Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 41 - Chapitre 47

Chapter Forty-OneKai POVThree days after the school incident the city is still bleeding tension.Jay has been moved to a secure private campus under Harlan's direct watch. The penthouse is quiet in a way that feels temporary. Rose has barely spoken about the night she walked into my room and did not walk back out until morning. Every time the subject comes close she changes it with surgical precision. I have counted four times. She does it without blinking.I do not push.I simply watch her the way a man watches a fuse he knows is already lit.On the morning of my birthday she is already dressed when I step into the kitchen. Black coat. Travel bag at her feet. A single black envelope on the counter."Happy birthday," she says, voice flat. "We're leaving in twenty minutes. Private jet. Paris. Three nights. Jay stays here under double protection. Pack light."I stare at the envelope, then at her. She does not look up from her phone. Nobody has given me anything on my birthday in years

Chapter Forty-Three: The Sick AlphaRose POV"Say it again," I tell Priya. "Slowly.""Extension 3-1-4-4. It's a desk line on the thirty-eighth floor. The phone that received the photo was logged on at 4:58 yesterday afternoon." Priya's voice is flat from effort. "The line is assigned to a vacant office. It's been vacant for six weeks.""Someone sat at a vacant desk.""Or someone forwarded the line to a handset they carry. I can't tell which yet. The call logs for that afternoon were cleared at 5:03."Five minutes after the photo. Five. Whoever it was did not hesitate at all.Kai stands behind my shoulder. He has not moved since Priya said the word building. His breathing is very controlled. I know what that costs him."Who has access to thirty-eight?""Forty-one people. Badge logs say eleven were on the floor.""Pull the eleven. Don't tell security. Don't tell anyone, Priya. Not Lucid. Not Harlan. Not the board."Priya looks at me, and then at Kai. Kai nods once."Only us three," I sa

Chapter Forty-Five: Table for ThreeRose POVI dress in black. Plain. No jewelry except the diamond at my throat.I stand in front of the mirror for a long moment with my hands on the dresser. Lucid left the tracker running in the lining of the coat I wore to the hospital. It hangs in the closet behind me, transmitting the sound of an empty room to whoever is listening. Priya has already confirmed the address on Milo's card. The motel is real. The room is booked under a name I know. I have my own people on the road, and they will not move until I tell them to.Kai is not in the penthouse. He left an hour ago without a word. I do not ask where he went. I heard the front door close and I stood very still in the hallway until the sound of the elevator was gone. Jay's drawing is still stuck to the refrigerator, a black wolf and a smaller gray one, with three stick figures beside them. I pass it twice on my way out. I do not look at it either time.The restaurant is on the roof of a hotel