Chapter 195 The Reckoning Begins

Chapter 195: Chapter 195 The Reckoning Begins

Aria’s POV

I’d barely stepped through the door when my phone started vibrating against my palm.

A bank notification flashed across the screen—a transfer had just cleared. The memo read: "Equity Transfer Processing Fee Reimbursement."

Before I could process it, an unknown number lit up my screen.

I answered, bringing the phone to my ear.

"Ms. Smith, this is David Chen from Holt Enterprises’ legal department." The voice on the other end was measured, professional. "Your equity transfer has been finalized. The updated shareholder registry has been filed with the Pack Council. Our courier is en route to your residence with the official documents and stock certificates. ETA thirty minutes."

"Understood."

My tone was flat, detached. I ended the call without another word.

I wasn’t surprised. Today marked the third day—the deadline I’d given Ethan.

Apparently, he could meet a deadline when his empire was on the line.

My phone buzzed again almost immediately. This time, a text message.

From Ethan.

*Aria, the paperwork’s done. Fifty percent of Holt Enterprises is yours now. I’ve kept my promise. I’m not asking for forgiveness—I know I don’t deserve it. But please, just give me a chance to apologize in person. I want us to start over. —Ethan*

I stared at the message, at the careful construction of his words. The manufactured humility. The calculated vulnerability.

For two years, I’d believed every word that came out of his mouth. I’d trusted him when he said the Bond would come later, that he was protecting me, that we had time.

Now I could see it all for what it was: a performance.

My finger hovered over his contact for half a second before I pressed dial.

He picked up before the first ring finished. "Aria—"

"Tomorrow morning. Ten o’clock. Holt Enterprises."

I didn’t wait for his response. Didn’t give him the chance to spin another pretty lie.

I hung up.

And tomorrow, I was going to make sure he understood exactly what he’d lost.

---

Ethan’s POV

Even though Aria’s tone had been ice-cold, hearing her agree to meet sent a flicker of hope through me.

And my wolf lifted his head at the sound of her voice, ears pricking like a pup catching a familiar scent after too long apart.

It wasn’t much. But it was something.

Three days ago the infrastructure project had imploded. An audit uncovered flaws that reeked of incompetence to anyone with a wolf’s nose for weakness.

Partnerships canceled overnight. The V&A Group had pulled their investment entirely.

Pack gossip traveled faster than any press release. One whisper in the Council chambers and every Alpha with a stake in the region would smell blood in the water.

Without new capital, the Pack’s expansion would grind to a halt—and in the worst case, Holt Enterprises could collapse completely, taking my father’s standing on the Council down with it.

Transferring the shares to Aria wasn’t just about saving face. It was about getting her back.

The project had gone off the rails because no one who’d taken over could fix what she’d built.

Her ability to salvage failing initiatives was uncanny—for a human moving through a world built by wolves.

Years ago, when the company faced an even bigger crisis, she’d pulled us back from the edge, no fangs required.

Now even my father—an Alpha who bowed to no one—had swallowed his pride.

We couldn’t afford to lose her. Not now.

"What are you doing?"

I stepped into the bedroom to find Clara rummaging through my work bag.

"Nothing." She flinched, clutching it to her chest. "Just tidying up. There was a bug inside."

My wolf went still. We could scent the lie before she finished speaking—sour, curdled.

I didn’t call her on it. I was too tired to fight tonight.

"Don’t touch my things." I dropped onto the couch, loosening my tie, letting my shoulders sag in a way I’d never allow in front of the Pack.

"Aria still won’t forgive you?" Clara’s voice was careful.

"She’s coming to the office tomorrow morning."

Her eyes widened. "Already?"

"It’s fifty percent equity," I said flatly. "Holt is her legacy too. If the Pack expands, she stands to gain the most. Even if she doesn’t care about the past..."

My jaw tightened, canines aching the way they did when my wolf wanted to snarl with nowhere to put it. "She’ll care about the profit."

The words felt hollow. Aria had never cared about money. Humans weren’t supposed to out-loyal a wolf, and yet she always had.

If she’d agreed to meet me, some part of her still remembered what we used to be.

What I’d destroyed.

"This is only temporary," I told Clara. "You’ll need to play along—pretend we’ve broken things off, at least in front of the Pack."

Her expression soured, but she nodded. "Fine. As long as she doesn’t provoke me." She leaned in, her scent too sweet, too deliberate. "My devotion runs deeper than hers ever did."

I forced a smile that didn’t reach my eyes. My wolf didn’t stir at her touch—hadn’t in a long time.

I’d once believed we were true love, even without a Bond to prove it.

But ever since she’d used Marcus and our relationship to blackmail my family before the Council, something inside me had shifted.

Aria’s love had been raw, fierce, given freely even without a wolf’s instincts to guide her. Clara’s love was a transaction dressed up as devotion.

"By the way," Clara said, lighter now, "you still have those research files of Aria’s?"

I stiffened. "Why?"

"I want to study them. I don’t want to fall behind." Her fingers traced my chest, insistent.

The research Aria had entrusted to me had never been published.

It was proprietary—years of her work, handed over as a wedding gift when she still believed in us, back when a Luna’s gift to her Pack meant something.

I’d kept it locked away ever since. It wasn’t meant for anyone else.

"Please?" Clara’s voice turned pleading, her fingers tracing circles against my chest. "I just want to understand what makes her so special. If I keep learning, I won’t fall behind."

Her words grated, but she kept pushing, her touch growing more insistent.

Finally, I exhaled and stood, retrieving a flash drive from my desk drawer.

I carried it with me everywhere. The data was too valuable to leave unguarded—worth more, some days, than half the Pack’s treasury.

"Thank you, babe!" Clara pressed a kiss to my cheek.

"One week. Don’t copy it. Don’t lose it."

"I won’t." Her smile was sweet, innocent.

But as she slipped the drive into her pocket, my wolf stirred uneasily, hackles rising for no reason I could name.

*Something’s off,* he murmured.

I ignored him.

I had bigger problems to deal with.