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Another beat of quiet stretched between us, thick and heavy with unspoken secrets. The dark, ugly fear in my chest didn't vanish, but her words anchored me anyway. I bent down, sliding my arms beneath her shoulders and pulling her bare body flush against mine.

I pressed my lips against hers, whispering roughly against her mouth, "I believe you." I cupped her jaw, my thumb tracing the soft skin of her cheek. "Now you have to believe me, too. I won't let anyone hurt you, Rosalind—including your mother."

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

ROSALIND

Gunnar’s hand rested heavily on the small of my back as we stepped into the family room. The entire Blackwood inner circle was assembled. Fenrir sat in the massive leather armchair by the hearth, flanked by Mei Ling. Magnus stood near the window with Nell anchored to his side, while Vidar and Addie occupied the sofa.

Astrid and Ivar were absent. A brief flare of annoyance pricked at my chest. Excluding the younger siblings who were closer to my age and admittedly closer to me than the Millennials was an unfair attempt to isolate me, but it didn't matter. I didn't need a full audience to change the game board.

The room went dead silent the moment we crossed the threshold.

"My wife has something to say." Gunnar was a towering presence beside me.

I smoothed the front of my dress, tilting my head slightly toward the center of the room. Through the dim light, the heavy Alpha scents—pine, iron, and old authority—rolled toward me. But it wasn't the men that had me biting my inner lip. It was the sweet jasmine scent that made me swallow a couple of times before I started.

"I was the one who leaked the freight routes," I said, keeping my voice clear and unbothered.

"Explain," Fenrir commanded, his baritone vibrating through the room.

"I was furious about the arranged marriage," I said smoothly, letting a touch of coldness coat my words. "My mother spent my entire life controlling me, treating me like property. The only way to hit Sorsha where it actually hurts is her business and her reputation. I apologize that your freight run was caught in the collateral damage."

"You are legally blind, Rosalind." That was Vidar's voice. It was even colder than mine. "How exactly did you read internal shipping ledgers?"

"Computers have screen readers." I replied mildly, not wanting to admit to him that my wolf had perfect vision. "And beyond that... people talk around me constantly. They look at my useless eyes and assume I can't understand what they're saying." I tilted my chin up, letting my unseeing eyes sweep the room. "I am not stupid."

"I still don't understand how you leaked the information to the feds," said Magnus. "Are you an informant?"

"No," I scoffed. "There was an undercover cop at the Lupetto fight. She was sniffing around in the ladies’ room. I just… let the information slip."

"Oh!" That was Addie's voice. "The one wearing the cheap perfume who sat her bag on the floor."

"Someone sat her bag on the floor?" Mei Ling's tone was disgusted, as it should've been. No woman raised right sat her bag on the floor. Everyone knows that if you set your bag on the floor, you're telling money it's trash.

"I heard you do that," said Nell. "That was pretty sneaky."

I couldn't see her face, but I could swear I heard a grin and respect in her tone. I thought I might've heard the same solidarity in Addie's voice when she spoke next.

"We were standing right there. She didn't mention the Blackwoods. Just her mother's shipment. You knew she was an undercover cop?"

"Of course, with that fabric. And her shoes were cheap, too. I'm sure she took them off and was barefoot on the floor at one point."

"Ewwww," Addie and Nell chorused.

"Right?" I agreed.

"There's still the issue of our confiscated shipments at hand," came Fenrir's booming voice.

"Oh, that's an easy fix," I said. "Just feed that cop intelligence regarding the Lupetto’s illegal betting rings to get them off your back. The Feds will divert their task force to seize the Lupetto assets, and your detained trucks will be released in the noise."

"Aren't we allied with the Lupettos?" Addie asked. "We can't just throw Valentino to the feds after all he's done for us."

"If Valentino is half as smart as he thinks he is, he'll find a way out. Otherwise," I shrugged. "The wounded wolf gets eaten."

Silence settled over the room once more, thick with the realization that the quiet, fragile bride standing before them was far more dangerous than any of them had bargained for. It was a risk showing this much of my hand. But I knew they couldn't trace anything else back to me. So this was a calculation I was comfortable with.

Gunnar’s hand fell away from my lower back. The sudden loss of his heat left a cold prickle dragging across my skin. I kept my spine straight, refusing to look back at him or show a single trace of weakness. I stood my ground, my chin lifted, waiting for the Alpha males in the room to process my play.