Page 128 of Alpha-Ex Wedding Ruse
I tried to ignore the way my pulse was roaring in my ear as I rode the elevator to my penthouse. Twenty-one years. Twenty-one fucking years of silence, and she thought she could waltz back in and call me son like nothing had happened.
My wolf paced beneath my skin, agitated by the confrontation.He’d recognized her scent the moment I’d stepped into the lobby—familiar yet foreign, like a half-remembered nightmare.
Once I reached my penthouse, I pulled out my cell phone to dial Leila. I needed to be with her. I needed her warmth, her comfort, amidst all the chaos right now.
But I’d barely had time to dial the number when my phone started to ring. Charles.
“You never call for good news, so I assume this is bad?” I said into the receiver, tossing my suit jacket on my sofa.
“This isn’t just bad, Luca. This is awful,” his voice was serious. “Have you seen the news?”
“No, I just got in.”
I reached for the remote on the rack and hit the on button. What greeted me was something I could never have prepared myself for.
The news headline read, ALPHA HEIR LUCA VAUGHN CAUGHT IN ILLEGAL DEALINGS WITH NOTORIOUS ROGUE SYNDICATE.
Alongside it was an unmistakable photo of me, clear as day, sitting across from fucking Cassius in his office. My jaw clenched. Bastard had framed me.
Charles continued, “The pack could forgive your decision to call off the wedding, but this…this is bad.”
Chapter Thirty
Luca’s POV
I staredat the television screen in my living room, my blood turning cold. I was already on thin ice with the board, the council of elders—hell, with anyone who still trusted me—and now this? The pack would never tolerate a leader making deals with rogues.
Rogues—outcasts of our kind—were known for killing without mercy, taking what wasn’t theirs, tearing apart the fragile peace of the city. And I’d just been photographed with one. Not just any rogue, but Cassius fucking Kane. And the headline was the kind of poison that would keep the city foaming at the mouth for weeks.
My phone buzzed. My father. No doubt he wanted to yell into the phone and remind me of how disappointed he was in me. I didn’t have the energy for that. Seconds later—another buzz. A board member. Then two, three, until the damn thing was vibrating nonstop. I ignored them all, my mind burning with one singular, violent thought: bash Cassius’ skull against a wall until it cracked open and painted the floor red.
I’d made it crystal clear what would happen if he ever double-crossed me, threatened me, or so much as looked Leila’s way. Apparently, the bastard had a death wish. And I was going to grant it.
Rage—white hot and consuming—flooded my system. My wolf surged forward, demanding blood. I grabbed my keys and stormed out of the apartment. My mother was already out of the building when I got downstairs.
The drive to the syndicate’s lair passed in a blur of fury. By the time I kicked down the steel door, every muscle in my body was coiled for violence. The same bouncer from before scrambled backward at the sight of me, his eyes wide with terror.
“Where is he?” I snarled
“I-I…”
I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. “Where the hell is Cassius?”
He pointed a shaking finger toward the back door of the lair. “H-he just left.”
I released him with a shove, leaving him gasping on the floor as I rushed toward the back door.
Outside, I caught sight of the bastard sprinting toward a parked car, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
The moment he spotted me, his face drained of color.
“Alpha Vaughn—” He fumbled for his back pocket, reaching for what I was certain was a gun.
I didn’t give him the chance. In two long strides, I closed the distance, clamped my hand around his throat, and drove him back against the car hard enough to rattle the frame. His breath hitched as I pried the weapon from his pocket and hurled it across the pavement, well out of reach.
“How dare you set me up!” I growled, my grip tightening until his face started turning red. I was releasing the frustration from everything—from Sterling Moreau pulling out of the deal, from the board members calling for a vote of confidence, from my mother returning to my life like a ghost from the past. Everything.
“I swear to you, I had nothing to do with it!” His lips trembled ashe tried to pry my hand from his neck. He gasped, coughed, choked, but I didn’t let off.
