastefully appointed study that smelled of leather and lemon. The paper was tight, precise; even the fonts felt like a cage. Jeremy watched her sign and, when she looked up, something unreadable softened his face.

“You are brave,” he said. “Or foolish. Only time will tell which.”

As she left the estate that night, with a security escort and a feeling of each step being counted, Lena realized the pact had already changed the terms of her fight. She had climbed into the den. The heart of it beat in a rhythm she did not yet understand. And Jeremy, who had offered her a rope, also held the blade.