Bound To The Broken Alpha (Amy and Daniel) novel Chapter 515

Chapter 515 Authorship

DANIEL

:

J

Finished

The session ended without a verdict, but no one in the chamber believed this was a pause for mercy. It was a pause for structure.

I stayed seated after Clara was taken back to holding. The guards moved with routine calm, as if this was just another hearing and not the slow untying of something that had been knotted for years. Cole stood near the wall to my left, arms crossed, eyes steady. He did not look at me. He was watching the exits.

The council members spoke in low tones among themselves. No one dismissed the room yet. That meant the record still mattered.

I kept my hands flat on the table. Amy had asked me not to attend the trial in person. She said it would drain her, knowing I was listening to every word about her removal, her captivity, her body being treated like a bargaining tool. I agreed with her. I also ignored her.

Some things were my responsibility, whether she liked it or not.

When the chamber finally cleared, I rose and stepped into the corridor. Cole fell into step beside me.

“She held her line,” he said.

“She admitted enough,” I replied. “But not everything.”

Cole nodded. “She’s still protecting Mark.”

“She thinks that thread buys her leverage.”

“It won’t,” he said. “We already have enough to open a parallel investigation.”

I stopped walking. “Not yet.”

ole looked at me, surprised. “You want to wait?”

ant him comfortable,” I said. “I want him careless.”

Cole studied my face, then nodded once. “Understood.”

We reached the security wing. Clara was already sealed in holding again, same cell, same restrictions. No contact. No messages. No visitors. Elias had tried twice to request access through intermediaries. Both requests were denied.

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Elias was not Northern. He never had been. I did not know how that confusion ever entered the record, but it ended here. He was Southern–aligned, Southern–trained, and Southern–funded. That made him dangerous, but predictable.

Mark was the problem.

I dismissed Cole and continued alone. The corridor toward the residential wing was quiet. The compound had shifted since Amy’s return. Not in celebration. In vigilance. People spoke less. They watched more. The welcome event weeks ago had been controlled, ceremonial, clean. No risks taken. The Southern Alpha had sent a representative, not himself, and claimed non- involvement in the kidnapping.

I had not believed him then. I believed him less now.

Amy’s door was open when I reached it. She was seated near the window, a blanket over her legs, a data pad resting on her lap. She looked tired, but stable. That mattered.

“You stayed,” she said, without looking up.

“I did.”

“How bad?”

“That

y coordination,” I said. “She denied authorship.”

That was expected.”

aming herself as a planner, not a commander.”

survives,” Amy replied.

I moved closer and sat across from her. “You should not be listening to this.”

“I should,” she said. “Because it’s about me.”

I did not argue. That would have been dishonest.

“She mentioned timing,” I said carefully. “She implied you were unprotected when I was out of commission.”

Amy finally looked at me. “That was years ago, Daniel.”

“I know.”

“Then why does it matter now?”

“Because she’s still shaping the narrative,” I said. “She wants to blur the past so the present feels

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Chapter 515 Authorship

smaller.”

Amy exhaled. “She’s always done that.”

I watched her fingers tighten slightly on the edge of the pad.

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“She hasn’t said Mark’s name directly,” Amy continued. “But she doesn’t have to. He’s threaded through all of it.”

“Yes.”

“And he’s still free.”

“For now.”

Amy closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, her voice was steady. “I don’t want him arrested yet.”

“I know.”

“I want him to make a choice.”

I leaned back. “He already has.”

“Yes,” she said. “But I want him to think he hasn’t been seen.”

That was Amy. She never rushed a truth. She let it reveal itself.

She asked about intent today,” Amy said quietly. “Did you hear that part?”

hinks intent will save her.”

“It won said. “Outcome matters more.”

Amy nodded. “Good. Then we’re aligned.”

There was a knock at the door. Cole entered without waiting for permission.

“Report,” I said.

“The Southern representative has requested an extension on the peace talks,” Cole said. “They claim procedural delays.”

“They’re stalling,” Amy said.

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“Yes,” Cole replied. “Also, Mark has accessed restricted archives twice in the last twenty–four hours.”

Amy looked at me. “See?”

I stood. “Let him.”

Cole hesitated. “Sir?”

“He’s testing boundaries,” I said. “If we stop him now, he retreats. If we don’t, he exposes himself.”

Cole nodded slowly. “Understood.”

After he left, Amy reached for my hand.

“You’re sure?” she asked.

“Yes.”

on’t come after you directly,” she said. “He never has.”

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