Page 146 of The Donor’s Dilemma

Verity straightened. If Petra was going to kill her, this was the moment. “An article will automatically send in,” she glanced at the clock, “fifteen minutes. You choose which but either way every newspaper in Havenshire will know that there is no flu in Cliffhaven. If I don’t change it then the article goes out telling them the whole truth, and that nobody in power wanted to fix it. That we’re no safer here than we’d be under the Henbrants.”

Vincit Omnia Veritas, bitch.

Petra’s eyes closed briefly at the mention of the Henbrants.

“You think these papers would actually print such drivel?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Verity said. “It only takes one.” She glanced at Jesse. “You saw what happened with the article about me and Theo. One paper ran it, and everyone else followed.”

“You dare to give me an ultimatum.”

Verity didn’t answer.

Petra turned on Vivienne instead. “Do you have nothing to say to any of this?”

Vivienne offered the defence they’d already anticipated. “It wasn’t me,” she said. “The Director of the Exchange here, Harris. He’s the one who...”

Theo raised his hand again.

Petra turned to him, exasperated. “What?”

“We have footage of one of Vivienne’s donors planting falsified documents in Harris’s office to frame him. The same man who attacked Verity tonight.”

Petra’s gaze dropped to Verity’s ribs, as though noticing the injury for the first time. She turned back to Vivienne, eyebrows raised, waiting.

“I spoke to Teddy,” Vivienne said. “Teddy said...”

Petra’s fist hit the table, the sound of splintering wood echoing through the courtroom.

“You went to Teddy about this?”

Vivienne opened her mouth, visibly shaking, finding nothing to say.

“Teddy,” Petra said, “knows what you’ve been doing in Cliffhaven?”

“Teddy wanted the sport,” Vivienne said slowly, piecing together her excuse as she spoke. “He told me it’s what he wanted...”

“I do not care what Teddy wanted!” Petra rose to her feet. “You think it’s acceptable that I learn of Teddy’s plans to gut my territory from a human?”

Vivienne went quiet. Something like defeat settled over her face. “I’m sorry, Petra.”

“We are going to have words,” Petra said, her voice flat with finality. “You will fix this.” Her gaze shifted, finding Verity. “And you will fix the newspaper thing. Now.” She glanced at the clock.

Verity nodded, reaching into her pocket for her phone before remembering she’d lost it. She looked up at Theo, who patted his own pockets uselessly and Jesse rolled his eyes.

“May I?” he asked Petra, who waved him off without looking. He came down, pulled his phone out and handed it over. Verity typed in her password, deleted the scheduled email, and replaced it with one declaring the Roses had uncovered the truth and would punish anyone who attacked the Exchange, anyone who fed without consent, anyone who endangered a donor, and that they would personally oversee Cliffhaven’s restoration.

Apparently, Petra didn't know how easy would be for someone to hack emails. How easy to stop the email being sent, as Jesse had predicted.

Petra was murmuring something to Vivienne now, about doing better, about coming to her before going to Teddy, about not letting it happen again. Theo huffed at the sound of it, the two of them talked like old friends settling a minor disagreement. The sight sickened her, knotting her aching chest. Verity could see exactly how Vivienne would talk her way back into Petra’s good graces. Not today, not tomorrow, maybe not for a decade, or in Verity’s lifetime, but something about that woman told Verity she’d try again, given enough time. She glanced at Theo and saw the same understanding on his face. The two women existed in a club neither of them would ever be allowed to join.

Jesse and Theo’s eyes met. Something passed between them. The wordless language of two brothers, protecting each other for centuries.

Jesse moved.

It happened faster than Verity’s eyes could track. One moment he was beside them. The next his hand vanished into Theo’s jacket. A flash of metal as he drew the gun free.

She cried out as Theo crushed her against his chest, his hands covering her ears.