Chapter 3 - The Gathering of the Wolves
The rain had intensified into a torrential downpour by the time my cab pulled up in front of the Whitehall Hotel on Delaware Place.
It was an understated boutique hotel far removed from the lavish high-rises where the Blackwood family held their luxury suites.
I checked in under my maiden name, Claire Bennett, paying with a private personal debit account that had remained untouched since my wedding day.
Once inside the room, I placed my phone on the writing desk, turned off location services, and took off the seven-carat emerald-cut diamond ring that Daniel had placed on my finger three years ago.
I left the ring resting on the cold glass surface like an abandoned tombstone.
Meanwhile, across town at the Blackwood Logistics maritime headquarters along the Calumet River, an entirely different kind of storm was making landfall.
In the soundproof fifth-floor conference room, cigar smoke drifted beneath the amber chandeliers.
Marcus Blackwood sat at the head of the mahogany table, his silver-topped cane resting between his knees, his ancient eyes fixed coldly upon his nephew.
Julian Blackwood leaned back in a leather armchair near the window, a glass of bourbon in his hand, a mocking smirk playing at the corners of his lips.
Daniel stood by the panoramic glass looking out over the dark docks, his tie loosened, his knuckles bruised from punching the plaster wall in his office ten minutes earlier.
“You have created an absolute catastrophe, Daniel,” Marcus began, his voice like grinding gravel.
“The Bennett marriage was not arranged for your romantic amusement.”
“Her father’s firm holds the master engineering patents for the Chicago Port expansion project that our logistics front is bidding on.”
“If Claire walks away and exposes this farce to the city regulators, the federal oversight committee will tear through our shipping manifests with a magnifying glass.”
Daniel turned around slowly, his face like carved obsidian.
“Claire is angry, but she is sensible.”
“She will return to the penthouse once she realizes she has nowhere else to go.”
Julian let out a sharp, theatrical chuckle that echoed off the mahogany walls.
“You really don't know the woman you married, do you, brother?”
“Claire graduated top of her class from Cornell; she isn't some bimbo from a River North lounge who will crawl back for a designer handbag.”
“She sent those screenshots to all of us because she wanted you castrated in front of the entire council.”
Before Daniel could cross the room to strike his brother, the heavy frosted glass doors opened.
Olivia Hayes walked into the boardroom, her face pale, her mascara slightly smudged, clutching an ivory trench coat around her slender frame.
She looked around the room, expecting to find Daniel ready to defend her honor as the mother of his future child.
Instead, she met the lethal, predatory stares of seven men who ran a criminal empire with zero tolerance for amateur indiscretions.
“Daniel,” Olivia whispered, taking a timid step toward him. “Your phone was switched off, and there were two strange sedans parked outside my townhouse.”
Daniel did not take a single step toward her.
His gaze upon her was so devoid of warmth that Olivia instinctively took a step backward.
“Who gave you permission to contact my wife?” Daniel asked, each syllable dripping with venom.
Olivia’s lower lip trembled as she realized the dynamic had completely shifted.
“I... I thought she deserved to know the truth so we wouldn't have to hide anymore.”
“You promised me that once the fiscal year ended, you would settle things with her.”
Marcus slammed his silver cane against the mahogany floorboards with a thunderous crack that made Olivia jump.
“Silence, girl.”
The old man leaned forward, his cold eyes dissecting her from head to toe like a butcher inspecting raw meat.
“You work for fifty thousand dollars a year and an executive bonus, yet you think you have the authority to orchestrate the succession of the Blackwood bloodline?”
“Mr. Blackwood, I am carrying Daniel’s child!” Olivia cried out, her voice rising in defensive desperation.
“A child that has not undergone an amniocentesis or an independent prenatal paternity screening,” Julian pointed out smoothly from his corner, swirling his amber liquor.
Olivia’s eyes widened with genuine shock.
“Daniel, you know it's yours! How can you let them speak to me like this?”
Daniel did not look at her stomach; he looked only at the clock ticking on the wall.
“You will check into an approved private clinic tomorrow morning under our security detail.”
“You will surrender your company phone, your access badges, and all files related to my office.”
“If that child shares my DNA, you will be compensated and relocated to a private residence in Arizona.”
“If that child does not share my DNA, Olivia, you will discover why people fear the name Blackwood.”
Olivia’s face drained of every ounce of color as the brutal reality of the world she had tried to conquer finally dawned upon her.
She had thought a pregnancy would crown her as the new queen of an empire.
Instead, she had just turned herself into a liability trapped in a cage of wolves.
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As the guards escorted a sobbing Olivia out of the room, Daniel turned back to the window, his mind racing not with thoughts of his unborn child, but with the haunting image of Claire’s calm, unflinching eyes as she walked out the door.
For the first time in his ruthless life, Daniel Blackwood felt the cold prick of genuine dread.
