Chapter 49: Chapter 49
"Gabriel, I still think we need to meet him." Chloe blinked her bright blue eyes at her twin brother, determination shining in their depths.
Gabriel leaned back against the sofa, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "Actually..." he said slowly, "I agree."
Chloe’s eyes widened. "You do?"
"Yeah." He stood up and motioned for her to follow.
Curious, Chloe hurried after him as he walked over to the living room window and carefully parted the curtain. "Look," he murmured.
Chloe peered outside. Several men in sharp black suits stood near the building’s entrance. Others lingered nearby, poorly pretending to be occupied with their phones or casual conversation. But their eyes never strayed far from the building.
Her brows furrowed. "They’re still there."
"Exactly," Gabriel said, crossing his arms. "They’ve been there for weeks."
Chloe pressed her face closer to the glass.
"Now that I think about it... there’s always the same black SUV following us, too."
Her wolf instincts, though still young, were surprisingly sharp and had flagged the pattern long ago. At first, she had brushed it off as a coincidence. Now, she knew better.
"Who are they?"
Gabriel’s expression grew serious. "When I hacked into a few employee databases, I found identification codes on their badges."
Chloe groaned, rolling her eyes. "You hacked another database?"
"It wasn’t difficult."
Of course it wasn’t. Nothing ever seemed difficult for her genius brother.
"I traced the codes," Gabriel continued, pointing toward the men outside. "They work for Christian Wayne."
Chloe froze, her voice spiking several octaves. "What? No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Chloe."
"No!"
Gabriel sighed. "Unfortunately, reality doesn’t care whether you like it or not."
Chloe’s shoulders slumped. Her handsome hero couldn’t possibly be spying on them. Could he?
A tight ache bloomed in her chest. She didn’t want to believe it—not after the way he had smiled at her, and certainly not after how kind he had seemed.
"Whether he’s good or bad isn’t the point," Gabriel reasoned. "The important question is why he’s watching us."
Chloe chewed on her lip. That was a very good question.
"And that’s why we need answers." Gabriel reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
"What are you doing?"
"Making an appointment."
Chloe stared at him. "With Christian Wayne?"
Gabriel nodded, his fingers already flying rapidly across his screen. "He’s the only person who can explain what’s going on."
Peeking over his shoulder, Chloe noticed the logo of a completely unfamiliar corporation on his email application. Her eyes widened. "Is that a fake company?"
Gabriel grinned. "Maybe."
"Gabriel! Mom says lying is wrong."
"I’m not lying."
Chloe folded her arms. "You literally invented a company."
"It’s called strategic presentation."
Chloe shot him a scathing look, but Gabriel ignored it, his thumbs a blur. Within minutes, he had drafted an elaborate, highly professional proposal requesting a business meeting. Naturally, he omitted the minor detail that the company’s CEO was a five-year-old boy.
"I don’t think he’ll agree to meet us," Chloe said, pessimism taking over.
Gabriel’s grin widened into something wicked. "Oh, he’ll agree."
"How do you know?"
"Because I’m not giving him a choice."
Chloe let out a dramatic sigh. Sometimes her brother was downright terrifying.
Gabriel tapped send and leaned back with an air of pure satisfaction. The bait had been cast. Now, all they could do was wait.
A heavy, thoughtful silence settled between them.
"Do you think he wants to hurt us?" Chloe asked, her voice much quieter now, stripped of its earlier bravado.
Gabriel glanced at her. For the first time, a flicker of genuine uncertainty crossed his face. "I don’t know."
That answer frightened Chloe more than any threat could have. Her gaze drifted toward the computer screen on the desk, where a secretly acquired photograph of Christian Wayne was still displayed.
The silver-eyed man stared back at her—strong, confident, and powerful. He looked like the kind of Alpha who could command entire packs with a single word. He didn’t look like a villain. But appearances could be deceiving.
"I need to know why his people are following us," Gabriel continued softly.
"And?" Chloe prompted.
Gabriel hesitated, staring at the screen. "And... I want to know why I look so much like him."
The room fell completely still. Neither twin spoke, the unspoken question they had both been avoiding hanging heavily in the air between them. Could Christian Wayne be their father?
Neither wanted to say it aloud.
Gabriel finally shook his head, breaking the spell. "I’m not asking Mom."
Chloe nodded instantly. They both knew how painful the topic was for Fleur. Every time their father came up, a profound sadness clouded their mother’s eyes, and neither twin could bear to hurt her.
"We’ll figure it out ourselves," Gabriel declared. And looking at her brother, Chloe actually believed him.
