The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate (Jason and Laila) by Caroline Above Story novel Chapter 179

Jason’s POV

I sat at the desk in my office, glaring at Hank as he sat in the chair across from me. Marcus stood nearby, his arms crossed.

Hank wasn’t smirking as much as he had in the past, likely because we had disrupted his entire day by dragging him here. Some of my guard were still standing outside, ready to take him to jail if he continued to lie to me.

Finally, he was starting to seem nervous.

“I’m done playing games,” I growled, allowing my Alpha tone to slip into my voice. “I want the truth from you. Who made that post on the dark web?” My Alpha tone would compel the truth out of him, unless he was particularly strong–willed, enough to fight it.

Hank lifted his chin. “Did you forget the part where I agreed to help you guys?”

“You have not offered any insight,” I replied. “It’s been too long. I want answers. Now. Who made that post?”

Hank swallowed, but I could sense him breaking. He looked away, tried to ignore me, but my Alpha wolf wouldn’t be ignored. “Fine,” Hank huffed. “I did. I made it, okay?”

I sat back in my chair. Marcus and I had suspected as much, when our own IT network could not locate any other possible source. “Who did you make it for?” I asked.

He avoided looking at me. “I don’t know.”

That felt like a lie.

“Who?” I pressed.

“It was anonymous, okay? There. I get requests semetimes, and I could always use the extra cash.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. This time, I couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. If he was, there was enough truth in there to confuse the situation.

“I don’t believe you,” I told him flatly.

“Come on,

Alpha. You can’t ask me to start naming names. I have to keep some secrets. How else am I supposed to keep the cash coming in?”

Wait. “What do you mean?” I suspected I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear him say it, to confirm it.

He shrugged. “Some people pay me to keep their secrets secret.”

“What if they stop paying you?” Marcus asked.

Hank gave a devilish, twisted kind of smirk. “Those secrets aren’t so secret anymore.”

“So

you are blackmailing them,” I said.

“That’s such an ugly word,” Hank replied. “It’s just an agreement that some things should be kept private.”

“An agreement you only keep if you are paid,” I said.

“Yes.”

“So, it’s blackmail.”

Hank rolled his eyes, and I clenched my hands into fists, very much wanting to punch this man in the face. He was a weasel and

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a snake. I didn’t know all of the kinds of secrets he was keeping, but if this post was made on Vanessa’s behalf, then he was extorting her for money.

That was enough to make me hate him.

I couldn’t prove that it was Vanessa he was blackmailing, not if he wouldn’t give up her name, but that he was telling us this at all was enough to convict him. He had openly admitting to committing a crime.

“Call it what you want,” Hank said. “As long as the payments keep coming in, I’m not telling you anything.”

I looked at Marcus. Marcus stepped toward the door to alert the guards. Before he opened it, though, I asked.

“Does the name Vanessa Harper mean anything to you?”

Something sparked in his eyes, and his smirk slipped a little before he caught hold of it again.

“I’ve heard of her,” he said.

“Good,” I said, standing, towering over him. “Then you will know who to stay away from.”

“I never said I met her.”

“And you better keep it that way,” I said, adding a growl to my voice. “You will stay away from Vanessa, or you will do much worse than spending some time in jail.”

He paled, and it was incredibly gratifying.

Marcus opened the door and waved the guards inside.

“Now wait a minute – “Hank said.

“You are under arrest,” one of the guards said.

“I didn’t do anything!” Hank cried out. A guard grabbed his arm.

“Blackmail is a crime,” Marcus told him. “And you admitted to it.”

I continued glaring at him.

“But, I –“When Hank met my gaze, he swallowed down whatever else he might have said. He must have realized going with the guards was a better option than being left here with me.

In this moment, I was fury incarnate. He was taking advantage of Vanessa, using her love of her daughter against her to extort money from her. She already had precious little money to give

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If he didn’t leave now, I couldn’t guarantee his safety. My wolf was raging, pacing back and forth across the front of my mind, begging to be let loose, to sink his teeth into this pathetic man’s throat.

Hank turned and scurried away with the guards, like the coward he was.

Marcus closed the door, restoring quiet and order to my office. Then Marcus came and stood beside my desk. I sat back down in my chair. My body remained tense, my wolf furious, but the enemy was gone from this place. I needed to calm down.

“He didn’t give us a name,” Marcus said.

“He didn’t need to. We both know he was talking about Vanessa. He had to be.”

Marcus nodded lightly, even as pity shown in his eyes. “We can’t act without proof.”

I cursed. Without proof, I couldn’t confront Vanessa on this. But perhaps, in imprisoning Hank, I could at least bring her some sense of safety. And maybe with some time in jail, Hank might be more willing to give up those names – especially with the money stopped.

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“Keep looking into him,” I said. “If we can find more connections to Vanessa, maybe we can break him.”

“Yes, Alpha,” Marcus said.

I sat there a moment, seething, before Marcus spoke again, “Forgive me, Alpha, but the time…”

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