Beyond Reasonable Doubt (Full Series) のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 91 - チャプター 100

Chapter 21Jordan POVI went to the gardens because I needed to be somewhere that felt less suffocating.Inside the packhouse, everything had edges. Voices lowered when I passed. Eyes tracked too long. Even the quiet felt staged, like everyone was holding their breath and waiting for the next warrant to land.The garden didn’t care.It sat behind a low stone wall on the east side—raised beds, trellises, herbs that smelled like someone still believed in ordinary life. Damp soil, rosemary, a little mint. The air was cold enough to sting, but it was clean.I carried a cup of coffee out there like it was a life choice instead of a coping mechanism. I hadn’t slept much, and my brain had been chewing on the same three things since Maddox’s office:One month. A bride. And the word mate falling out of his mouth like a mistake he couldn’t undo.I took a sip and made a face. “Great. Coffee that tastes like regret.”I was wearing a white shirt I’d grabbed without thinking—soft, thin cotton. No b

Chapter 23Jordan POVI told myself I wasn’t going to think about the kiss.That was my first lie of the day.My second lie was that I’d be able to function like a normal attorney after being kissed in a garden by my client—an Alpha—who looked at me like I was the only thing in the world he couldn’t outthink.I sat at the kitchen table in my suite with my laptop open and a legal pad full of bail conditions, and my brain kept rewinding to the moment his mouth hit mine. Not the sweet part. Not the “oh wow, this is romantic” part.The hungry part.The part where he didn’t ask.The part where I didn’t hesitate.And the part where he stepped back afterward like I’d become radioactive.That last part bothered me more than the kiss itself.Because I could handle desire. I could handle impulse. I could even handle the sparks I couldn’t explain and the bond conversation that made my stomach twist. What I couldn’t stand was being treated like I was the mistake.I pressed the edge of my pen into

Chapter 25Jordan POVMaddox’s question didn’t sound like a trap.That was what made it dangerous.“Did your father ever mention wolves to you?”For half a second, I forgot I was standing in a library on a property that had cameras in the trees and secrets in the walls. I forgot I was building a surrender plan and a bail package and a compliance narrative. I forgot Silvia Smith was circling like she had a stopwatch in her pocket.All I heard was father.And the way Maddox said it—quiet, precise—like he already knew the answer mattered.My throat tightened.Kane’s eyes flicked from Maddox to me, alert.Rowan stayed near the shelves, arms crossed, face blank. But his body went subtly still, like the room had shifted and he was tracking what might break.I forced air into my lungs and made my voice steady.“No,” I said. “Not directly.”Maddox’s gaze didn’t move. “Not directly,” he repeated, like he was filing the phrase away.“I was a kid,” I added, because I needed him to understand I w

Book Two- The Defense of WolvesAct II- Indictment and CoupChapter 27Jordan POVThe courtroom was colder than it needed to be, which is how I knew Silvia Smith expected to win.Not because temperature affects outcomes—if it did, half the bench would be staffed by Florida retirees—but because prosecutors who plan to paint you as dangerous love anything that makes people tuck their hands under their arms and look nervous.Nervous people vote for cages.I stood at counsel table with my binder open, my bail packet stacked neatly beside it, and my face set to calm. Not “I’m fine” calm. “I will bury you with procedure” calm.My body did not match my face.Because Maddox wasn’t in the room yet, and the longer I waited, the more that low, gnawing ache pressed under my sternum. Like my chest was too tight for my lungs. Like something inside me kept reaching out and finding nothing.I told myself it was adrenaline. Stress. Lack of sleep. Coffee. The fact that a prosecutor had filed the word R

Chapter 29Jordan POVBy three in the afternoon, the internet had decided Maddox Mercer was running a cult.Not a criminal enterprise.Not a private security company with terrible public relations and worse timing.A cult.Because apparently when people ran out of legal vocabulary, they sprinted straight to cable-news hysteria and brought snacks.I found the article because Roger texted it to me with no greeting, no context, and one very unhelpful sentence:Don’t throw your phone.Naturally, I opened it immediately.The headline sat at the top of the screen in bold black letters designed to raise blood pressure and lower intelligence.INSIDE THE MERCER HOUSE: SOURCES CLAIM CULT-LIKE CONTROL ON PRIVATE LANDI stared at it for five full seconds.Then I said, to my empty office, “Oh, lovely. We’re doing vocabulary crimes today.”The article was short, sloppy, and dangerous.That was the worst combination.Long articles gave people room to think. Short articles gave them something to repe