Chapter 13 - The Blackwood Alliance and the Ghost of the Past
The conference room windows were wide open, letting in the cool mountain breeze, but inside, the atmosphere was thick with tension.
Spread across the polished oak table were satellite maps, corporate merger files, and intercepted financial wire logs that Gideon’s intelligence team had pulled from the Zurich holding firm within the hour.
“It’s a classic squeeze play,” Gideon explained, pointing a heavy metal pen at a highlighted route on the map of the Olympic Peninsula.
“Blackwood acquires the remainder of your father’s defaulted personal promissory notes from the Swiss creditors. Because Richard Hayes used his remaining personal assets as collateral for private loans before we stripped his Alpha title, Blackwood now legally holds thirty percent of the secondary land deeds surrounding Cascade territory.”
I stared down at the map, my hands braced against the edge of the table.
“Promissory notes?” I whispered, a cold wave of realization washing over me.
“My father swore he paid those off in 2021.”
“Your father lied,” Kane stated flatly, standing at the head of the table, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Richard Hayes didn't pay off his debts; he refinanced them through an unverified offshore lender that happened to be a front for Blackwood Industries. Julian Blackwood has been quietly buying up your family’s financial paper for two years, waiting for the exact moment our corporate protection charter stabilized your pack.”
“He wants to crack our foundation from the inside,” I said, my teeth grinding together in sudden, furious frustration.
“If Blackwood exercises those secondary land deeds, he can legally contest Croft Industries’ receivership charter under regional territorial priority laws.”
“He can try,” Kane’s voice dropped into a low, dangerous growl that made the glass water pitchers on the table vibrate.
“Julian Blackwood forgets that territorial priority laws only apply if the debtor maintains a valid residency within the disputed zone. Your father’s cabin is located directly on the disputed parcel.”
I looked up sharply.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying we evict Richard Hayes today,” Kane stated with absolute, unyielding finality.
“We terminate his residency permit, repossess the cabin under the financial fraud clauses of the new charter, and wipe out the legal foundation of Blackwood’s entire claim before the sun sets.”
The room went dead silent.
Evict my father.
Cast him out of the territory entirely.
For five years, I had protected him, covered for him, paid his debts, and sacrificed my own youth to keep him from destroying everything we built.
Yet, even now, knowing the sheer magnitude of the catastrophe he had invited onto our doorstep by secretly partnering with Blackwood, the word eviction felt like a heavy, jagged pill to swallow.
“Do it,” I said quietly.
Kane blinked, a flicker of surprise crossing his features.
“You’re not going to argue for him?”
“Argue for him?” I let out a sharp, bitter laugh.
“Kane, my father just sold our pack out to Julian Blackwood for a handful of silver coins and a promise of petty revenge. He isn't my father anymore. He’s a liability.”
Kane stared at me for three long seconds, his expression softening into an intense, profound wave of respect.
“Gideon,” Kane commanded without breaking eye contact with me.
“Mobilize the estate security detail. Secure the northern cabin. Pack Richard Hayes’s belongings into a single suitcase, drop him at the county line, and make sure he understands he is never setting foot in Cascade territory again.”
“Consider it done, Boss,” Gideon nodded grimly, turning on his heel and striding out of the room to execute the order.
As the heavy oak doors clicked shut, leaving Kane and me alone in the sunlit conference room, I let out a long, shuddering breath, resting my forehead against my hand.
“It never stops, does it?” I murmured, exhaustion suddenly hitting me like a physical wave.
“The ledgers. The debts. The messes left behind by men who think the world owes them a living.”
Kane walked slowly around the table.
He didn't offer empty platitudes. He didn't tell me everything was going to be fine.
Instead, he reached out, gently pulling my hands away from my face, and drew me up out of my chair until I was standing right against his chest.
He wrapped his arms around me, holding me with a steady, unshakeable strength that absorbed every ounce of my tension.
May you like
“No,” Kane whispered into my hair, his deep voice vibrating against my ribs.
“It doesn't stop. But you aren't carrying the ledgers alone anymore, Harper. From now on, we audit the world together.”
