Chapter 7: The Hostile Takeover
814 Words
Chapter 7: The Hostile Takeover
The morning after the Summit didn’t bring peace; it brought the cold, clinical satisfaction of a trap snapping shut.
I sat in the back of Lucian’s armored Maybach, my fingers dancing across a sleek tablet. I had traded the obsidian gown for a power suit of cream-colored wool, my hair pulled back into a sharp, lethal bob. Beside me, Lucian was on a secure line, his voice a low, dangerous rumble as he coordinated the interrogation of the assassin we’d plucked from the shadows.
"The holdings are ready, Seraphina," Lucian said, ending his call and looking at my screen. "One word from you, and the Black Ridge falls."
"Not falls, Lucian," I corrected, my eyes fixed on the plummeting stock ticker of Thorne Logistics. "I don't want it in ruins. I want it under my heel."
The car glided to a halt in front of a glass-and-steel skyscraper—the corporate heart of the Black Ridge Pack. Three years ago, I had been dragged out of this building’s service entrance like trash. Today, the lobby security—all shifters—snapped to attention, their heads bowing so low I could see the nape of their necks.
The Command in my blood was silent, but they felt it anyway. They felt the Queen.
We bypassed the lobby and took the private elevator straight to the penthouse boardroom. When the doors slid open, the scent hit me: fear, stale coffee, and the sharp, metallic tang of Kaelen’s panic.
The board members—Alphas and Elders who had sat in silence while I was exiled—were frozen around the mahogany table. At the head of it sat Kaelen. He looked like he hadn't slept. His tie was loose, and his eyes were bloodshot.
"What is the meaning of this?" Kaelen stood, his chair screeching against the floor. "This is a private pack meeting, Lucian. Even an Alpha King needs an invitation to—"
"He isn't here as King," I said, stepping past Lucian. I tossed my tablet onto the center of the table. "He’s here as my witness."
Kaelen’s gaze dropped to the screen. His face went from pale to ghostly white in seconds.
"The majority stake..." he whispered, his voice cracking. "Sera-Phim Holdings? That was you?"
"Fifty-one percent, Kaelen," I said, leaning over the table, my shadow stretching unnaturally long across the mahogany, darkening the faces of the Elders. "As of nine o'clock this morning, I own your debt. I own your warehouses. I own the very roof over your pack’s head."
"You can't do this," an Elder barked, slamming his fist down. "This is pack land! Sacred ground!"
I turned my gaze to him. The Command flared in my eyes, turning them a piercing, predatory silver. "Sit. Down."
The Elder’s knees hit the chair with a thud. He couldn't even blink.
"I can, and I have," I continued, turning back to Kaelen. I walked around the table until I was standing right behind his chair. I leaned down, my lips close to his ear, just as he had done to me the night of my rejection. "Three years ago, you told me I was a liability to the bloodline. You told me I brought nothing to this pack but a name."
I placed my hand on his shoulder. He flinched, the Life-Bringer in me sensing his heart racing at a cardiac-arrest pace.
"Now," I whispered, "you have no name. You have no rank. And by the time I’m done, you won't even have a pack."
"Seraphina, please," Kaelen turned, his eyes searching mine for a flicker of the girl he used to know. "I made a mistake. The bond... I was young, I was pressured—"
"The girl you’re looking for died in the Forbidden Forest," I snapped, straightening up. I looked at the board members. "Effective immediately, Alpha Kaelen is suspended from all corporate and pack duties pending an audit of his 'gross incompetence.' Lucian?"
Lucian stepped forward, his presence filling the room like a physical weight. "My Enforcers will be stationed at every exit. This pack is now a protectorate of the Midnight Court."
I walked toward the door, not waiting for a response. But at the threshold, I paused and looked back at Kaelen, who was slumped in his chair, looking at the tablet that represented his total ruin.
"Oh, and Kaelen?"
He looked up, a tiny spark of hope in his eyes.
"The gold gown your 'Luna' wore last night?" I smiled, a sharp, beautiful thing that didn't reach my eyes. "The company that designed it is a subsidiary of mine. I'll be sending you the bill for that, too. I don't give charity to rogues."
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