Caleb POV
The words on my phone screen drilled into my eyes like poisonous snakes:
[Hale has formally replied, refusing all negotiations. The AR proposal is void. Legal proceedings against the Goodrich family for improper business practices will commence immediately.]
The blood froze in my veins.
Jasper’s counterattack was swift and brutal, leaving me no room to breathe.
Barefoot, I ran across the cold marble floors toward the study on the top floor. Every step felt like I was walking on daggers, my heart pounding in my ears.
When I threw open the door, my father was standing before the floor-to-ceiling windows, a glass of amber whiskey in his hand. His back was to me, his silhouette as immovable as a mountain, as if he had long anticipated my arrival.
"Why?" I gasped, my voice trembling with rage and weakness. "Why did you have the legal department send AR a warning letter? You promised you’d give me time to bring her back!"
Arthur turned slowly, his eyes as cold as ice, looking at me as if I were a foolish child. "Bring her back? With what? Are you counting on your little game of playing house to make her go soft? Caleb, you are a great disappointment to me."
Those words, "little game of playing house," struck me like a slap to the face. He knew. He’d known all along that I was acting.
"Then what was I supposed to do?" I roared, my voice hoarse. "Did you think Jasper would just let her go? He’d love nothing more than to lock her in a vault and chain her by the ankle! How did you expect me to ’invite’ her back?"
He scoffed, walked to his desk, and threw a file down in front of me. "Take a look."
I looked down, and my heart plummeted. It was a proposal for a structural revision, leaked from inside AR—the very one Lila and Eleanor had pulled an all-nighter to create. In the bottom-right corner of the blueprint, a red stamp from the Goodrich Group’s Technical Review Department was emblazoned with two words: "NOT ADOPTED." It looked like a brand of shame.
"In a matter of hours, she found a way around the deficiencies in the original data." There was a hint of unconcealed admiration in Arthur’s voice. "Her talent is far greater than we anticipated. And that is precisely why she cannot remain with Jasper."
I froze, my mind reeling. "What do you mean? What do you mean by ’cannot remain with him’? She’s just a rookie!"
Arthur stepped in front of me, his gaze sharp as a blade, piercing right through me. "Did you really think I adopted Lila because our family enjoys charity? Or because Elizabeth was fond of her? Or was it because you were always clinging to her side when you were little, like some foolish boy who’d never seen a girl before?"
He paused, a cruel, weary smile touching his lips. "Let me tell you the truth, Caleb. Her adoption was a transaction from the very beginning. A deal that would secure the Goodrich family’s future for the next century."
A tremor ran through me, a chill shooting up my spine. "A deal?"
"There’s a ceiling to what human capital can achieve." He took a slow sip of his drink, his gaze fixed on some distant point, as if recalling a long-forgotten memory. "To break through that invisible glass ceiling, the Goodrich family needed to find new allies. Not bankers on Wall Street, not members of Congress, but... the masters of another world."
My breath hitched. ’Another world? Could it be...’
"Fifteen years ago, the Wolf Clan was in the midst of a bloody struggle for power." Arthur’s voice dropped, laced with an unsettling reverence. "Derek Hale, the son of the Wolf Clan’s Great Elder, and Jasper’s cousin. He was ambitious, ruthless, and singularly focused on becoming the next Wolf King."
Derek Hale. The name was like a rusty key, unlocking a dim, forgotten corner of my memory. I think I’d heard my father mention that name on a late-night phone call when I was a child. His tone had been so deferential it bordered on fear.
"Derek needed an ally in the human world to act as his proxy, to clear the obstacles from his path," Arthur continued, his every word an icicle piercing my ears. "And I needed his power in the supernatural realm to acquire resources, intelligence, and even... longevity that were beyond the reach of ordinary men. It was a perfect match."
My stomach roiled, and I fought the urge to vomit. ’Supernatural? Werewolves? Longevity?’ These words sounded like something out of a ridiculous sci-fi novel, yet here they were, being spoken so calmly by my father—the most pragmatic capitalist in all of New York.
"Lila’s parents..." My voice was so dry I could barely speak.
"That’s right." Arthur’s eyes were perfectly calm, as if he were discussing some trivial, long-past event. "They were a forbidden union—a Werewolf and an ordinary human. In Derek’s eyes, it was a defilement of the pure bloodline, not to mention that they were potential allies of his rivals. He ordered me to ’dispose of them.’"
The three words, "dispose of them," were spoken so lightly, but they hit me with enough force to make my knees buckle. I grabbed the edge of the desk to keep from collapsing. So the so-called "car accident" wasn’t an accident at all. The truth was my father had personally orchestrated the deaths of Lila’s parents.
"So... you killed them? And then you adopted Lila?" My voice was shaking uncontrollably.
"To be precise, I removed an obstacle for Derek," Arthur said, turning back to the heavy darkness outside the window. "In return, the Goodrich family achieved its current standing. All those seemingly coincidental mergers, those market fluctuations we always managed to predict... Derek’s hand was behind it all. And Lila," he paused, his voice taking on a meaningful tone, "is both a spoil of war and a hostage. As long as we have her, Derek will continue to cooperate. But more importantly—"
He suddenly whipped his head around, his gaze sharp as a hawk’s, pinning me in place. "She has rare, mixed blood flowing through her veins. One day, she might become the key to controlling the entire Wolf Clan. But right now, her greatest value is in not becoming an asset to Jasper. Jasper is Derek’s mortal enemy. If Lila sides with him, we lose all our leverage."
It was as if I’d been struck by lightning. I staggered back a step, my back slamming hard against a bookshelf. ’So that’s how it is.’
’All this time, the "special treatment" Lila received in the Goodrich family was nothing more than an elaborate cage.’
’My own affection for her, my desire to protect her, was just another part of my father’s plan—another move on his chessboard.’
"But Jasper married her," I said, my voice hoarse, grasping at one last straw. "She’s with him now! Legally, she’s Mrs. Hale!"
"The law?" Arthur let out a short, cold laugh. "To beings like Derek and Jasper, human laws are nothing but scrap paper. So, he must lose her." His tone was ironclad, leaving no room for argument. "Either she returns to our control, or... she disappears for good. Caleb, you choose."