The Secret Heirs of the Lycan King (Bella and scott) novel Chapter 117

Chapter 117

Chapter 117

Scott

I stood in front of Craig and watched the color drain from his face as the murmurs in the hall turned into laughter, then into shocked whispers.

Many moments later, people fell into a stunned silence. Everyone’s eyes were now on the two culprits, judgment already coating the air in my favor.

My eyes darted to Bella and through my bond I felt her anxiety as she watched me. Through the bond I sent her an assurance that everything will be fine. She swallowed as she nodded, her eyes misty.

Craig’s mouth opened, but no words came out at first. His eyes darted from one phone screen to another, as if he was hoping the video would change if he looked at it again. His hands trembled, and I could tell he was trying to breathe like a normal person, but panic was winning.

Finally, he found his voice. “How… how is this possible?”

I didn’t bother hiding my satisfaction. But my voice defied every ounce of calm control I had been holding all week. I said roughly, “Because you were never in control, Craig.”

His eyes snapped to mine. “No. That’s not true. I had the leverage. I had the video. You’ve changed the video. This one is fake! How did you manipulate it?”

I tilted my head a little. “You had a lie. The video you showed to me was fake.” I pointed at the one playing on the screens. “That one is true.”

Craig stepped forward like he wanted to grab me, like he wanted to do something stupid, but the moment he saw the way my men had formed a loose circle around him, he stopped. Troy was at my side, quiet and watchful, and my security team had already shifted positions so smoothly that none of the guests even realized what was happening until it was already done.

Craig swallowed as disbelief etched on his face. After a few minutes of contemplating what is going on, he pointed a shaking finger at me, “My men told me… They told me you were moving funds. They told me you were panicking. That you were trying to pay.”

I let out a short scoff. “Of course they did. Because they heard what I wanted them to hear.”

“What?” Then his eyes widened in stupefaction. “You planted it?”

I shrugged. “You thought you were pulling me into a trap, but you were the one walking into mine.” I needed him confident and smug. I needed him to believe I was desperate, because that is the only way a man like him makes a mistake in public.

Craig’s lips parted again in pure panic. “No. You’re lying.”

“I’m not,” I replied evenly. “And you can ask your associate who got approached.”

He blinked. “What associate?”

“The one you hired, who thinks he’s very private,” I answered, watching his face carefully. “The one you trusted–who told you I was moving funds.”

Craig’s nostrils flared. “He was approached?”

“Yep! By a third–party fixer,” I explained, and I saw his fear sharpened. “A financial problem–solver. The kind of person who speaks in careful words and never offers anything directly, because the people who deal with blackmail don’t like direct offers. They like hints. They like ‘possibilities. They like the idea that they are still the ones making decisions.”

Craig’s throat bobbed. “What did he say?”

I made my tone almost bored, because I wanted Craig to feel how small he was in this game. “He approached your man quietly, mentioning I was asking about ‘private settlements,‘ that I wanted everything resolved without law enforcement. He used very deliberate language.”

Craig’s face twitched. “You played me!”

“Yes,” I said smoothly. “That’s exactly what you needed to hear, because you interpreted it the way you always interpret things. You heard: Scott is scared. Scott is trying to protect his image. Scott will pay anything to avoid scandal.”

Craig’s jaw tightened as if he wanted to deny it, but his eyes gave him away. He had believed it. In fact, he had enjoyed believing it. His confidence was built around my fears, and now it was collapsing.

I stepped closer, lowering my voice just enough that only Craig could hear me. “Your smug satisfaction is what made this work. You were so busy imagining yourself winning that you didn’t notice the ground shifting under your feet.”

Craig’s chest rose and fell hard. “But… the video… the one Maya showed… that was Bella.”

My eyes slid to Maya. She was still standing on the side, frozen in place, her face pale, her lips trembling, and her eyes shiny with real fear now instead of fake tears. She looked like she wanted to disappear into the floor.

“It was never Bella,” I almost roared. “It’s all you,” I told Craig, and then I let him have the truth properly. “While you were busy threatening my wife, I was busy finding the source of your little masterpiece.”

Craig’s eyebrows pinched. “What source?”

I looked him in the eyes. “Digital forensics.”

He stared blankly, so I continued, still in easy words. “I have people who do nothing but trace files. They pull the truth apart piece by piece. I used hackers!”

Craig swallowed, but he tried to hold his ground. “You can’t find anything.”

“We already did,” I replied. “The file Maya showed? It was edited. The face overlay was Bella’s, but the original footage belonged to Maya. We found the original file.”

And this time Craig shuddered.

I continued, “On your private server.”

He went still. “No.”

“Yes,” I replied. “And my team accessed it easily.”

Craig’s face twisted in pure shock. Like he couldn’t believe that I hacked his ultra–secure server. One he had bought for thousands of dollars. “You hacked it?” he rasped.

I shrugged slightly. “You tried to destroy my life and my wife’s life. I destroyed yours in return. Don’t act offended.”

Craig looked around like looking for a miracle, but all he found were phones still open with the same video playing. The real video. Craig’s shoulders sagged, realizing that he was actually destroyed for good.

I said, “The moment you tried to press ‘send,‘ you didn’t send what you thought you were sending.”

His eyes were now wild, panic–struck. Oh, how I loved that look. I was waiting for it for so long. The fucking vermin. Fury washed over me like nothing. My Lycan wanted to surge, but I closed my fists, digging my fingernails in my palms to hold him.

“Because you never controlled the final trigger,” I scoffed. “You thought you did. You thought you were clever, and

you could humiliate Bella in front of a room full of people and then walk away with cash. Did you think I wouldn’t know what you were planning? I knew you were going to release this video even after I had succumbed to your extortion demands!” I leaned in a fraction. “You underestimated me, and you underestimated the kind of resources a man like me has,” I said with a half–snarl that belonged to Storm.

Craig’s throat moved as he swallowed hard. He looked like a man ruined forever. Like someone who was really defeated. “You… you set me up.”

“Yes,” I gritted. “And you walked into it willingly.”

Craig’s eyes flicked toward the exit, and I saw the decision form in his mind. He was going to run.