Free Web NovelChapter 117: Chapter 117 The Necklace Thief
Christina’s POV
"This woman," Hudson pointed at Violet, "tried everything to get invited to The Sabreridge pack’s gathering. I heard she wore a necklace she ’borrowed’ from Nyx Collective. I wonder if she ever gave it back."
Violet got even stiffer. Her face turned even whiter than before. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"What?" Savannah’s head turned quickly toward Violet. "What necklace? Violet?"
"The one Eliza Black wore a few months ago," Hudson said helpfully. "It created quite a stir from what I heard."
"The Veyra?" Savannah gasped. "But that’s locked up safely. Nobody’s borrowed it since..." Her voice stopped as she realized what Hudson meant by "borrowed."
"I think it was stolen from your showroom," Hudson said calmly. "You might want to check the security cameras."
"I’ll do that right now." Savannah turned toward her office, then stopped and looked back. "But our meeting..."
"Can wait," Hudson said. "I’ll just talk with my mate while you handle this."
Akira was dancing with joy inside me. "This feels so good! Look at Violet’s face!"
Hudson turned to Rexford. "Mr. Caldwell, when I finish buying this company, I expect it to be clean. No toxic employees, no old scandals, and definitely no staff who steal things. If there’s rot, I want it gone before the deal is done."
"Absolutely, Alpha Hudson." Rexford hurried over to join Savannah, cursing quietly. "What did I tell you? This is an important day for me, and you’ve..."
I grabbed Hudson by the arm and pulled him to a corner away from everyone else. "How do you know Violet stole the necklace? You weren’t even here that day."
"I looked at the footage. It had sound. I heard everything you two said back then."
"Oh. But she had the footage deleted. I mean, the one here. I saw her the other day..." I stopped, thinking. "Wait, that’s not what I wanted to ask. So much is happening at once. My brain feels mixed up."
"Ask me." Hudson sounded amused.
"What’s happening? How did you become the owner of this place? Did you really buy Nyx Collective?"
"Yes. Surprised?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, you never said anything about it."
"I was going to tell you on your birthday."
"My birthday? Wait, you bought the company for me?"
He nodded. "The lawyers prepared all the papers. Your name is on them as the owner."
I stared at him in shock. "I can’t take that. It’s too much."
"It’s not too much for my Luna," he said. His eyes got softer. "It’s just a small studio."
"Small to you, maybe." I wanted to roll my eyes. "If it was supposed to be a surprise, why come today?"
"I wanted to see you," he said simply.
I pretended his words didn’t make my heart jump a little. "And now that you’ve seen it, do you regret it? We have enough drama and backstabbing here to be on reality TV."
"All the more reason for you to take over and fix it."
I thought about it. "Tempting, but honestly, I wasn’t planning to stay at Nyx much longer. I’ve been thinking about leaving. There’s not much future for me here."
I looked at him. "If you haven’t signed the final papers, you can still back out."
"It’s already done."
"Oh? Well, I don’t know what to say. Now I feel bad."
He touched my hand. "Don’t. I would have bought it anyway. Caldwell isn’t wrong. The place has potential."
I wondered how much he paid for the company. If he had told me before, he could have just given me the money for the buyout. That would have been enough to start my own studio. I could have done everything my own way.
I must have had an obvious look on my face.
"If you want to leave, go ahead," he said casually. "I’m not forcing you to stay here."
"But you bought the place..."
"As a gift to you, not a chain to tie you down."
"I’ll think about it."
There were too many things to think about, and this wasn’t the right place or time.
"Alpha Hudson." Savannah walked over to us, looking defeated. "I had people check the security footage, but there was nothing strange in the showroom that day."
"The footage wasn’t deleted?" I asked, surprised.
"No." The look she gave me was complicated, full of confusion and worry. "We got the footage back. It showed everything as normal. No one touched the display case."
"Then you didn’t check well enough," Hudson said.
Savannah looked like she wanted to argue but decided not to. She cleared her throat. "Maybe we missed something. Should I look again?"
"Don’t bother."
I frowned. "If there’s no sign of a break in, they must have used old footage to cover it up."
Savannah looked nervously at Rexford, who looked like he wanted to disappear.
Akira growled inside me. "Someone’s covering for her. Probably that security guard she’s always flirting with."
If the footage had been changed, there was no way to prove Violet had stolen anything. We were stuck.
"If Luna Christina says it was changed," Rexford said, his voice tight, "then it must have been changed. We’ll handle this properly later. Let’s go to the conference room, shall we?"
He gestured politely, but Hudson didn’t move.
"Mr. Caldwell, you’re acting like my mate and I are causing the trouble here."
Rexford’s forehead was covered in sweat. He waved his hands quickly. "No, no, of course I trust you! It’s just that it’s only a necklace. I mean, how much could it be worth, really? I know how valuable your time is, and I don’t want to waste it. There’s no need to get upset..."
"Mr. Caldwell," Hudson cut him off, "if the security footage at Nyx Collective can be changed so easily, I wouldn’t trust you to handle security for our new mall in Highrise City."
Rexford went pale. He jumped into action. "We’ll figure this out! I’ll have someone investigate right away. Whether it was deleted or changed, we’ll find proof!"
He quickly pulled out his phone and called someone, giving them loud instructions.
I stood watching the chaos happen, feeling strangely disconnected. Part of me was happy to see Violet finally getting in trouble, but another part felt uncomfortable with Hudson coming in to fix everything.
"You didn’t have to do this," I said quietly to Hudson.
He looked at me with one eyebrow raised slightly. "Do what?" freēwēbηovel.c૦m
"Come in like some rescuing Alpha and save me. I can handle Violet."
"I know you can." His voice was low, just for me. "But why should you have to? You’re my Luna. Anyone who disrespects you disrespects me and The Sabreridge pack."
"Besides," Hudson continued, "stealing is a crime. This isn’t just about you and her."
