Bound To The Broken Alpha
Chapter 469 Certain Decision
CLARA
Elias stopped answering my calls three days ago.
Finished
At first, I told myself it was temporary. Elias disappeared often. It was part of how he kept control–vanish, reappear, remind everyone that access to him was a privilege. I had learned to wait. I had learned not to panic too quickly.
But this was different.
My messages went unread. The burner line he usually answered rang once and cut. When I tried the secured channel we used only for urgent updates, the message bounced back. No error explanation. Just blocked.
Blocked.
I sat on the edge of the bed that morning, phone in my hand, staring at the screen longer than necessary. Elias never blocked people unless he was done with them–or unless he was preparing something that required silence.
Neither option sat well with me.
I tried again, slower this time. A short message. Neutral.
1 to talk.
Moonse.
by noon, the tension had settled under my skin. Elias had information I needed. Worse, he had leverage I didn’t fully understand yet. Being cut off meant I was no longer part of his immediate plans, and that was dangerous. Elias didn’t like loose ends. He liked assets that stayed useful.
I wasn’t sure which category I was slipping into.
Mark noticed my distraction at lunch.
“You’re quiet,” he said, glancing up from his tablet. “Something wrong?”
I forced a small smile. “Just tired.”
He studied me for a second longer than I liked, then nodded. “Try to rest today. You’ve been on edge.”
I agreed too quickly and excused myself. As soon as I was alone, I grabbed my jacket and left the house.
If Elias wouldn’t respond digitally, I would remind him that I still existed in the physical world.
I drove to
twice plac
properties he used occasionally. It wasn’t listed under his name, but I’d been there
use converted into offices on the outskirts of the city. Quiet. Controlled. The kind of questions.
10:72 ppp p
Bajte 4 farten Decon
The gate was closed when I arrived.
3 rolled down my window and spoke to the guard. “I’m here to see Elias”
The man barely looked at me. “You’re not cleared.”
*I always am”
“Not today.”
Theld his gaze Tell him Clara is here.”
The guard hesitated, then tapped something into his console. He waited. I waited.
After a long minute, he shook his head. “You need to leave.”
My jaw tightened. “Did he say that?”
“Yes.”
That was confirmation enough.
I drove away slowly, forcing myself not to react. Elias was blocking me on purpose. Which meant he was watching closely enough to know I was trying to reach him.
That afternoon, I tried a different approach.
I contacted one of his secondary associates, a man named Rafe who handled logistics. We weren’t close, but he owed me a favor.
He answered on the third ring. “You shouldn’t be calling me.”
“I just need a minute,” I said. “What’s going on with Elias?”
He did not respond.
“Rafe.”
“He told us not to loop you in,” Rafe said quietly. “That’s all I can say.”
“Why?”
Another pause. “Because you’re no longer invisible.”
The call ended before I could ask more.
I stood there, phone pressed to my car long after the line went dead.
No longer invisible.
That meant scrutiny. It meant suspicion. It meant Elias was either testing me—or preparing to cut me loose.
4023 am Pppp
Chapticals Certain becision
Neither option gave me room to breathe.
By evening my irritation had hardened into something colder. Elias thought blocking me would keep me in line. He thought removing access would make me wait quietly for permission to matter again.
He was wrong.
If Elias was shutting doors, it meant he was hiding something important behind them. And I didn’t survive by accepting locked rooms.
I changed plans.
Instead of chasing Elias directly, I focused on his movements. Fuel logs. Vehicle rotations. Security shifts. I didn’t need him to speak to me if I could still see where his attention was going.
By midnight, a pattern emerged.
One location kept repeating. A building registered under a shell company I didn’t recognize. Increased security. Restricted access. Short visits, always late, always controlled.
My chest tightened as I studied the address.
This wasn’t about Cole anymore. This wasn’t about internal damage control.
This felt like consolidation.
I tried Elias one last time. Not through official channels. Not through burners.
I sent a single message to a number he had once told me he would never change.
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