Free Web NovelChapter 384: Chapter 384
Aria’s POV
Relief hit me fast. Francis never disappointed.
I took the phone from Ameila. “When can they be extracted?” I asked.
“We can do it tonight.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
Tonight.
Jackson was at the door, trying to be quiet. But my wolf heard the breath hitch, the tiny shift of weight. I looked up.
His eyes were huge and hopeful.
My chest tightened. Amelia understood immediately and guided him away.
I lowered my voice. “Are you sure about tonight?”
I couldn’t let another child’s hope break.
“It’s the fastest and safest window,” Francis said, his tone calm and certain, even while listing the risks.
Good. He’d thought it through.
“Alright,” I said. “Tell Amelia and Chloe what you need. We’ll have a pickup at the transport exit.”
“Yeah, just give us timing,” Chloe added. freewēbnoveℓ.com
*****
It was time for the extraction. Amelia and Chloe were already stationed at the extraction point with the Pickup van. I was at home in the living room with Jackson. Chloe had helped set up a connection for us so we can see everything that goes on during the extraction.
Francis had a microchip on him that allowed us video access of his environment. We were watching him make the move. I could see inside the factory as Francis walked towards a door. I hated that I couldn’t be there physically.
He was with somebody. The guy who he told us was his roommate. The very guy who had told him he knew where Tyler and his wife were.
“Sure he’s inside?” Francis asked his roommate.
The guy nodded fast. “My uncle checked. He’s there.”
Francis knocked on the door.
From inside came a gruff voice: “Who is it?”
Francis shifted his tone, making it sound older and rougher. “I am here for a work hours report.”
The door opened. As soon as the occupant saw Francis, they tried to slam the door but were too slow.
Francis forced his way in, shut the door behind him, and pinned Tyler to the sofa.
Tyler’s wife rushed in and saw her husband restrained, she was about to scream.
“One sound,” Francis said softly, his eyes sharp as fangs, “and he dies.”
She froze.
Tyler strained, his face red but spirit not broken. “She’s innocent! What do you want?!”
“I’m here to help you.”
They both went still. Disbelief rolled off Tyler in waves. “You’re choking me and calling it help?”
Then Francis put a call through to me and put us on a video call so they could see us.
Jackson’s face filled the screen. Tyler’s scent changed instantly. It was filled with a mix of shock, terror and love.
“Jackson?! What do you want with my son?!”
Francis sighed, covering Tyler’s mouth as the man thrashed.
On-screen, Jackson leaned forward. “Daddy, he’s really helping. Please go with him.”
Tyler stopped fighting, not because of Francis but because of his cub.
Francis glanced at me on the screen. For half a second, his eyes softened. I kept my voice calm. Calm is power.
“Let him take you out. I need to talk to you.”
Tyler’s eyes snapped to me, fury rising like a cornered wolf. “So this is revenge?”
“No,” I said. “If revenge was my goal, Jackson wouldn’t look like that.”
I lifted Jackson’s arm into view to show that he was healthy and safe. Tyler saw it. His resistance cracked, just slightly.
“What do you want?” he demanded.
“I want you to expose everything you know. Everything you did for Patrick.”
There was silence. I could see he was thinking about what I said.
“Darvin Group is finished,” I continued. “Patrick has lost power. And tell me, do you want to die in that factory? Never see your son again?”
Jackson’s voice trembled. “Daddy... Mommy... I miss you...”
Tyler’s control broke at the edges. A father wolf, separated from his cub, will chew through steel.
I saw the decision forming in his eyes. On the screen, Tyler lowered his head.
His hair had grown out, uneven, falling over his eyes. Not a free wolf’s look. More like one that had lived too long in a cage pretending it was a home.
Francis stood in front of him, silent.
Tyler finally looked up.
“Ms. Aria... if I testify against Patrick... will you spare me and my family?”
His fists were clenched so hard I saw the tremor. My face stayed still, my wolf did not blink.
“No.”
The word dropped into the room like a stone into deep water.
I could see fear etched on his wife’s face. She looked like she would lose her balance.
Tyler didn’t collapse. His fingers dug into his own palm. He understood the consequences. He knew what had been done to me. He knew he had played a part in that and wasn’t innocent.
“However,” I continued, my voice level, “your family had nothing to do with your choices. I won’t drag them into it.”
Beside me, Jackson went very still. His eyes were huge as he stared at me.
He didn’t understand the history , the blood, the betrayal, the damage his father had helped cause.
He only knew two truths: I had protected him and I desperately wanted to help his parents.
And now those truths were colliding.
“What did my father really do to you?” he asked.
