Free Web NovelChapter 411: Chapter 411
Aria’s POV
"I came to help," Nathan said, staring at me.
"I didn’t ask for your help."
"I know." He stepped forward slightly. Rowland didn’t move. "Let me speak. Then if you want me to leave, I’ll leave."
The room was very quiet.
I looked at him. His eyes were steady, and beneath the steadiness there was something strained and exhausted that he was managing with considerable effort. My wolf noted it automatically.
"Speak," I said.
He nodded once. "I can see you are trying to bring Patrick down. You have evidence, that’s good, you have a witness —" he glanced briefly at Tyler, who had gone very still, "— but just like Jonathan said, you need Clarence."
He had eavesdropped on our conversation from outside.
"We’re aware," Chloe said dryly.
"I know exactly where she is right now." He said it simply. "I mean her exact location. She left Sophia’s apartment, I had her tailed to her current location. She’s now staying at a property in the north quarter of Asterfell, under a false name, but we confirmed her identity yesterday."
The room shifted. I felt it...the collective recalibration, everyone deciding simultaneously what this meant and whether to trust Nathan. He had not given me any reason not to trust him regarding the case. He had been helping us, even setting up a meeting with Clarence’s nanny.
"You’ve known since yesterday," I said carefully, "and you’re telling me now."
"I was waiting for the right moment, would have told you yesterday but you left." He met my gaze. "I’m telling you now." He raised his brows, “I can have some enforcers capture her right now.”
"And what do you want in return?" I asked.
Something moved across his face. "Nothing," he said quietly. "I want nothing from you, Aria. I swear it. I’m not doing this to make you owe me something." He paused. "I’m doing it because it’s right."
There was silence.
I looked at Chloe. She gave me a small, precise nod, urging me to take it. I looked at Amelia. She lifted one shoulder as if telling me it was my call to make.
My wolf was already ahead of me, instincts running the calculation: Nathan’s scent held no deception. It seemed he was telling the truth.
“Alright, go ahead.”
"Hold on," Amelia said, before Nathan could move. "Don’t have her captured yet."
Nathan looked at me.
"If we take Clarence now, Patrick will notice she’s missing within hours," Amelia continued, stepping forward. "And the moment he does, he disappears. He has an exit plan, men like him always do."
"So we take them all at the same time," Jonathan said. He had not moved or raised his voice. He had simply arrived at the conclusion and stated it. "You need to file the cases first. Get the arrest orders through official channels. Then when the authorities move, they move on Patrick, Sophia, and Clarence simultaneously."
"Can you get the paperwork ready?" I asked Amelia.
"I can do that in less than twenty-four hours," she said without hesitation.
I turned back to Nathan. "Then hold off. Don’t move on Clarence until Amelia gives the signal."
He held my gaze for a moment. "Understood," he said.
*****
Twenty-two hours later, the arrest orders were signed. freewēbnoveℓ.com
Jonathan and Rowland accompanied the enforcers who went to arrest Sophia and Patrick personally. I suggested that because their presence would make Patrick and Sophia understand immediately that there was nowhere left to run.
Patrick, to absolutely no one’s surprise, tried anyway.
The footage was everywhere by nightfall. His face contorted with rage, his voice rising as the enforcers closed in, his attempts to project authority over men who had legal mandate and were therefore entirely unimpressed by it.
Someone in the crowd had livestreamed it, and by the time I was sitting in my own living room going through my phone, it had already been clipped, reshared, and dissected across every major platform in the country.
>Patrick Darvin arrested in connection with multiple charges...daughter Aria believed to be involved—
>Aria Legal Services founder implicated in father’s arrest—
>Is this revenge or justice?
"They’re calling it revenge," Chloe said, reading over my shoulder, her voice carrying the specific flatness she used when something annoyed her deeply.
"Of course they are," I said.
"They want a statement." Amelia looked up from her own phone. "The longer the silence, the worse the narrative gets."
I set my phone face-down on the table.
"Write this," I said. Amelia’s fingers went to her keyboard. "The case against Patrick Darvin and related parties will be addressed through proper legal channels. Evidence will be presented before a judge. The public will have access to all relevant findings once the court proceedings are complete. I ask for patience and trust in the process." I paused. "End with: Justice does not require an audience. It requires the truth."
Chloe looked at me. "That last line is going to go everywhere."
I let out a sigh.
Later in the day, I was in the kitchen making tea when I heard the banging on the door.
My wolf came fully alert.
I went to the door to see who it was.
It was Margaret. I opened the door.
For one second, we simply looked at each other. My mother. Her hair was not done properly. Her eyes were swollen. She looked like she had been crying for a long time. freewёbnoνel.com
Just then, her hand came up and she hit me across the face.
The sound of it was sharp in the doorway.
I held my cheek. The sting spread through my face.
"How dare you," she said. Her voice was shaking. "How dare you make them arrest your father and sister?
