Chapter Seven — Ronan’s Dangerous Offer

The alarms screamed through the underground garage while every security officer around us reached instinctively for a weapon.

For one disorienting second, nobody moved.

Then the red emergency lights began flashing across the concrete ceiling, painting the body of Daniel Kerr in violent pulses.

My father looked toward the elevator.

“Get Adrian out of here.”

I turned on him immediately.

“You just told me a dead man was supposed to stay dead for twelve years, and now you expect me to leave without an explanation?”

Theodore Vale’s expression hardened.

“This is not the time.”

“That excuse stopped working the moment his body appeared under my building.”

Ronan stepped closer to the security barrier, scanning the garage.

“What triggered the alarm?”

One of the officers checked his radio.

“Fire system. Level B4.”

We were standing on B3.

Another officer shouted from across the garage.

“Smoke detected near the vehicle exit!”

Marcus looked toward me.

“Sir, we need to move.”

I glanced at the note still in Ronan’s hand.

O-17.

Primary Match.

My father’s warning.

None of it was leaving this garage without answers.

Then Ronan grabbed my arm.

“Adrian.”

I pulled away.

“Don’t.”

His gaze shifted past me.

I followed it.

Smoke had begun curling upward from the ramp leading to the level below.

Not thick yet.

But spreading.

My father swore quietly.

“That exit connects directly to the service road,” Marcus said.

Ronan looked at him.

“So whoever started the fire may be destroying evidence.”

Or creating a distraction.

The thought came instantly.

I turned toward Daniel Kerr’s body.

The security officer beside it had stepped away to answer his radio.

The body was momentarily unattended.

“Check the corpse.”

Ronan’s eyes narrowed.

“What?”

“If someone wanted us distracted, there is a reason.”

We moved toward the privacy screen.

Theodore followed.

“Adrian, enough.”

I ignored him.

The body looked unchanged.

Then Ronan crouched.

His expression altered.

“What is it?”

“The jacket.”

I looked closer.

The inner pocket that had held the folded message was open wider now.

Something inside caught the emergency light.

Metal.

Ronan reached toward it.

Marcus stopped him.

“Wait for forensics.”

Ronan looked at him.

“If that is what I think it is, waiting may be exactly what whoever planted it wants.”

He carefully pulled the object free using the corner of the victim’s jacket.

A small black device rested against the fabric.

My pulse changed.

“A tracker?” I asked.

“No.”

Ronan turned it slightly.

There was a blinking red light.

His face hardened.

“Recording device.”

Marcus swore.

My father stepped forward.

“How long has it been active?”

Ronan studied it.

“Possibly the entire time.”

Cold moved through me.

Someone had listened to us.

My questions.

My father’s reaction.

The name O-17.

Possibly everything.

Ronan crushed the device beneath the heel of his shoe.

The blinking stopped.

My father stared at him.

“That was evidence.”

“That was a live microphone.”

“You don’t know who was listening.”

“That was the point.”

Another alarm sounded.

This one came from a security officer’s radio.

“B4 fire spreading. Evacuate garage levels immediately.”

Marcus moved toward me.

“We are leaving.”

This time, I did not argue.

The heat inside my body had not disappeared, and the smoke beginning to gather above us would only make breathing harder.

We headed toward the emergency stairwell.

Ronan stayed close enough that I could feel the warmth of him beside me.

I hated how aware of him my body remained.

Even frightened, even furious, every Alpha instinct around me seemed amplified.

Especially his.

When we reached the stairwell, my father caught my shoulder.

“Go home.”

I looked at him.

“You’re coming with us.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because somebody needs to contain this.”

“You mean control it.”

His eyes sharpened.

“Sometimes those are the same thing.”

I stepped closer.

“Who was Daniel Kerr?”

Theodore glanced at Ronan.

Then at Marcus.

“Not here.”

“You said he should have been dead.”

“I said what I said.”

“And you are going to explain it.”

My father’s face changed.

Not enough for anyone else to notice.

Enough for me.

Fear.

Theodore Vale was afraid.

I had seen him furious.

Cold.

Cruel.

Humiliated.

I had never seen fear.

That frightened me more than the alarms.

“Go with Ashcroft,” he said.

The words stunned me.

Ronan frowned.

“What?”

My father looked directly at him.

“Take him somewhere private. Somewhere Vale security cannot access.”

I stared at Theodore.

“You trust him now?”

“No.”

“Then why?”

“Because whoever did this had Vale access.”

The words landed heavily.

My father continued.

“And if they had access to your medicine, your floor, your security system, and this garage, then your house may already be compromised.”

Marcus looked uncomfortable.

“Chairman—”

“I said may.”

Ronan studied Theodore.

“You’re telling him to leave with his competitor.”

“I am telling him to leave with the one person tonight who apparently was not surprised enough to become useless.”

I nearly laughed.

Even during a murder investigation, my father could insult three people in one sentence.

Ronan did not smile.

“Where?”

“My penthouse,” he said.

“No.”

Both men looked at me.

I folded my arms.

“I am not hiding in Ronan Ashcroft’s bedroom because somebody sent us a note.”

Ronan’s eyebrow lifted.

“I have more than one room.”

“That is not reassuring.”

Theodore ignored us.

“Go.”

Then he turned back toward the garage.

I caught his sleeve.

“Dad.”

He stopped.

“Who is O-17?”

For several seconds, he did not turn around.

When he finally looked at me, his expression was unreadable again.

“I hoped you would never hear that number.”

Before I could ask another question, he walked away.

The stairwell door closed behind him.

I stood there staring at it.

Ronan spoke quietly beside me.

“He knows.”

“Yes.”

“He knows a lot.”

“Yes.”

Marcus took a call and moved several steps away.

That left Ronan and me alone for the first time since the alarms began.

He looked at me.

“You need somewhere secure.”

“I have places.”

“Vale places.”

I said nothing.

He stepped closer.

“My penthouse has independent security, private medical access, and no connection to your family’s network.”

“And what exactly do you want in exchange?”

His expression became still.

There it was.

The part I had been waiting for.

Ronan Ashcroft never gave anything away for free.

“Your cooperation.”

“With what?”

“The investigation.”

“You already forced your way into it.”

“I want more than that.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“How much more?”

“I want access to your medical records, suppressant history, your physician, and every Vale file connected to Daniel Kerr.”

My anger rose immediately.

“You are out of your mind.”

“Possibly.”

“You want my entire secret handed to Ashcroft Global?”

“I want to know why someone called me your primary match.”

The words silenced me.

Ronan lowered his voice.

“And I want to know why your father looked terrified when he saw my name beside yours.”

I stared at him.

His expression held no triumph.

Only determination.

Then he extended his hand.

“Come with me tonight. I keep your Omega status secret, protect you until this heat passes, and investigate whoever did this.”

I did not take his hand.

“And your price?”

“You stop lying to me.”

I almost smiled.

“That could bankrupt you.”

“I’ll risk it.”

His gaze held mine.

“For the next forty-eight hours, Adrian, you trust me enough to stay alive.”

Before I could answer, Marcus returned.

His face had gone pale.

“Sir.”

Something in his voice turned my blood cold.

“What?”

He held out his phone.

Security had pulled another image from Daniel Kerr’s entry record.

The dead man was not alone.

Someone had entered Vale Tower beside him three days ago.

The photograph showed only the second person’s back.

Dark suit.

Silver hair.

A familiar posture.

I stared at the image.

Ronan leaned closer.

Marcus swallowed.

“The facial scan just finished.”

My stomach dropped.

The person who had entered the building with Daniel Kerr was registered under one name.

Theodore Vale.