Chapter 80: Getting Information (II)
Kaiser:
Marcus remained on his knees for several long seconds, coughing violently while rubbing his bruised throat. Tears had gathered in the corners of his eyes, whether from fear or from nearly being strangled, I neither knew nor cared.
He stole a quick glance toward the mouth of the alley, and I didn’t miss the calculation flashing through his eyes. He was measuring the distance. Measuring me. Wondering whether he could make a run for it.
A humorless chuckle escaped my lips.
"Don’t." My voice was calm, almost conversational, yet it carried enough warning for his shoulders to stiffen immediately. "Don’t even think about running unless you truly believe you can outrun an Alpha."
His head snapped back toward me. Whatever hope had briefly appeared on his face disappeared just as quickly. Still, his gaze darted around the alley one last time, searching for a passerby, another customer leaving the club, anyone who might interrupt this conversation.
The alley remained deserted. The only sound came from distant traffic and the faint bass of music leaking through the club walls.
Finally defeated, Marcus lowered his head and let out a shaky breath. "I... I’ll tell you everything," he stammered. "I swear."
He wiped his face with the back of his trembling hand before speaking again, each word sounding as though he expected me to kill him regardless of what he said.
"I was working that night... serving drinks at Alpha Grey’s wedding reception." He swallowed hard. "Everything was normal until someone brushed past me near the banquet hall. I thought they accidentally bumped into me, but when I looked down..." His voice faltered. "There was a folded note in my hand."
He looked at me nervously before continuing. "I opened it in the restroom. It said... it said I had to flatten the tires of every vehicle belonging to Blackthorn Pack and Crescent Wolf Pack. Every single one. In return..." He hesitated, clearly ashamed of what came next. "...I would receive one hundred thousand."
Even now, the number seemed to overwhelm him. "The note also said I shouldn’t worry about surveillance because the CCTV system would be taken care of for fifteen minutes." His eyes filled with fresh tears. "I knew it was dangerous. I knew I shouldn’t do it. But... Alpha... one hundred thousand..."
His voice cracked completely. "I’ve never seen that much money in my entire life. My mother was sick. My younger brother had dropped out of school because we couldn’t afford his tuition. I... I convinced myself it was only flattened tires. I wasn’t hurting anyone. I wasn’t killing anyone. Just puncturing a few tires." He lowered his head until his forehead nearly touched the dirty pavement. "I know I was wrong. I know I was greedy. But I swear... I never thought something bigger was happening."
I stared down at him without the slightest trace of sympathy. Everyone had excuses. Everyone claimed they had no choice once they got caught. Maybe parts of his story were true. Maybe all of it was. It didn’t matter. Because his actions had cost us too much. Whether he understood the consequences or not changed absolutely nothing.
"How did you get paid?" I asked coldly.
Marcus immediately answered, almost grateful I wasn’t tightening my grip around his throat again. "Cash," he replied quickly. "I never met anyone. After I finished the last vehicle, I found a black envelope underneath the rear tire of that same car." He looked up desperately. "There wasn’t a message. No name. Just the money. I counted it after I got home. It was exactly one hundred thousand."
His breathing became uneven once more. "That’s everything I know, Alpha. I swear on my family. I never met the person behind it. I don’t know whether it was a man or a woman. I never saw anyone. Please... please believe me."
I remained silent for several moments, sorting through everything I had just heard. Cash. Hidden beneath the final vehicle. Which meant the employer had entered the underground parking garage before Marcus even went to sabotage the tires. That single detail caused dozens of possibilities to race through my head.
If the envelope had been placed beneath the vehicle, then there was a chance someone else’s dashboard camera had captured part of the exchange. Not our vehicles - those cameras had already been checked - but the dozens of others cars parked nearby.
Over the past week, I had already collected copies of several dashcam recordings from owners whose vehicles had been parked close to ours that evening. Until now, I had only reviewed them for footage of Marcus. I had been looking at the wrong person. Now I needed to go through every second again... this time searching for whoever came before him. That single thought reignited something inside me that had nearly disappeared after days of dead ends.
I stepped back, giving Marcus enough space to breathe properly. "Get out of my sight," I said flatly.
He didn’t wait for me to repeat myself. Scrambling to his feet, he stumbled twice before breaking into a run, disappearing from the alley within seconds.
I watched him go without the slightest intention of chasing him. He had already given me everything he possessed. The man had been nothing more than a desperate pawn lured by money. The real player had remained hidden behind layers of planning, fake identities, erased surveillance footage and carefully placed cash. Whoever orchestrated everything had anticipated almost every possible mistake.
I turned and began walking toward the alley’s exit, my footsteps echoing softly against the brick walls. The cool night air did little to calm the storm raging inside me.
Deep down, I already knew where my suspicions pointed. Charlotte. Every instinct I possessed screamed her name. The sabotaged vehicles. Rose’s disappearance. The dead guards. The Scorpions. Every road somehow curved back toward that woman. Yet instincts weren’t evidence.
My brothers had already proven they would ignore anything that wasn’t placed directly before their eyes. If I walked into the packhouse today and accused Charlotte again based solely on my intuition, Alastor would dismiss me, and Darien would defend her even harder than before.
No. This time I would bury her beneath facts so undeniable that even the two biggest fools I called brothers would have no choice but to see the truth.
If Charlotte had been anyone else... literally anyone else... I would have thrown her out of both packs the moment the first suspicion surfaced. I would have locked her away until every accusation had been investigated.
But my hands remained tied for one reason, and one reason alone. She carried Darien’s child. My nephew. My future blood. Whatever hatred I felt toward Charlotte, I couldn’t bring myself to risk harming an innocent life that had done nothing wrong. That child didn’t deserve to pay for its mother’s sins.
Charlotte, however... was an entirely different matter.
I slipped my hands into my jacket pockets as I stepped back onto the brightly lit street outside the club, my expression growing colder with every passing second.
Let her enjoy these days while she still could. Let her keep smiling behind her perfect act. Let her believe she’d fooled everyone. Because the day I gathered enough proof to expose every crime she had committed... and the day she no longer had the unborn child protecting her from the consequences of her own actions... I would make absolutely certain she lost everything she had schemed to obtain. Her title. Her reputation. Her power. Her future.
And when that day finally came, the only thing Charlotte would have left to keep her company would be a lifetime of regret and pain.
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