Chapter 329 Byron Finch

Chapter 329: Chapter 329 Byron Finch

Aria’s POV

The moment I burst through that door, the whole room went still.

Damian rose from his chair in one fluid motion, his black-grey eyes finding mine before anyone could speak. Something in my chest loosened just seeing that he was fine. Untouched. Standing.

My grandfather’s face darkened. "Aria. This is not your concern."

"It’s entirely my concern," I said, forcing my voice steady even as my hands trembled at my sides.

Kiel studied me for a long, cold moment. Then he leaned back, folding his weathered hands on the desk.

"All right. What is it you came here for?"

I took a breath and made the gamble I’d been turning over all night.

"Ten days. Let me investigate how Vincent really died. If I can’t find the truth in ten days, I’ll surrender part of the inheritance he left me. Willingly. In writing."

That got him. His head came up, eyes sharpening with something between disbelief and calculation.

"You’d give up what you fought so hard for," he said slowly. "For the chance to dig up a dead man’s grave."

"I want the truth more than I want the money." I held his gaze. "You’ve spent weeks telling everyone the Blackwood line is responsible. I want to know whether that’s true—or whether someone simply needs it to be."

The silence stretched long enough that I was certain he’d refuse.

Then, slowly, he nodded.

"Ten days," he said. "Don’t make me regret it."

---

Later, in the car, I told Damian everything.

I expected him to defend his family. To bristle, to shut me out, to remind me exactly who I was asking questions about. Instead he simply listened, jaw tight, hands steady on the wheel.

"My grandfather’s name is Aldric," he said finally. "If someone’s using his name to start a fire between our packs, I want to know why as badly as you do."

That surprised me. "You’re not going to tell me to leave it alone?"

"No." His eyes cut to mine, dark and certain. "I’m going to help you tear it open."

I pulled Sylvia’s file from my bag, the one she’d shoved at me like a loaded gun. "This is what she gave me. The evidence that supposedly proves Aldric killed Vincent."

He scanned it at the next stoplight, and I watched his expression shift.

"You feel it too," he said. "None of this convicts anyone. It’s speculation. Timelines that almost line up. Nothing that would hold in front of a Council."

"I noticed that too," I admitted.

"I want you to understand something, Aria." His voice dropped, and for the first time it wasn’t cold at all. "If the trail leads to my grandfather, if he really did this, you’ll bear the weight of it. The Smiths will make sure of it. I won’t let that happen quietly."

I turned in my seat to look at him. Really look at him.

"If it turns out your grandfather is guilty," I said, "I won’t lay that at your feet. You didn’t do it. Whatever he was, you’re not him. I need you to believe that."

His hands flexed on the wheel. He didn’t answer, but something in his shoulders eased, and that was answer enough.

---

By nightfall, Damian had put his people to work.

He had Rick digging into the place where Vincent died—a stretch of abandoned land known for drawing groups of rogue wolves. Aldric had been there before, and that single fact had become the backbone of the accusations against him.

The deeper we went, the clearer it became. The "proof" against Aldric was mostly assumption. His presence in the area. A few conflicting accounts. Rumors passed from one pack to another until they started sounding like facts.

"Someone wanted this fight," Damian said, spreading the reports across the table. "They didn’t kill Vincent to hurt the Smiths. They killed him to point us at each other."

A cold weight settled in my stomach. "Two powerful packs, tearing each other apart while someone else walks away clean."

"Exactly."

I stared at the names and dates until my eyes blurred. "So who benefits?"

Damian’s phone buzzed. He answered, listened, and I watched his whole body go still.

He hung up slowly.

"Rick found someone," he said. "A witness who was there that night. And he gave us a name."

I held my breath.

"Byron Finch."