All Chapters of The Phoenix Heiress: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The scent of bacon and cinnamon rolls hit me before we even made it to the common room. My stomach growled in protest, but it wasn’t just hunger—it was nerves. Last night with Wolf had been... wild. Beautiful. Unapologetically ours. And now, we were walking into the lion’s den—or more accurately, the wolf pack and my fire-breathing family.Wolf’s hand was warm on my lower back, possessive in that way that made me feel like I belonged to him and he to me. I leaned into it, letting the buzz of last night’s memories settle into a soft hum under my skin.As we stepped into the room, the catcalls started.“Damn, Kat! You glowing or what?”“Someone had a good night!”“Wolf, you dog!”I rolled my eyes, cheeks heating, but before I could fire back, Wolf’s voice cut through the noise—low, commanding, and lethal with amusement.“Enough.”Silence. Like someone hit pause on the rowdy brother soundtrack.Without missing a beat, he guided me to the head of the long wooden table, pulled out the chai

Fools. All of them.I stood in the office above the yard, watching the trucks idle like sleeping beasts. Two semis. One full of girls. One full of product. Chicago was waiting. My empire was waiting.And my idiot nephew was drinking.Liam slouched in the corner, bottle in hand, eyes dull. He looked like a boy who’d lost his toy—not the heir to a legacy built on blood and silence.“You let her go,” I said, voice low but sharp. “The girl. Kat.”He didn’t answer. Just took another drink.I stepped forward, slow. “She was leverage. She was the key. And you let her slip through your fingers like a drunk child chasing ghosts.”“She ran,” he muttered.I laughed. Cold. “She ran because you let her. Because you were weak.”I grabbed the bottle from his hand and smashed it against the wall. Glass scattered. He flinched. Good.“You think this ring survives on your feelings? On your shame?” I hissed. “We built this with steel. With fear. Not with broken boys crying over lost girls.”I turned back

Grim’s boots echoed against the concrete floor as he entered the safehouse, the kind of sound that made my pulse spike—not from fear, but anticipation. He didn’t waste time with greetings. That wasn’t his style. He dropped a rolled blueprint on the table between us, flattening it with a gloved hand.“This is the layout,” he said, voice low and gravelly. “Three exits. Two guards posted at the north and south doors. Cameras here, here, and here.” He tapped the paper with a calloused finger. “We go in fast. Quiet. No heroics.”I leaned over the map, tracing the lines with my eyes. I’d memorized the warehouse’s rhythms over the past few weeks—when the girls were moved, when Boris’s men rotated shifts, when Liam showed up to flex his power like some twisted monarch. I knew the place better than my own apartment.“They move the girls at midnight.,” I said. “We hit the warehouse at 2 a.m.. The guards get lazy around 1:30. If we hit just before the shift change, we’ll catch them off guard.”G

The sun was high, casting long shadows across the cracked pavement as we pulled up to the warehouse. The place looked like it hadn’t mattered to anyone in years—but today, it did. Today, it was going to be the first breath of safety for girls who hadn’t had one in a long time.Kat hopped out of the truck before I even cut the engine. No hesitation. She grabbed a box from the back and headed straight for the entrance. I watched her go, the sunlight catching in her hair, her shoulders squared like she was carrying more than just supplies. She was carrying purpose.I followed, boots crunching against gravel, nodding to Salvatore and Matteo as they unloaded gear. Mama Red was already inside, clipboard in hand, barking orders like she was born to command chaos. Mama was setting up the intake area with Carla, her voice calm and steady, grounding everyone around her.Kat was in motion—setting up the quiet rooms, checking locks, folding blankets with a kind of reverence. She didn’t look lost

I never trusted Sarah.She smiled too easily. Knew too much. Played too clean. So I left a man behind at the warehouse—quiet, loyal, invisible. Just in case.The message came through at 1:47 a.m.Warehouse compromised. Sarah's spy, Don't know who sent her in. Bikers hit it with her help. They’re planning to intercept the convoy. Don’t know where.I didn’t flinch. Just stared at the screen, heart steady. Boris didn’t know. I didn’t tell him.Let him ride in blind. Let him think he was still in control. That was the only way to keep him predictable. I made sure he saw me climb into truck two. Made sure the guards believed it.Then I slipped out in the dark.Stole a car from the rest stop—beat-up sedan, no GPS, no questions. I followed the convoy from a distance, headlights off, engine low. I didn’t need to be close. I just needed to see who came for them.And I did.SUVs. Bikes. Not just muscle—organized, tactical. Not Boris’s enemies. Someone else. Someone smarter.Then I saw him.Luca