Billionaire's Betrayal a contracted revenge (Aurelia) novel Chapter 95

Chapter 95

Chapter 95

Rieck’s POV

》。6

54

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The phone had been Hebvron’s voice on the other end, calm and expectant, waiting for me to speak first. But I hadn’t given him the satisfaction.

I handed the phone back to Elara without a word and walked out before my father could say whatever cold thing he had planned to say next.

Behind me, I heard Elara’s voice, saying something about the board, something about the investors, something I no longer had patience left to hear.

Aurelia hadn’t followed me to the door. I didn’t blame her. There was nothing left to say tonight that either of us hadn’t already said.

Now I sat in the back of the convoy, staring at the warehouses and empty lots as we drove towards the eastern edge of my territory.

Tobias had called an hour ago, his voice tight in a way that meant trouble, some disturbance out past the last checkpoint that needed my eyes on it personally.

Part of me was almost glad for the excuse to leave the penthouse, to leave the argument with Aurelia still hanging unfinished in the study, to leave my father’s name sitting unanswered on Elara’s phone.

Maybe losing the company wasn’t entirely a loss. I had spent six years buried in boardrooms and quarterly reports, chasing numbers that meant nothing to the wolves who answered to me.

Maybe this was a chance to finally be what I was supposed to be first. An Alpha. Not a businessman playing at leadership between meetings, forgetting the land under his own feet while he chased profit margins in an

office.

The convoy slowed as we reached the checkpoint, the guards straightening the moment they recognized the car, and something in me settled at the sight of them, small and quiet, the first calm I had felt all day.

I thought of the years before Aurelia, before the contract, before any of this.

Back then the territory had been simpler. Patrol the borders, settle disputes, keep the eastern line quiet and the wolves under my command fed and loyal.

No boardrooms. No fathers pulling strings behind silver canes.

Just land, and blood, and the honest weight of leadership that didn’t require a suit or a signature.

Whatever waited for me out here tonight, at least it would be a problem I understood how to solve with my own hands instead of lawyers and stock reports.

Tobias met me at the edge of the perimeter, his broad shoulders tense, his eyes already apologizing before he opened his mouth.

1/4

16:23 Mon, Aug 3

Chapter 95

སྙ

54

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“Rieck. I’m sorry about your father. What he did to you, in front of everyone, it wasn’t right.” He shifted his weight, clearly uncomfortable, his usual steady confidence rattled at the sight of me. “If there is anything the eastern territory can do…”

“I didn’t come here for pity.” My voice came out sharper than I meant it to, but I didn’t soften it. “Tell me what happened.”

Tobias held my gaze a moment longer before he finally let the subject go, some old loyalty in him wanting to fix what couldn’t be fixed with words.

He had served under me since before I earned the collarbone mark, long enough to know when pushing further would only cost him more than it gained.

He nodded once, swallowing whatever else he had planned to say, and turned to lead me deeper into the territory without another word about Hebvron.

I followed close behind, grateful, in a way I would never say out loud, for a problem that had nothing to do with boardrooms or fathers.

The path narrowed the deeper we went past the checkpoint, tall trees pressing close on either side.

Tobias walked a step ahead, quiet now. His shoulders were set in the same alertness I had seen in him only a handful of times before, always right before something bad.

The ground told the story before Tobias did.

Claw marks raked deep into the bark of the trees lining the old service road, four parallel gashes too wide and too deep for any ordinary wolf.

Paw prints pressed into the mud near the tree line, larger than they should have been.

Dark patches stained the dirt in a few places, dried nearly black.

I crouched lower, running my fingers just above one of the deeper gashes without touching it, measuring the width against my own hand.

Whatever had left this mark was bigger than any wolf under my command, bigger even than most of the Ridgeline mercenaries I had faced in the warehouse weeks ago.

“Someone else has been hunting here,” I said, straightening slowly.

“Seems so.” Tobias stood over me, arms crossed, looking at the tree line like he expected something to step out of it. “We found the first signs two nights ago. Then again last night. Whoever it is, they are bold enough to keep coming back, and reckless enough not to care that this is your territory.”

“Any idea who?”

His jaw tightened, and for a moment he looked like a man choosing his next words with more care than usual. ‘I have something to show you.”

24

16:23 Mon, Aug 3

Chapter 95

នគ

54

55 vouchers

Tobias led me down a narrow set of concrete steps behind an old storage building. At the bottom was a windowless basement with a single bare bulb swinging from the ceiling.

The smell of damp stone and old rust filled the small space, thick enough to sit at the back of my throat.

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