Chapter 248 A trap

Chapter 248: Chapter 248 A trap

_Rowena’s POV_

The council hall was dead silent as Alaric’s words got registered in the heads of those that heard him.

I looked down at Brielle, the smug, victorious smile on her face completely melted away, replaced by pure shock and confusion.

I could tell that she’d expected Alaric to throw a violent, rage filled fit. She had probably planned for him to yell at her, reject her, and look like a cold, heartless ruler in front of all those reporters.

Instead, he sat there on his throne, cool and totally composed, accepting the betrothal like it meant nothing to him. She didn’t look like she had won anymore.

She looked terrified, probably wondering what kind of game we were playing.

I couldn’t help the small, subtle smile that touched my lips.

I stood up from my chair, keeping my posture straight and my face completely calm. I didn’t say a single word to the elders or to Brielle. I just turned around and walked out of the gallery toward the side exit.

Alaric stood up right behind me, following my steps without hesitation. He completely ignored the elders calling out his name, stepping through the double doors with me.

We walked straight to his office at the back of the wing. Ezekiel and Kasper were already waiting inside, standing near the coffee table with serious expressions.

I’d asked them to wait here for us.

Alaric closed the door behind us and locked it with a click.

"Alright," Alaric said, his voice tired as he crossed his arms over his chest. "We’re alone. Tell me what we’re actually doing, Rowena."

I walked over to his desk and leaned back against the edge, looking at all three of them.

"I feel like Brielle isn’t working alone," I said directly, keeping my words simple and clear. "She didn’t forge those medical test results herself. She doesn’t have the brains or the technical access to pull that off. Someone in the hospital did it for her."

Ezekiel raised an eyebrow. "You think it’s one of the lab tech nurses?"

"No," I replied, looking straight into Alaric’s eyes. "It’s Dr. Kyle."

The moment I said his name, Alaric’s entire face lit up. His eyes flashed with a sudden, excited spark, a wide, wicked smirk spreading across his jaw. He uncrossed his arms, looking like a man who had just been handed an early birthday gift.

"I knew it.” Alaric blurted out, his voice literally booming with delight. "I told you there was something wrong with that guy. I knew he was a shady snake the second he walked into the hospital.”

"Alaric, he saved my life after the car accident," I reminded him calmly.

"I don’t care.” Alaric scoffed, waving his hand in the air like it was nothing. "He talks too nice, he smiles too much, and he hangs around you way too often. I never liked him for a single second. This is great news."

Ezekiel let out a loud, hysterical laugh, pointing his finger right at Alaric’s face. "Look at him! Look how happy the Alpha King is right now! The man is literally beaming because his woman’s hero turned out to be a villain!"

Alaric’s smirk vanished instantly, his eyes narrowing as he glared at Ezekiel.

"Shut up, Ezekiel," Alaric warned, his voice dropping into a harsh growl. "Keep laughing and I will have my security guards pack your bags and throw you back into your father’s territory by tonight."

"Oh, please," Ezekiel snorted, rolling his eyes and leaning back against the couch. "You can’t send me back there. I am never going back home. I’m staying right here in Ashthorne residence for Pierre. Besides, my old man doesn’t even want me around anymore anyway. He said I brought too much noise to his pack."

"Can we focus, please?" I called out, bringing their attention right back to me.

Alaric stopped glaring at Ezekiel and turned his full focus back to me. Kasper pulled a phone out of his pocket, tapping the screen a few times before looking up at the group.

"Rowena is right," Kasper said, his flat voice cutting through the noise. "But if Kyle is truly guilty, we can’t just arrest him right now. He’s a respected head doctor. If we drag him into a cell without hard proof, his medical board will throw a massive fit and accuse the Alpha King of abusing his power."

"So how do we get the proof?" Alaric asked, leaning his hands on the back of a chair.

"We set him up," Kasper suggested calmly. "We lay out a piece of bait that he can’t resist taking. If he takes it, he exposes himself. If he ignores it, we know he’s clean."

"What kind of bait?" Ezekiel asked, tilting his head.

"Something outside the hospital," Kasper explained, tapping his tablet screen again. "Something away from his safe environment. Tomorrow morning, the pack is hosting the annual open air night market downtown. It’s crowded, noisy, and chaotic. Hundreds of local vendors set up small stalls to sell traditional herbs, rare medicine ingredients, and old remedies."

Kasper looked up at Alaric and me.

"We leak a private piece of fake news to Kyle tonight," Kasper continued. "We tell him that a rogue local vendor at the market is secretly selling an unreleased, black market medicine—the exact rare compound used to fake biological blood markers in lab machines. We tell him that security is heading down to the market tomorrow afternoon to raid the stall and confiscate the vendor’s transaction ledger."

I nodded slowly, catching onto Kasper’s idea right away.

"If Kyle really used that specific compound to fake Brielle’s test," I said, "he will panic. He won’t be able to risk our security team grabbing that vendor’s ledger, because his name or transfer record might be inside it. He’ll be forced to go down to the crowded market himself to clean up the mess or buy the ledger back before we get there."

"And while he’s at the market trying to find the stall," Ezekiel grinned, his eyes lighting up with excitement, "we’ll be watching every single move he makes from the security cameras."

"Exactly," Kasper said.

Alaric let out a low chuckle, rubbing his hands together. He looked completely satisfied with the plan.

"I love it," he said, his eyes fixed on me. "So what’s our assignment?"

"Kasper, you handle the leak," I instructed, giving out the orders. "Make sure the message gets delivered directly to Kyle’s hospital terminal tonight so he thinks it’s a confidential security memo. Ezekiel, you and Kasper will set up the hidden surveillance feed around the central market stalls tomorrow morning too.”

I looked at Alaric. "You and I will wait nearby in the unmarked car. The second Kyle shows up at that market stall to buy that ledger, we’ll have him completely trapped."

Alaric grinned, stepping closer to me and wrapping his arm firmly around my waist. "Consider it done, My Queen."