All Chapters of Dumped By The Alpha, I Married His Stepbrother: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

"There's a problem." Marcus's voice cut through the quiet morning, and the warmth of the previous night's proposal drained instantly out of my chest."What kind of problem," Lucien asked, setting down his coffee."The transport convoy carrying Caleb to the exile processing station," Marcus said, his expression grim. "It never arrived.""Never arrived," I repeated slowly. "Marcus, what does that mean.""It means somewhere between the council holding facility and the territory border, three guards and a prisoner simply vanished," Marcus said. "No wreckage. No struggle reported. The vehicle itself was found abandoned on the side of the road, engine still running, doors open.""That's not an escape," Lucien said, his jaw tightening. "That's an extraction.""Someone helped him," I said, the ring still warm on my finger feeling suddenly heavier than it had a moment ago."Someone with resources," Marcus said. "Someone who knew the exact route, the exact timing, and had the manpower to remove

"Insurance for both of us."I stared at the folder in front of me, photographs and documents spread across the table like a hand of cards I hadn't asked to be dealt."Explain that," I said. "Because right now it sounds like you're handing me a weapon aimed at people who haven't done anything to me directly.""They've done plenty," Isolde said. "You simply weren't the one standing close enough to notice."I flipped through the first few pages carefully. Financial ledgers. A name I recognized as one of the seven council elders, tied to a decade old land seizure that had displaced an entire pack subdivision under the guise of pack safety. Another elder's signature on documents authorizing payments to men whose registries had been quietly scrubbed the same way Marcus's had been decades earlier."You've been collecting this for a while," I said."My grandfather taught me one useful thing before I understood how little else he had worth learning from," Isolde said. "Knowledge outlasts power

"Something involving me specifically."The words landed cold in my chest, and I reached for the letter still trembling in Lucien's hand."Let me see it," I said.He handed it over, and I read the message myself, Isolde's careful, precise handwriting laying out the threat exactly as Lucien had described."She doesn't say what it is," I said, scanning the page a second time. "Only that it exists.""That could be a bluff," Marcus said, appearing in the doorway, alerted by the guard who'd delivered the message. "Designed to frighten us into compliance without actually holding anything real.""Or it could be exactly what she claims," Lucien said. "Something about Elena's past, something that could unravel everything if it came out at the wrong moment.""What could she possibly have," I said, my mind racing through every secret I'd already survived exposing this past week. "We've already told the council I'm Elena Kingsley. We

"There's a woman at the gate asking for you by name."The guard's voice pulled me back from the balcony rail, from the last warmth of the sunset still lingering behind Lucien's shoulder."What name," I asked."Elena Kingsley," the guard said. "Not Reyes. Not De Villiers. She used your old name specifically."Lucien's hand tightened around mine. "Did she say who she was.""She wouldn't give a name," the guard said. "Only that she served your family years ago, and that she has something you'll want to see before you decide whether today was actually the ending everyone believes it was."Something cold settled low in my stomach. "Bring her to the main hall. I'll meet her there.""Elena," Lucien said, his voice careful. "We've had enough strangers arrive at gates carrying secrets meant to unravel everything we've built.""I know," I said. "But we've also learned what happens when we refuse to listen. Ruth's letter. Victoria's warning. Every piece of truth that arrived uninvited turned out

"Sisters."Isolde repeated the word like it might dissolve if she said it too firmly, her eyes still fixed on the paper trembling in her hands."I need proof," she said finally, looking up at me. "Not a midwife's memory. Not a document that could have been forged just as easily as anything my grandfather ever produced.""That's fair," I said. "I'd want the same thing, in your position.""There are ways to confirm it," Corinne said quietly, having accompanied us without much comment until now. "A blood comparison, similar to what we ran when Damien first suspected a connection to Elena. It won't take long."Isolde's jaw tightened, something fierce and guarded settling over her features. "Then let's confirm it. I won't build anything on a foundation I haven't tested myself."We arranged the comparison quickly, Corinne drawing samples from both of us before dawn, the tension in the room thick enough to taste while we waited through the night for results neither of us fully knew how to pr