Claimed By The Steel Pack のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 31 - チャプター 40

​Sterling’s signature on the last page was barely legible, a weak, jagged line that barely looked like a politician's hand.​He dropped the pen onto the desk, his knuckles shaking as he slouched back into his high leather chair. The two guards by the window hadn't moved an inch, their eyes fixed on Kaelen like men waiting for a shot to go off.​I picked up the signed papers, checked every page, and slid them cleanly into the brown folder.​"The resignation hits the press at midnight," I said, looking down at Sterling. "And if you ever step foot near our land again, these bank files won't just go to the prosecutor, they'll go to every news outlet from here to the coast."​Sterling didn't answer. He just stared blankly at the wet rug where his glass had smashed.​Kaelen didn't say another word either. He grabbed my coat from the back of the chair, draped it over my shoulders, and guided me toward the heavy doors with his hand resting flat at the small of my back.​We walked down the lon

​The cotton gave way with a sharp tear, the cool night air hitting my skin for a second before Kaelen covered me again.​His chest was bare, hot, and heavy against mine, the rough hair on his chest burning against my skin as his full weight settled down over me. He didn't let go of my wrists above my head. His grip stayed tight, pinning my hands to the mattress while his mouth moved down from my jaw to my collarbone, leaving hard bites that made my hips lift off the bed.​"Kaelen," I gasped, my voice rough in the quiet room.​"Look at me," he said, his voice a low order against my throat.​I opened my eyes. His face was inches above mine in the dark. The gray in his eyes was completely gone, swallowed up by big, black pupils that tracked every breath I took.​"You spent months running from people who wanted to put you in a cage," Kaelen said, his free hand sliding down my ribs, his broad palm covering my side, his fingers digging into my waist. "Now you're here. In my house. Under my

​The drive back into the city was quiet. The rain had cleared, leaving the road dark and wet under a dull sky.​Kaelen drove with one hand on the wheel, the other resting heavy on the gear shift. The brass key Marcus had handed him sat in the tray between us, small, notched, and tarnished dark at the edges. It didn't look like much, but it had the mark of the old First National branch on Third Street, a place that had dealt with old money and quiet estates for eighty years.​I picked it up, feeling the cold metal against my fingers.​"My father never said a word about a private box," I said, staring at the numbers cut into the side. "Not when he was doing the books, not when the state came after him."​"Because he knew who was watching," Kaelen said, his gray eyes catching mine for a second. "Greta had taps on his phone, men outside his house, and eyes inside his office. If he had gone near Third Street, she would have cleared it out before he got to the counter."​"So he hid it where

​The truck hit sixty before we cleared the city limits, engine roaring as Kaelen slammed his foot down. Rain started falling again, heavy drops smacking against the glass in steady slaps.​I held onto the door, watching the gray pines on either side of the road blur into a wall of dark green.In my mind,all I wanted was my father because he was the only one who truly understood me.​"How many men do they have on the ridge?" I asked, my voice barely cutting through the sound of the tires on the wet road.​"Enough to try something," Kaelen grunted, his eyes on the asphalt ahead. His knuckles were white over the wheel. "Greta was feeding them our shift schedules, guard rotations, supply routes. Apex knows where our line is thin."​"They don't know we have the drive," I said, reaching into my coat to feel the hard outline of the papers. "They think Sterling is still covering for them, or that Greta’s death bought them time."​Kaelen pulled out his phone, flipped it open with one thumb, an

​The shot tore through the night like a bomb going off, the heavy blast throwing Miller back against the side of his truck. He hit the wet metal hard, leaving a dark smear on the paint before he dropped to his knees with a wet cough and fell flat into the mud.​The two men by the tripod scrammed for cover, pulling their guns out from under their heavy coats. One of them got his pistol pointed at Kaelen, but another sharp crack came from the trees. Nora’s shot caught him right in the shoulder, spinning him completely around before he hit the dirt by the back tire.​The last guard lost his head and started shooting wide into the dark. Muzzle flashes lit up the fog in quick yellow bursts, the lead tearing through the bark of the pine tree right over my head and showering wood chips down into my hair.​I pressed my back flat against the cold rock, both hands locked around the grip of the heavy pistol. The metal was slick with rain, but my fingers didn't slip. My heart was pounding hard in