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Sebastian and I sat in silence, the weight of our discovery hanging in the air like a loaded gun. Porter was trapped, tangled in Tomas’s dark web, and we’d been tasked with setting him free. It was the most surefire way to secure custody of Sofia. I’d fight until my very last breath for her, but if Rosalind dropped the case, all the better. We thus needed to get Porter out of Tomas’s grip.
But how?
My phone rang, and I felt a grim sense of satisfaction when I glanced down. “It’s Jax.”
Just the man I wanted to have a word with. I met Sebastian’s eyes as I answered the call. “Jax. Perfect timing. As usual.”
“What can I say? I come through when I’m needed.” He sounded as arrogant as ever. “Rosalind just returned home. How did Miami treat you?"
He wanted to know what happened. I ran a hand through my hair, my gaze still on Sebastian. "Miami was…enlightening. We discovered some interesting stuff about Rosalind. Turns out she has a boyfriend. Porter Holly. Name ring a bell?"
A pause on the other end. “If you’re asking if I knew about Porter, the answer is yes, Evan. I did. But that wasn’t the only purpose of your little adventure,” Jax continued smoothly. “You got the information, but you also let Rosalind know she isn’t alone in this. On a much more important level, this was about gaining Rosalind's trust."
“You don’t think you could have told us that beforehand?”
“Perhaps, but I guarantee Mariah’s reaction to everything my sister said was genuine. It was imperative for Rosalind to trust you. Now you know how to give her what she wants.” I could practically hear the arrogant smile on his face.
“It’s not so simple, Jax.” I gripped the phone tighter. “We know what Rosalind wants, but making that happen is something else entirely. From what I’ve learned, Porter is in deep with Tomas.”
“I’m well aware,” he said. “Look, I have to go, but I’m sending you an email. Print out the contents and delete it immediately. We'll talk later." Then the line went dead.
Sebastian and I sat there, the quiet hum of the air conditioning the only sound in the room. We needed to bring Tomas down, and as much as I didn’t like him, Jax was the key to doing just that.
The chime of another incoming email made me tense. Sebastian pulled the new message up on his screen, rapidly scanned the contents, and I watched as his grim expression turned into carefully contained rage.
"Son of a bitch," he hissed, spinning his screen toward me.
It took me a minute to realize the words and numbers were the financial records from Tomas’s casino. My stomach lurched as I took in the staggering numbers, the magnitude of Tomas’s illicit activities hitting me like a brick wall. Money laundering on a scale that rivaled small economies was written out in black and white, a damning testament that shouldn’t surprise me in the least.
But it was hard to wrap my head around a scheme this large. Hell, this was an actual criminal organization that must have involved thousands of people and shifters.
"This is insane," I muttered, my gaze locked on the screen, but the numbers didn't lie.
I’d always known Tomas was a greedy bastard, never content with what he had and always going after more, whether money or power, but if he was running an operation of this magnitude…something wasn’t adding up.
"Sebastian,” I said slowly, watching him as the gears turned in my head. "Tomas’s fixation on you. It isn’t just about the money, is it?"
Sebastian let out a heavy sigh, but he didn’t waver when he met my gaze, his eyes harboring the shadows of wars fought long ago. "No, Evan. It's not."
His affirmation sent a shiver down my spine. A cold knot of dread formed in my stomach. What else was Tomas after if not money and power? The bastard murdered my parents. If there was more to it, I deserved to know. It was time to peel back the layers, to ask the question that’d been lurking in the back of my mind since this whole mess started.
"Sebastian," I said, forcing myself to remain steady. "What exactly is the deal with you and Tomas? Did something happen in the past? Something that goes beyond what you’ve already told me?”
Sebastian leaned back in his chair, his gaze drifting past me as if he was seeing through the walls of the office and into a past I’d only glimpsed. He was silent for a moment, his face a study in stoicism.
He ran a hand through his hair, and when he looked at me again, his eyes were sad. “There isn’t some dark, sordid conflict,” he said. “At least not like you think. But Tomas and I do have a history. I supposed you could say it was a one-sided rivalry.”
I frowned, leaning forward again. “How so?”
“Back when my father was still alpha, when I was very young, Tomas was part of our clan.”
“What?” I shook my head. How was I just now hearing of this? “You’re serious?”
Sebastian nodded grimly. “But Tomas came by his greed naturally. His father decided he wanted to start his own clan. His own empire. But before that, Tomas and I grew up in the same group of kids. I was always better at everything: school, sports, leadership. My dragon was bigger and stronger.”
There was no pride or bragging in his voice. That wasn’t how Sebastian operated. He was just stating the facts.
“His own father would comment that he wished Tomas was more like me, all the time—a terrible thing for any parent to say to their child—and it spawned a petty rivalry, one Tomas never got over.” Sebastian ground his teeth and shook his head. “Right down to your mother.”
