Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 81 - Chapitre 89

Chapter 11Jordan POVThere are few things more insulting than being forced to defend your ethics to people who have never had to win a case while standing knee-deep in someone else’s disaster.Actually, that’s not true.Being forced to defend your ethics while sleep-deprived, freshly threatened, and carrying the knowledge that someone broke into your room to send a message about your medication is probably more insulting.The hearing room for bar counsel was smaller than a courtroom and somehow meaner. Courtrooms at least had the decency to be honest about the fact that they were built for conflict. This room tried to look neutral. Beige walls. Soft lighting. A pitcher of water no one ever trusted. A conference table that pretended to be collaborative while quietly promising professional humiliation.I sat at one end of it in a navy suit and pearl studs, because if I was going to be accused of impropriety, I was at least going to look expensive while denying it.Roger Teller sat to m

Chapter 13Jordan POVI didn’t sleep.I tried. I did the whole routine—lights low, phone facedown, breathing slow like I’m in a wellness commercial. I even drank chamomile tea like a woman who has her life together and doesn’t know the meaning of “grand jury.”None of it worked.Because the second I closed my eyes, I felt it again.That spark. That jolt. That heat that didn’t make any sense for two adults who should, at minimum, be capable of behaving like they’ve passed a background check.And because Maddox—Maddox—had looked like he was going to kiss me and then stopped like it hurt.Not embarrassed. Not awkward.Hurt.Not yet.I kept hearing it.Not yet, like there was a clock I couldn’t see and rules I didn’t know.So at one in the morning, I gave up on sleep and went to the one place in this house that never judged me for being awake: the library.When I walked out of my room, Rowan turned his head toward me."I can't sleep. I'm going to the library," I said simply.He didn't arg

Chapter 15Jordan POVMy case board looked like a conspiracy wall built by a woman who’d lost access to sunshine and normal friendships.Strings, sticky notes, printouts, timelines. The service road turnout circled in red. Kline’s autopsy request highlighted like Silvia would magically produce it faster if I bullied the paper. A separate column for things Silvia says out loud and things Silvia clearly believes but can’t prove yet.The problem wasn’t that I didn’t have a theory.The problem was I had three.And if I didn’t split them cleanly, Silvia would blend them into one ugly narrative and feed it to a grand jury like it was gospel.I stood in the Mercer library—again—because apparently this room had become my second office and my first therapist. The table was covered in evidence audit sheets and drafts of motions, and I’d already rewritten my opening paragraph twice because the word panic looked weak on paper, even though panic was the most honest word we had.Kane sat off to the

Chapter 17Maddox POVJordan’s voice didn’t rise when she said it.That was the part that hit hardest.“No,” she said, flat as a verdict. “That’s not real.”Rowan went so still I could hear the joints in his hands tighten against his knees. The white noise machine in her suite hummed like it had no idea it was failing at its job. The air in the room felt too sharp, like everything had edges now.My wolf slammed against my ribs.Not to fight.To close distance.To correct.To claim.Mine.I stayed where I was.Because claiming her in front of Rowan—claiming her in front of anyone—would turn her into a weapon on day one. Council would smell it. Tessa would use it. And Jordan… Jordan would hear it as possession, not truth.So I did the only thing I could do without making it worse.I controlled the room.“Rowan,” I said, voice even.His gaze snapped to mine. He didn’t blink. He looked like a man trying not to explode.“Out,” I ordered.Rowan’s jaw flexed. “Alpha Maddox—”I didn’t raise

Chapter 19 Jordan POVRoger Teller's voice was calm even when the world was on fire. It used to annoy me. Now it was one of my favorite survival tools.My phone buzzed just after sunrise—too early for good news, too early for anyone to be calling unless they had a problem they couldn’t fit into a text.I was already awake. Of course I was. Sleep had become a rumor.I answered on the first ring. “Tell me you’re calling to say you found a ledger, not a corpse.”Roger exhaled. “No corpses. Yet.”“Great,” I said. “That’s the most comforting ‘yet’ I’ve ever heard.”“Jordan,” he warned, and I could hear the edge under his calm. “I pulled the pharmacy chain like you asked.”My throat tightened. “And?”“I’ve got names,” he said. “Old prescribing doc. The refill authorizations. It’s… weird.”“Define weird,” I said, already reaching for my notebook.Roger hesitated. “It’s clean on paper. Too clean. Like someone’s been maintaining it on purpose.”My stomach dipped—not with acid, with instinct.