Free Web NovelChapter 280: Chapter 280
Aria’s POV
Amelia’s name flashed across my screen.
I shifted Lana carefully in my arms, she was still clinging to my clothes as she slept. My wolf purred protectively inside me.
I answered. “Amelia?”
“Aria, I have news that might interest you,” she said, her voice curling like smoke, full of intrigue.
“Hm, what might that be?” My tone was a bit warm.
While I traced soothing circles on Lana’s back, Amelia relayed everything she had pried out of the hotel receptionist. The words slid into my ear like poison. Four months ago... Clarence had already been in Asterfell.
My eyes turned glacial. My wolf let out a growl in my mind, her hackles raised. There was no reason for Clarence to be there alone. And if Clarence was there, then Patrick must have been there too. He always came to Asterfell a few times a year, staying for weeks. Pretending to be on business.
A humorless smile curved my lips. Bold of him. So confident that the daughter he betrayed would never sniff out his trail. So arrogant he thought the daughter he abandoned was blind and foolish.
Amelia cleared her throat. “I sent the rest to your email. You’ll want to see it yourself.”
The call ended.
I laid Lana gently in her crib, kissed her forehead, and let my wolf’s aura soothe her sleep. Then I sat at my desk, opened my laptop, and clicked the newest email.
Clarence’s face stared back at me.
A face that should’ve been buried at the bottom of a cliff over a decade ago... now alive, pampered and thriving. Hiding in a downtown hotel while sending her illegitimate daughter into the Darvin family. A perfect infiltration, a perfect joke.
My lips widened in a smile but my eyes went as cold as the Graveyards beneath the mountains.
My wolf snarled in my mind: We need to expose her. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
I clenched my fists. “Soon,” I whispered.
Movement flickered outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. Instinct sent my wolf surging to the surface; my pupils contracted and my hearing sharpened. I looked closer at the screen.
It was a small figure crawling on the ground.
Figure of a child, no older than four.
He stood, and I saw his face clear as day. He had Clarence eyes and Patrick’s mouth.
My entire body trembled. They had another illegitimate child together?
“These people are absolutely shameless,” I breathed. My voice was a blade.
My wolf pressed against my skin, begging to be freed. To hunt. To teach her and Patrick what it meant to deceive a family. My mother was blind to all this.. How would she feel if she found out about all these? Would she even believe or would she help over up for them?.
I pushed the thought to the back of my mind, I had more pressing things to worry about.
“kara!” My voice cracked like thunder through the house.
She rushed in. “Yes Luna?”
I grabbed my bag. “I need to go back to the office.”
Kara hurried to arrange a driver for me and soon I was on my way, leaving Lana in Kara’s care.
The drive was silent. The air hummed with my anger. When we arrived, I paid the driver, dismissed the driver with a curt nod and strode into the building.
Inside were white walls so clean and pristine they seemed untouched by dust. My gaze swept over them, my mind momentarily adrift.
This was the office I bought after deciding to acquire the Darvin Group. A company shouldn’t be led from its enemy’s den. I would build new territory, new walls, new power. And when I was done, the Darvin Group would kneel.
“Aria.”
Rowland’s voice echoed, warm and bright, cutting through the cold.
He emerged from a corner, tall and broad-shouldered, filling the hallway with his presence. He looked irritatingly charming as he smiled. His eyes sparkled like a pup begging for attention, even though his physique screamed warrior.
“Thank you,” I said.
He frowned, “Why are you being polite with me?” His wolf flashed in his gaze, a soft growl of displeasure.
He reached for my hand instinctively. I slid mine away just in time. His hand hung in the air before he shoved it casually back into his pocket, as if he hadn’t just exposed himself emotionally.
He gestured for me to follow. “Come on. The first floor isn’t finished yet, but your office is ready.”
I walked beside him. My wolf stayed alert, but she didn’t bristle. Rowland’s presence was like a hearth, annoying when you didn’t ask for it, steady when you needed warmth.
“How are the shares?” I asked, my voice clipped.
He smirked, running a hand through his hair. It fell over his eyes, and damn it, his wolf sparkled through them, turning them amber.
“You’re asking the right person. The answer is: don’t worry.” He chuckled, arrogance and affection blending together.
After all, he wasn’t just an Alpha who followed me out of loyalty.
He was the financial genius who once shocked the supernatural world.
