Todos los capítulos de FAKING IT WITH THE ALPHA CAPTAIN RIVAL : Capítulo 71 - Capítulo 80

ElenaI made one too, and it wasn't the one you think.I stared at that message for a long time after Ryder had gone, sitting alone in the courtyard with the sun sliding lower behind the library windows, my mind refusing to settle on any single thread of what I now knew long enough to make sense of it.I pulled out a notebook that evening, the same kind I used to fill with stories back before three jobs took over my whole life, and started writing things down instead of just carrying them all loose in my head where they kept colliding into each other without ever forming a full picture.Victoria's odd hours. Two in the morning, more than once, dressed like someone trying not to be recognized.Cologne that wasn't Ryder's.The phone call. Merger paperwork. A man's voice, calm and bored, threatening a deadline tied to the Council hearing.Three years. The exact timeline the leak in the pack's finances started.Naomi. Present at the original switch. Unsupervised access to the household fo

ElenaI stayed at the estate for two more days after that conversation, unable to make myself leave with the hearing four days away and Victoria's confession still sitting heavy in my chest, and I watched her come apart in small, quiet pieces the whole time I was there.The first crack showed itself over breakfast the following morning, when a young maid, barely older than us, set Victoria's coffee down a half inch too close to the edge of the table."Watch what you're doing," Victoria snapped, her voice sharp enough that the girl flinched visibly, hands trembling as she righted the cup. "It's not difficult. Coffee. Table. Not the edge.""I'm sorry, Miss Hart.""Just be careful."The girl retreated quickly, and Victoria sat there afterward with her hands wrapped tight around the cup, not drinking from it, just holding on, and I noticed, for the first time, that her hands weren't quite steady either."You didn't have to talk to her like that," I said quietly, once the maid had gone."I

ElenaI didn't remember leaving the estate that night. I remembered Aiden's second text glowing on my screen, and then somehow, I was outside, walking fast down the driveway in the dark, my phone still clutched in my shaking hand, the driver's face and that heavy signet ring burned into my memory in a way I knew wouldn't fade any time soon.Aiden's father. Standing in Marcus Hart's own front hall, demanding a security schedule that would tell him exactly where the gaps were on the day of my hearing.I didn't sleep that night. I barely remembered the walk home, barely remembered texting Aiden back, barely remembered anything except the cold, spreading certainty that everything I'd learned over the past two months had just collapsed into something far more dangerous than I'd let myself imagine.By the time I dragged myself into school the next morning, I was running on nothing, exhaustion and fear tangled together so tightly I couldn't separate one from the other. I moved through the ha

ElenaI didn't sleep at all that night. I called Aiden the second I got home, my hands shaking so badly I dropped the phone twice trying to dial."He texted me," I said the moment Aiden picked up. "Your father. He knows I saw the driver. He knows I told you.""I know." Aiden's voice was tight, controlled in a way that scared me more than panic would have. "He called me an hour ago.""What did he say?""That he's disappointed in me." Aiden's laugh came out short and humorless. "That's the phrase he actually used. Disappointed. Like I'd failed a business quarter instead of choosing not to betray someone I care about.""Aiden, is he going to hurt you?"A pause, too long, too heavy. "I don't know.""That's not reassuring.""I know it's not." His voice softened slightly. "Elena, listen to me. Whatever happens with my father, I need you to focus on getting through the next three days. The hearing matters more right now than anything he might decide to do about me.""You matter to me, Aiden.

ElenaI met Aiden at the diner the next afternoon, before my shift started, and he noticed something was wrong before I even sat down across from him."Your hands are shaking," he said, nodding at the coffee cup I was holding too tightly. "You have been off all week. What is going on?""I am fine.""Elena." He reached across the table and gently pried the cup out of my grip before I could spill it. "You keep saying that word, and I keep watching you not be fine right in front of me. I am not going to let it go this time."I looked at him for a long moment, weighing how much to say, testing the words in my head before I let any of them out loud."Something has been happening to me," I said finally. "For weeks now. I have not told you because I did not know how to say it without sounding like I was losing my mind.""Try me."I took a breath. "I have started catching things before they happen. Small things at first. Someone starts a lie, and I know the exact shape of it before they finis