***
Across the city, Christian Wayne sat behind the massive mahogany desk in his penthouse office.
Several reports lay spread before him, but today, reviewing business contracts couldn’t hold his attention.
His wolf was restless, turning over and over in his chest. The beast had been unusually agitated ever since they had left Fleur at her apartment, and no amount of work seemed capable of distracting him.
A sharp knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," Christian barked without looking up.
The door opened, and his secretary stepped inside. Lisa looked nervous—more so than usual—which instantly caught his attention. For the past week, the entire office had been walking on eggshells around him; his temper had become notoriously unpredictable.
"Sir..." Lisa hesitated, clutching a tablet to her chest. "We received an unusual meeting request."
Christian finally lifted his head, a single dark eyebrow rising. "Unusual?"
Lisa nodded quickly. "Very."
That piqued his interest. "Show me."
She hurried forward and placed the tablet on his desk. Christian scanned the text, and almost instantly, his wolf stirred.
The sender’s identity was highly suspicious, and the proposal itself was strangely sophisticated—too sophisticated. Yet, as his eyes narrowed, he spotted several subtle flaws. Most executives would have missed them, but Christian’s instincts sharpened.
Over the last two days, his cybersecurity team had reported several unauthorized attempts to breach company systems. The intruder had been exceptionally skilled, operating with a finesse far beyond normal adult hackers.
Naturally, Christian had laid a trap. It seemed the mysterious hacker had finally revealed himself.
"That’ll be all," Christian said.
Lisa looked visibly relieved. "Yes, sir."
The moment the door clicked shut, Christian turned to his primary monitor. His fingers moved like lightning across the keyboard, bypassing multiple security layers as he traced the email’s origin.
When the results flashed onto the screen, Christian stared. Then he blinked, and stared again.
Fleur’s apartment building.
His wolf suddenly snapped to full alertness, a dangerous, intrigued gleam entering Christian’s eyes.
He dug deeper. A few minutes later, he isolated the source device: a smartphone registered to a Gabriel Swann.
For several seconds, Christian simply sat in the silence of his office. Then, a low, rumbling laugh escaped him—a sound that startled even himself.
A child. A child had successfully hacked his corporate systems, bypassed professional cybersecurity measures, invented a fake company, and sent him a formal business proposal.
His wolf practically purred with amusement.
Christian pulled up the attached documents, studying them with a new lens. The proposal wasn’t perfect; the flaws were there. But the foundational concepts were brilliant—remarkably so for someone who wasn’t even old enough for middle school.
A strange, unfamiliar warmth bloomed in his chest.
Pride.
The realization made him frown. Why on earth was he proud? He barely knew the boy. Yet, the more he read, the stronger the feeling became. The kid was a genius, inheriting the exact same cognitive sharp-wittedness Christian had possessed as a child.
His gaze drifted back to Gabriel’s name, and then to the photographs his security team had secretly acquired. The striking resemblance between them surfaced in his mind once more, and his wolf stirred uneasily, pacing the confines of his mind.
Christian immediately shut the thought down, refusing to spiral into the impossible. Instead, he opened a reply window. A few quick keystrokes later, he confirmed the meeting for tomorrow.
He wanted answers. Why did the twins want to see him? How much did they know? And perhaps most importantly... did Fleur know any of this?
The moment the confirmation email sent, something unexpected happened.
The dark cloud that had been hanging over Christian for days suddenly lifted. A faint, genuine smile touched his lips. He picked up the contract he had been reading earlier, and surprisingly, it no longer felt tedious. His wolf finally settled, resting its heavy head.
Christian pressed the intercom button. "Lisa."
"Yes, Mr. Wayne?" her voice piped up instantly.
"Cancel all my appointments tomorrow."
A long silence stretched over the line. Then—"What?"
Christian almost smiled at her shock. "I have a more important meeting."
Lisa sounded borderline horrified. "Sir, tomorrow you have a scheduled conference with Mr. Walton. He is flying in from New York specifically to discuss the new partnership."
"Reschedule it."
"Sir—"
"Reschedule it, Lisa." His tone left absolutely no room for debate.
Lisa let out a heavy, internal sigh that bled through the receiver. "Understood, sir."
"Ensure Mr. Walton is taken care of," Christian added, his mood generous. "Cover all his accommodations and entertainment expenses. I will personally meet him the following day."
"Yes, Mr. Wayne."
The line clicked off. Christian leaned back in his leather chair, staring out at the city skyline.
Tomorrow couldn’t arrive fast enough.
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