Page 85 of The CEO Alpha’s Substitute Mate

Silence falls between us as we consider this new line of investigation. If this pans out, then Maya was a victim. Either she ran from me or she was running from someone else.

“Who knew about the surrogacy?” I ask Damien.

“The pack elders were aware. It wasn’t a secret. It could have been any of them. But we have the money tracing back to the Thorne family, so we can start there.”

“Do it.” My voice is cold. “Dig as deep as you can get. If the Thorne family wants to be wiped out, then I should oblige them.”

He nods, picks the tablet back up, and gets two steps toward the door before I speak again. “There’s one more thing.”

“Go ahead.”

“Put somebody on commercial property. I want a list of buildings suitable for a dance school.”

Damien turns around fully, gaping at me. “A what?”

“Good neighborhoods only, with floor space for two studios.” I open the folder Salar left with Ariela’s reports. “Large spacious buildings, check their construction. I want solid locations.” My voice lowers to a gentle murmur. “She isn’t going back to teach in somebody else’s building if she can dance again.”

There’s a pause behind me before he asks it. “What’s my budget?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“That’s clear enough. Are we renting?”

“Buy the building.” Damien looks at me. “Buy whichever one is best,” I continue. “Then have an agent put it on the market to let at a fraction of what it’s worth.”

“Why don’t you just give her the building?”

I look up at him. “She wouldn’t take it.”

Damien starts to smile at that.

“Don’t.” I narrow my eyes at him.

“You know her pretty well.” He’s enjoying himself now, and I ignore it.

“The lease terms need to be good enough that turning it down would be idiotic. Nothing on any document connects to me. My name doesn’t go on it, and neither does Vance Dynamics or yours.”

“And if she finds out she’s renting from her son’s father at ninety percent off?”

“Then make sure she doesn’t find out.”

“That’s fine.” He’s already at the door. “This will end beautifully.”

❦ ❦ ❦

Ariela isn’t in her room or in Luca’s that evening. Reid tells me she went up the backstairs an hour ago with her crutch. When I make my way to the roof, I find her in the middle of it with her back to me, the sky going orange behind the tree line. The first thing she does when she hears the door is turn around to look at the edge, where a steel rail now runs the whole way around, waist height, bolted through the ledge every four feet.

“When did we get railings?”

“Two weeks ago.”

She looks at me. “Why?”

“Because you like to spend time here. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

She opens her mouth, then shuts it, two pink spots forming on her cheeks. There’s no phone on the ledge tonight, no music, and she isn’t standing where she stood the last time I came up here. Her hands are empty, and she’s looking at the trees.

“Are you going to dance?”