Chapter 299 The Woman Behind It All

Chapter 299: Chapter 299 The Woman Behind It All

Sebastian’s POV

Three days after the press conference, Fynn knocked once and walked into my office with a folder tucked under his arm and a grim set to his jaw.

"Alpha. We followed the trail. I’ve got the name of whoever pulled the strings behind the whole thing."

I set down my pen. "Who?"

"The head of Pegasus Corporation. She only landed back in Silverlake a few weeks ago to launch the company."

"Pegasus." I turned the word over. I’d heard it thrown around at more than one board meeting lately, the shiny new player everyone couldn’t stop chattering about. "That’s Claudine Tucker’s, isn’t it?"

"The same."

"How’d you tie it to her?"

"The fake reporter had a fat payment wired straight from Pegasus’s finance department into his account."

I leaned back. "That doesn’t prove Claudine gave the order. Could be anyone with access."

"Look at this." Fynn slid a photo across the desk.

I picked it up and studied it. A woman sat sipping coffee dead center in the frame, meant to catch the eye. Amateur bait. I let my gaze drift past her, to the edges, the corners.

There.

Top left, tucked into a shadow where a lazy man would never look, a couple leaned close over a table, heads together. The man was the reporter. And the woman, no need to guess, was Claudine.

"So she really is behind it," I said.

"She is. I’ve already dug into her. Big career in France, deep pockets, and a network in this country long enough to stand toe to toe with you. She’s one of the few who could."

Ryder stirred low in my chest. "Then she’s worth meeting face to face."

"Set it up," I said. "I want to sit across from her myself. Reach out directly, don’t run it through her people."

Fynn nodded and stepped out.

He was barely gone ten minutes before his voice slid into my head through the mind-link. Done, Alpha. She agreed. Tonight, seven o’clock.

I lifted a brow at the empty room. Tonight. She hadn’t stalled, hadn’t hidden behind a secretary, hadn’t made me chase her for a week the way people in her position usually did.

She’d said yes almost before I finished asking.

"That’s not a woman who’s scared of us," Ryder murmured. "Watch yourself."

At seven I walked into a private room she’d chosen, and Claudine was already there, waiting.

She looked me up and down, slow and deliberate, and the longer she stared the colder her eyes went. I couldn’t place it, but there was something in her face close to hatred, thick and old.

I took the seat across from her and didn’t bother with pleasantries.

"Ms. Tucker. I asked you here for a simple reason. I want to know what my wife ever did to you. Or what my family did, that you’d land in this city and make it your first order of business to come at us."

Claudine’s mouth curved. "I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about."

"Don’t insult us both." I kept my voice easy, unhurried. An Alpha doesn’t need to raise his voice to fill a room. "You think I walked in here without knowing exactly what you did? If you didn’t want it traced back to you, you shouldn’t have done it. I’ve got more than enough to put your name all over my wife’s scandal."

She didn’t so much as blink. If anything, she looked amused.

"Well spotted," she said. "You can’t bury a thing like that unless you never did it in the first place. But evidence?" She laughed softly. "What’s your evidence going to do, put me behind bars? Because I’ll tell you something, Sebastian. I’ve got a little evidence of my own. The kind that could drag your parents into a courtroom."

My face went still. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

Claudine leaned back and let the silence stretch, savoring it. "Do you know what Abigail Tanner is to me? She’s my goddaughter."

Something dropped through me like a stone.

Abigail had let it slip once, careless, that it was a godmother she’d met in France who finally uncovered the truth of how her parents died. I’d never thought twice about it.

Now the pieces slid into place, and I didn’t like the shape they made.

"You’ve guessed it," Claudine said, her eyes tracking mine like she was reading a book she’d already finished. "Yes. Your guess is right."

She stood, hooked her bag off the back of the chair, and turned toward the door, unhurried, like the whole thing bored her now.

"I’ll say this much for Mila and Titus," she added over her shoulder. "They managed to raise a son who isn’t a fool, and who’s got some teeth. I’m almost impressed." Her gaze cut back to me, sharp as a blade. "Though when it comes to being truly cold-blooded, you’ve still got a long way to go before you catch your father."

"Stop." My voice cut across the room, flat and hard.

She paused, one hand on the door.

"Why my parents?" I stood, slow. "What in the Goddess’s name happened between you and my family?"

Claudine looked back at me, and one corner of her mouth pulled up, cruel and satisfied.

"Go home," she said, "and ask your parents."

Then she walked out, and left me standing alone in that room with a cold, spreading dread.