All Chapters of Ten Ways To Kill Alpha PENKING : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Saturday passed in a blur.Amelia moved through the apartment like a ghost. Made food she didn’t eat. Sat in rooms without seeing them. Watched Penking and tried to memorize his face.Just in case.He noticed. Of course he noticed.“Are you okay?” he asked at dinner.“Fine.”“You’re lying.”“I’m tired.”“That’s also a lie.” He set down his fork. “Talk to me.”“There’s nothing to talk about.”“Amelia!”“I said I’m fine.” She stood. Took her plate to the sink. “I’m going to bed.”She left before he could respond.In the bedroom, she lay down and stared at the ceiling.Tomorrow night.Sunday.She’d have to do it tomorrow night.The gun was in the vent. Loaded. Ready.All she had to do was wait for him to fall asleep. Put the barrel to his chest. Pull the trigger.One shot.Then run.Aiden would have people waiting. She and Dan would be in a car before anyone knew what happened.Simple.Clean.Except it wasn’t.Because Penking had looked at her today and said he loved her.And somewhere i

Her hands shook as she dialed.Aiden answered on the second ring. “Is it done?”She looked at Penking. He nodded.“Yes,” she said. Her voice barely steady. “It’s done. He’s dead.”Silence on the other end.“Prove it,” Aiden said finally.“What?”“Send me a photo. Of the body. Now.”She looked at Penking. Mouthed: Photo.He thought fast. Grabbed a blanket. Threw it on the bed. Arranged it to look like a body.She took a photo. Sent it.Waited.“That could be anything,” Aiden said. “Get closer. Show me his face.”Her heart hammered. “I can’t. There’s blood. I can’t look at him.”“Then this isn’t done. Send me proof or the deal’s off.”Penking grabbed the phone. Held it to his ear.“She’s not sending you anything else,” he said. Voice cold. Lethal. “Because I’m not dead. And you just made your last mistake.”Silence.Then Aiden laughed. “I knew it. I knew she couldn’t do it.”“Where are you?” Penking demanded.“Close enough to watch.” A pause. “Tell Amelia her brother died screaming.”Th

They didn’t talk that night.Penking helped her shower. Washed the blood and dirt from her skin with careful hands. Like she was something fragile that might break.She let him.Afterward, he wrapped her in a towel. Led her to bed. Held her until she fell asleep.Morning came too bright.She woke alone. Found a note on the pillow.Checking on Dan. Be back soon. Don’t leave.She got dressed. Went to the kitchen. Made coffee with shaking hands.The events of last night played on repeat in her mind. The gunfire. Aiden’s face. Penking’s rage.The moment she’d chosen not to pull the trigger.Way four had failed. Spectacularly.She’d tried to make him want her. Tried to become essential through strategy and careful manipulation.But instead, she’d become essential in a way she’d never planned for.By caring. By choosing him when she could have let him die.By becoming the thing he couldn’t lose.And now he was more territorial, more possessive, more dangerous than ever.The elevator dinged.

They burned the contract in the morning.All of it. Every copy. Every document. Every record of the transaction that had bound her to him.Penking made calls. Sent orders. Within hours, lawyers were shredding files. Digital records were being erased.By noon, it was done.She was free.Legally. Completely. Free.“How does it feel?” Penking asked.They were standing in his office. The ashes of her contract in the fireplace.“Strange,” she said. “I thought it would feel bigger. More dramatic.”“Freedom usually does feel anticlimactic. Until you try to use it.” He turned to her. “What do you want to do first?”“First?”“Now that you’re actually free. What do you want?”She thought about it. “I want to call Dan. Tell him he can go home to Chicago if he wants. Or stay here. His choice.”“Okay.”“And I want to go outside. Alone. Just walk around the city without guards following me.”“That one’s harder.”“Kael.”“I know. I know. Autonomy. Partnership.” He rubbed his jaw. “Can we compromise?

The doctor confirmed it the next day.Six weeks pregnant. Healthy. Everything normal.Penking held her hand through the whole appointment. Asked a hundred questions. Took notes.When they left, he was quiet.“What are you thinking?” she asked.“That I’m going to be a father.” He looked at her. “And I’m either going to be really good at it or really terrible.”“There’s no middle ground?”“Not with me.” He opened the car door for her. “I do everything extreme.”She got in. He slid in beside her.The drive back was silent.Inside the penthouse, Dan was on the couch. Reading.He looked up when they came in. “How was the doctor?”Amelia and Penking exchanged glances.“We need to tell you something,” Amelia said.Dan set down his book. “Okay.”“I’m pregnant.”He blinked. Once. Twice. “You’re what?”“Pregnant. Six weeks.”Dan looked at Penking. Then at Amelia. Then back at Penking.“And you’re keeping it?” he asked.“Yes,” she said.“Both of you?”“Yes,” Penking said.Dan was quiet for a lon