Kyla POV:
The bedroom was a perfect metaphor for our marriage. His side was a mess of discarded clothes and financial reports. My side was neat, sterile, untouched. A clear line divided the space, a border we had both silently agreed upon long ago.
I walked to the closet and pulled out a worn, black duffel bag, not the designer luggage he'd bought me. I moved with an efficient, detached calm, the pain in my chest now a dull, manageable throb.
A few sets of practical clothes. My toiletries. The dagger went back into its hidden sheath. I left everything else. The jewelry, the designer dresses, the life he had tried to mold me into-it all stayed. None of it had ever been mine anyway.
My eyes landed on the nightstand on my side of the bed. Tucked beneath a book was a thin manila folder. I pulled it out. The paper was crisp, well-preserved. It was my copy of the Share Transfer Agreement, signed two years ago. My ace in the hole. My price for freedom.
I carefully placed the folder in the duffel bag's inner pocket, zipping it securely.
"The lawyer will contact you tomorrow."
Gavin's voice came from the doorway. He was leaning against the frame, arms crossed, watching me with an air of dismissive authority.
"I've arranged for a settlement. One million dollars. It should be more than enough for a rogue like you to start a new life."
He said it with such pride, as if he were bestowing upon me an incredible act of generosity. A million dollars. To him, it was pocket change. To a lone wolf with no pack, he believed it was a fortune.
The zipper on my bag made a sharp, final sound as I pulled it shut. I straightened up and finally faced him, a humorless laugh escaping my lips.
"One million?" I asked, my voice dripping with a contempt I no longer bothered to hide. "Gavin, are you forgetting something?"
He frowned, his brow furrowing in genuine confusion. "Forgetting what?"
I reached into my bag, pulled out the folder, and tossed it onto the bed between us. It slid across the silk comforter and came to a stop near his hand.
"Share Transfer Agreement," he read the title aloud, his voice faltering.
His eyes widened in recognition. He snatched the document, his hands fumbling as he flipped it open. I watched as the memory crashed back into him.
Two years ago. Carter Group was bleeding money, on the verge of a hostile takeover. The banks had cut him off. The board was calling for his resignation. He was desperate.
And I had walked into his office, not as his mate, but as an investor. I had learned of a private equity fund looking to short his stock into oblivion. Using my own network, I had front-run them, secured the capital, and presented him with an offer.
"I don't want interest," I had told him across that mahogany desk. "I want equity."
He was so cornered, so desperate, that he'd agreed without a second thought. He signed over 4% of the company's private shares in exchange for a five-hundred-million-dollar wire transfer that appeared in the company's accounts less than an hour later. He never asked where the money came from. He was too arrogant to imagine it was mine. He probably assumed I'd called in a favor from some shadowy rogue benefactor.
"That four percent," I said, my voice as cold and hard as diamond, "is now worth one and a half billion dollars, thanks to the restructuring plan I designed and executed."
I let that sink in.
"That is my property, Gavin. Not your charity."
The color drained from his face, then returned in a furious, blotchy red. He was cornered again, and he hated it. He hated me for it.
"You-" he sputtered, his Alpha dominance flaring uselessly. "You conniving bitch! You think you can just take that kind of money from my family? Without the Carters, you're nothing!"
I ignored his tantrum. I picked up my duffel bag and walked towards the door, towards him. I didn't flinch as I passed, my shoulder not even brushing his. He was an obstacle, but a small one.
"One and a half billion," I said without looking back. "Not a penny less. Or we can discuss it in court."
I left him standing there, clutching the papers that sealed his fate. For the first time since I'd known him, Gavin Carter was utterly speechless. He had lost control.
Downstairs, I didn't say goodbye to the staff. I didn't look back at the house. I walked out the massive front doors, pulled out my phone, and called a standard taxi. As the simple yellow car pulled up to the sprawling estate, I felt the first true breath of freedom fill my lungs.
The taxi pulled away, and I disappeared into the night, just another shadow.
Gavin POV:
I watched the taxi's taillights vanish down the long, winding driveway. My hands trembled with rage. I crumpled the agreement in my fist, the sharp edges of the paper digging into my palm.
One and a half billion.
The number was obscene. Impossible. She was a rogue. Where would a rogue get five hundred million dollars?
My wolf paced restlessly inside me, snarling in frustration. He hated her defiance, her coldness. He hated that, in my eyes, she had made me feel weak.
I stormed back into the bedroom and slammed the door. I needed to think. I needed... Catherine.
I pulled out my phone, my thumb jabbing at the screen. She answered on the second ring, her voice soft and soothing, like a balm on my frayed nerves.
"Gavin, darling? Is everything alright? Did you talk to her?"
"I did," I bit out, pacing the length of the room. "I rejected her. It's done."
"Oh, you poor thing," she cooed. "That must have been so difficult. Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," I lied. The lingering ache from the rejection was a dull throb in my soul. "But she's not making this easy. The greedy bitch is demanding one and a half billion dollars."
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. "What? Why? On what grounds?"
I explained the story of the old investment, the 4% equity. I told her how Kyla had thrown it in my face.
Catherine was silent for a moment, and I could almost hear the wheels turning in her clever mind.
"Gavin, honey, calm down," she said, her voice a strategic caress. "Think about it. She's a rogue. She appeared out of nowhere with no pack, no family, no history. Where would someone like that get five hundred million dollars overnight?"
Her words cut through my anger, planting a seed of suspicion. I noticed, absently, that my head felt clearer when I focused on her voice—and heavier when her perfume lingered in my memory, a sickly sweet fog that made thinking feel like wading through honey.
"That money," she continued, her tone laced with faux concern, "its source has to be questionable. It could be dirty money, Gavin. Laundered, maybe. No legitimate bank would just hand over that kind of cash to a lone wolf with no collateral."
She was right. Of course, she was right. I had been too blind, too desperate at the time to question it.
"If the initial investment was illegal," Catherine's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "then the contract is null and void. She wouldn't be entitled to a single dollar."
A slow, vicious smile spread across my face. My anger began to cool, replaced by a cold, calculating resolve.
"We can look into it," Catherine added gently. "We can find out where that money came from. Don't you worry, my love. I'll help you. We'll handle this. We'll handle her."
"Thank you, Catherine," I breathed, a wave of relief washing over me. "You're brilliant."
"I just want to see you happy, Gavin," she murmured. "She's been a shadow over your life for too long. It's time for the sun to come out."
We hung up a few minutes later. I stood in the silent room, the crumpled agreement still in my hand. Kyla thought she had won. She thought she could walk away with a fortune.
She had no idea what was coming. We would dig into her past. We would expose her. We would ruin her.
She would get nothing.
