Chapter 98
Chapter 98:
He looked down at my hand, then back at my face, his expression tortured. “I am stained, Adella. My soul is black with what I’ve done. You deserve someone whole. Someone who hasn’t spent half his life in the shadows p>
“I don’t want someone whole,” I said fiercely. “I want you p>
I grabbed the lapels of his shirt and pulled him down, forcing him to hold my gaze. “You aren’t cold, Dallas. You burn. You burn so bright it scares people. But it doesn’t scare me p>
Something inside him shattered. With a ragged sound, his restraint snapped. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me flush against him and burying his face in the crook of my neck. He inhaled deeply, as if my scent were the only oxygen left in the world.
S𝘩𝘢𝗿е 𝘺𝗈u𝘳 𝘵𝘩ough𝘁𝘀 оn
“Adella,” he rasped, his voice thick with emotion. “I would burn the world to ash before I let anything happen to you p>
Then a sharp, insistent beeping cut through the moment.
Dallas stiffened. He pulled back slightly, the vulnerability vanishing from his eyes, replaced instantly by the cold, calculating gaze of the Alpha. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sleek black device.
As he read the screen, the temperature on the balcony seemed to drop ten degrees.
“What is it?” I asked, my stomach twisting.
He turned the screen toward me. It was an encrypted message from Duncan, his Beta.
Alpha Hyde is liquidating Hyde Industries. He’s trying to run before the creditors take everything.
“He’s cashing out,” Dallas said, his voice deadly calm. “The rat knows the ship is sinking. He’s going to take the money and disappear p>
I stared at the message. Braydon Hyde wasn’t just a bully — he was a coward. And a cornered coward was the most dangerous thing in the world.
“He won’t get far,” I said, a cold determination settling in my chest.
Dallas looked at me, and a dark, predatory smile touched his lips. It wasn’t the smile of a businessman. It was the smile of a wolf who had just caught the scent of prey.
“No,” he agreed, slipping the phone back into his pocket. “He won’t p>
The silence inside the armored Bentley was absolute — a hermetically sealed bubble separating us from the chaos of the world. Outside, the fluorescent lights of the S&D Design underground garage hummed with a sickly yellow glow, but inside the air was cool, scented with rich leather and the overwhelming, intoxicating presence of the man sitting beside me.
Rain and cedar. A scent that used to terrify me, signaling the proximity of a predator. Now it was the only thing anchoring me to the earth.
My hands were trembling in my lap. I clasped them together, trying to stop the shaking, but it was useless. Today wasn’t just my first day at the most prestigious restoration firm in the city — it was the day I had to face Augusta Marshall.
Dallas’s aunt. An Elder. A woman whose reputation for ruthlessness rivaled his own.