Chapter 12

Damien pulled his arm away, expressionless. He looked at the sister who'd "protected" him all those times, and now found her unbearable.

He didn't speak. He just rubbed his temple.

He hadn't slept properly in a week. His phone didn't stop. PR, shareholders, partners, all pressing.

He'd pulled the trending posts down a dozen times. Each time something worse came back.

The Pack-holdings company was in chaos. Several senior directors had already resigned together. The oldest shareholders were threatening to call an emergency board and strip him of his Alpha authority over the Pack's business.

Damien sat in his office and stared at the Severance papers he'd taken from my room. There was only emptiness in his chest.

I'd cornered him completely.

And he couldn't bring himself to hate it.

This was what he'd earned.

He was the one who'd driven me overseas, who'd driven me from despair all the way into full counterattack.

"Alpha Kane," his secretary said, stepping in carefully. "Several more clients just formally ended their partnerships."

"I know."

"And the new Hart project is going public for capital. They're going straight onto the board where our main listings are."

Damien laughed, quietly. It was a tired, empty laugh.

"I, Damien Kane, actually ended up ruining myself."

Meanwhile, across the ocean, I was on the balcony with Snowy, taking in the sun.

The news alerts kept popping up about the Kane scandal.

I smiled a little and tossed the phone aside.

Now I'd just wait for the Council hearing.

Let Kane Pack burn to the ground. For good.

Damien. You lived on top of my life and Evie's.

Now it was my turn. I'd finish you the way you most feared. Slowly.

The day I flew home, the clouds were heavy.

I'd left Snowy with a friend in town. She wouldn't be coming for a while.

My legal team was already waiting at the arrivals gate. Assistants walked me quickly to the car. No one spoke. Only the rain tapping on the window, like it was hitting my chest.

"Ms. Hart, everything is ready," my counsel said softly.

I gave a small nod.

It was time to finish.

At the Council building, reporters and media were waiting in a crowd.

Damien was standing outside the crowd. Suit on, but without his usual edge. His face had a gray tiredness I hadn't seen before. Like he'd aged five years overnight. Dark circles under his eyes like storm clouds.

The moment I stepped out of the car, his eyes locked on me.

He walked up. His lips moved, as if he was swallowing blood. His eyes went wet.

"Sel…"

I didn't look at him.

My gaze went past him, as if he were fog.

"Don't go in." He put himself in my way, his voice low and rough. "Let's go home. Are you doing this to make a point? You still love me, don't you?"

He still dared to say love.

I finally lifted my eyes and looked straight at him. My voice had no heat in it.

"Damien. I don't love you anymore. It died the moment you walked into that ward with her in your arms."

"I know I was wrong. I'll pay. I'll kneel. I'll do anything. Just turn around."

His eyes were red, almost begging. Like a man drowning in his own fantasy. "Sel, there hasn't been a day I haven't regretted. You and Evie, that was everything. Come home. Stop this."

I stared at Damien, at the careful performance of devotion, and felt my stomach turn.

"Don't put on a show of feeling at the Council door," I said coldly. "I'm not here for that. I'm here for the reckoning."

I started to walk past. He grabbed my arm.

"Sel—"

"Let go."

A fist came in from the side and hit him in the face with a dull crack.

He took it by surprise and stumbled back several steps. His lip split. Blood ran at the corner.

My brother.

His face was iron. "Touch her again, and I'll put you in a medical wing."

Damien didn't hit back. He just stared at me.

My brother stepped in front of me, silent, and walked me into the Council.

The hearing began. The air was tight.

Kane Pack had brought the top Pack Counsel team in the country. Ours had been preparing a long time. Evidence, video, witnesses. Everything layered, every piece fitting into the next. We were pressing them down.

The Council Elder's brow kept furrowing. He already didn't like what he was hearing about Damien and Fiona.

I'd thought we'd close this fast.

Until their side submitted a psychological assessment.

"Fiona Kane was diagnosed three years ago with moderate borderline personality disorder. Impulse control impairment. Mild delusional tendencies. She's been in an acute break recently…"

The moment the Counsel said it, my face changed.

"She's sick, not a criminal." Kane Pack's Counsel was calm. "Honored Elder, we ask the Council to consider a moonbound care facility, not criminal confinement."

The chamber stirred.

I was almost tearing my fingernails off.

If the mental status was accepted, at worst she'd go into a facility. No record. No real confinement. And with Damien's network and resources, she wouldn't even last six months before he got her out.

That wasn't an outcome. That was nothing.

I didn't come here to put a mad woman in a hospital.

I came for the reckoning.