Free Web NovelChapter 22: THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERED WAS GETTING TO THAT DOOR
Chapter 21
Ren
The hotel room was too quiet when we walked inside. The heavy wooden door clicked shut, locking out the cold London air, but the silence inside felt heavy.
Lumi stood by the edge of the bed for a second, her hands still curled tightly into the fabric of her coat.
She looked completely spent. Her shoulders were hunched, and the pale skin under her eyes looked bruised from tiredness and the tears she had been fighting so hard to hold back.
Without saying a word, she grabbed a clean towel and walked into the small bathroom, closing the door quietly behind her.
The moment the lock clicked, the calm face I had been putting on for her vanished.
I told her I was leaving and then head to my room.
I stood in the middle of my room, my chest rising and falling in deep, heavy breaths. The anger inside me wasn’t a sudden spark; it was a slow, black fire that felt like it was burning through my veins.
Every single word that piece of trash had said to her in the park kept looping in my brain, louder and louder until my ears literally rang with it.
A worthless failure. You were never fit to be a mother.
My right hand clenched into a hard fist. The movement pulled at the clean gauze Lumi had just wrapped around my knuckles, the fresh white threads stretching tight against my skin.
I wanted to smack something again, anything. But I didn’t want to worry Lumi. I hate seeing that look on her face.
The only look that deserves to show on her face is joy and laughter, any other emotion shouldn’t be in her.
Except the look on her face few minutes before that scumbag ruined everything.
I wanted to hunt him down. I wanted to drive right into the heart of his territory, pull him out of his expensive car, and beat him until he couldn’t stand.
But I couldn’t be a brute. A brute would get thrown into a jail cell, and a jail cell wouldn’t help Lumi get her boy back.
I had to play this like a man who knew how to win a war, not just a street fight. Callum thought he was a king because he had a title and a few shipping contracts in a small territory.
He had absolutely no idea who he had just run into. He didn’t know that my family’s name, my actual wealth, and the hidden titles I carried could buy his entire life ten times over without even feeling the loss in my bank account. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and walked over to the far corner of the room, near the window.
I dialed a number I kept hidden deep in my contacts.
The phone didn’t even complete a full ring before a sharp, low voice answered. "Sir. We didn’t expect to hear from you. Is everything alright in London?"
"No," I said, my voice dropping into a freezing, quiet whisper that barely carried across the room.
"I need a full, deep check on a man named Callum Vance. He runs a mid-level pack and owns a logistics and real estate company."
I heard the quiet sound of a keyboard tapping on the other end. "Pulling it up now, sir... Yes, I have it. They have three major shipping contracts and a large commercial development project currently funded by outside investors. What are your orders?"
I looked out the window at the dark London streets, my eyes cold. "I want you to start buying. Slowly."
The man paused. "Slowly, sir?" ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
"Yes," I rumbled, a dark smile touching my lips. "Don’t rush it. I don’t want him to see a big hit and guess someone is coming for him. I want you to quietly approach his investors one by one.
Offer them double what he’s offering to move their money to our firms. Start buying up the debt on his land contracts through different names. Take a percentage here, a share there. Strip his partners away from him."
I gripped the phone tighter, my jaw locking. "I want it done so carefully that he won’t even realize he’s bleeding until there is absolutely nothing left. By the time he notices the ground is empty, I want him completely trapped."
"Understood, Alpha. We will make it look like natural market movements. He won’t suspect a thing. What about his personal record? Do you need that too?" That’s why I love about Derek, he’s smart and understands me before I say a word.
"That is the most important part," I said, my voice hardening, vibrating with a ruthless edge.
"I want you to dig up his entire life. I want anything and everything that can disqualify him from having custody of a child.
Find something dirty. Anything at all. Shady business deals, illegal tracking, financial fraud, or an old police report he paid to hide. If he has ever slipped up, even once, I want it on my desk."
I took a slow breath, staring at my reflection in the dark glass. "I want evidence that shows a judge he is entirely unfit to raise a three-year-old boy. If he has a single skeleton in his closet, drag it out into the light. Don’t leave a single stone unturned."
"Understood, Alpha. If there is grease on his hands, we will find it. We will build a file that will tear his reputation apart in front of a family court judge."
"Good. Flawless and quiet. I want him ruined from the inside out."
"We are on it, sir." I hung up the phone and slid it back into my pocket.
I knew I needed to do something to make Lumi smile, the look on her before going to shower was one that’ll hunt me.
The soft acoustic song from the car radio was still echoing in my head, but I knew a song couldn’t erase the kind of pain she was carrying.
A song couldn’t fix the hole in her heart after seeing her child pulled away from her. She needed something real. Something that showed her she wasn’t alone in the dark anymore.
I pulled out my phone and typed out short message for her, don’t want her searching for me.
*I need to go out for a little while.* I pressed sent and waited for her to respond because she opened it immediately.
*Where are you going? Is everything okay?*
"Everything is fine, I just forgot to pick up something from the shop down the road. I’ll be back before you know it.* I lied smoothly.
*Alright, be safe.*
*I will*
I inserted my phone back into my pocket, turned and headed down the hallway.
The truth was, I hadn’t forgotten anything at a shop. But I knew exactly what I needed to get.
Three days ago, when we were first talking about the things she had left behind when she left Callum’s house, she had mentioned one specific thing.
She hadn’t complained about leaving her expensive clothes or her jewelry. But she had let out a small, sad sigh and murmured that she missed her old sketchbooks—specifically, a brand of heavy, textured charcoal paper that she used to use when she needed to clear her head.
She had said drawing was the only thing that ever made her mind feel quiet when the house got too loud.
I remembered the name of the brand because I memorized every single word that came out of her mouth.
The problem was, it wasn’t a standard brand you could buy at a corner shop. It was an old, specific type of paper made by a small family-owned art store on the other side of London.
I walked out of the hotel and into the freezing evening air. The wind was sharp now, cutting straight through my jacket as I hurried down the street toward the nearest underground station.
I could have called a cab, but the traffic in the city was completely gridlocked, and a car would take twice as long.
I navigated the crowded, noisy train station, my mind focused entirely on my destination.
By the time I got off at the correct stop, the sky was completely black, and a cold, miserable drizzle had started to fall. I pulled my collar up and checked the map on my phone.
The shop was a twenty-minute walk from the station, down a maze of narrow, cobblestone alleys.
I checked the time. It was twenty minutes before closing. I couldn’t afford to not get it for her today, that’s the only thing that might put a smile on her face.
So I did the only thing that needed to be done, I started to run.
I ran as fast as I could because I couldn’t use my alpha abilities but I needed to do this for Lumi.
My boots slammed against the wet pavement, the cold rain stinging my face as I dashed through the dark streets.
My right hand was throbbing violently, the fresh cuts underneath the bandage burning with every stride I took, but I didn’t care.
I didn’t care that my hair was soaking wet or that my lungs were burning from the freezing air. The only thing that mattered was getting to that door before the lights went out.
