Chapter 3
The next day, I went to Damian's company to sort out the insurance and paperwork.
During our contract marriage, all my health insurance and emergency medical proxy authorizations were registered under Reynolds Security Group.
The receptionist handed me a visitor badge, looking conflicted as she passed it to me. "Ms. Fenris, Mr. Reynolds is on the fortieth floor."
I took the elevator up.
The secretary stiffened when she saw me. "Ms. Fenris, Mr. Reynolds is in the conference room now."
The conference room had transparent glass doors.
Damian sat at the head of the table. Selena, on his right, was signing a document.
Vincent Wilson, the vice president of Reynolds Security, stood nearby, clapping. "Please welcome Selena, who is officially joining Reynolds Security as special advisor to the vice president."
I pushed the door open. Everyone turned to look at me.
Damian froze for a second.
"I'm here to handle the insurance transfer," I said.
Selena set her pen down. "Perfect timing. I just finished signing my contract for joining the company."
Vincent glanced at me. "Damian, who is this?"
Damian paused for a heartbeat. "She is my wife, by contract. It's almost over."
Vincent gave a polite nod.
Selena stood up and walked over to Damian. "Since you're here, mind giving me some advice?
"The company's got a charity dinner next week, and I'll be attending as Damian's mate. Which color do you think would suit me best?"
My collarbone was on fire; the blood bond mark kept searing. "Where are the insurance documents?"
Damian pulled a folder from the drawer and slid it across the table. "Sign to confirm the termination of the medical proxy and family association."
I opened the folder. Inside, along with the insurance termination form and authorization revocation documents, there was also a list of apartment belongings.
The last line read: [Silver necklace x1: Reynolds family heirloom repository.]
"That's not a family heirloom." I pointed at the line. "It's my mom's personal property."
"I've looked into it." Damian leaned back in his chair. "That necklace is engraved with the Fenris family emblem.
"The Fenris is one of the oldest wolf clans up north. Your mom was a regular human. How could she have a wolf pack heirloom?
"There is good reason to believe this necklace is lost family property, and it should go back to the wolf clan."
"You're robbing my mom's belongings."
"I'm sticking to the rules."
Selena picked up her coffee cup and lingered over a slow sip. "Erica, you're getting divorced soon. Why do you have to make things hard for Damian?"
I signed the papers and tossed the pen onto the table. "Damian Reynolds, you'll regret this."
His hand pressed down on the document, pausing for a heartbeat. He kept silent.
As soon as I stepped out of the conference room, my phone buzzed.
It was an anonymous text. [Your mom's death wasn't an accident. Check the emergency call logs from that night.]
I called the hospital's emergency department.
"The emergency call logs from two weeks ago? I'm really sorry, but that's not something I can share," the receptionist replied.
"That was my mom. She died in your hospital. I have the right to check it," I insisted.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but the record has been marked as confidential. You'll need authorization from the relevant party to access it."
"Whose authorization?"
"Reynolds Security Group."
My mom's emergency call records had been sealed off by Damian's company.
Joanna called. "Erica, I had a friend at the hospital look into it. The night your mom had her accident, the ambulance did get dispatched after the emergency call. But—"
"But what?" I asked.
"At 8:11, the dispatch center got a priority order and rerouted the ambulance to another address: No. 1 Northfeld Bay."
That was Damian's private club.
"When the ambulance made it back to the hospital where your mom was, it was already 8:31. That's a whole twenty-four minutes lost."
That period was my mom's last critical window for saving her life.
"Who gave the priority order?" I asked.
"I can't find out. The clearance is too high, and it's encrypted. But in Northfeld, only five people have the right to reroute emergency services," Joanna replied.
Damian was one of those five.
My legs were going weak as I leaned against the hallway wall.
I thought that was impossible. Damian might be cold-hearted, but he wouldn't do something this cruel.
But that night, he really left me behind, went to meet Selena, and let me run through the rain for forty minutes.
A sharp, burning pain shot through my collarbone. The blood bond mark cracked open, and blood started to seep down my skin.
"Erica, what's wrong with you?" Joanna called out from the phone.
My vision went black, and my phone slipped from my hand.
*****
When I woke up, I found myself lying in an unfamiliar bed. The old lady from the cemetery was sitting beside me.
"You're awake?" She handed me a glass of water. "You fainted at the entrance of Reynolds Tower. I had you brought here."
I asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Miriam Fenris. Forty years ago, I was your mom's aunt."
"You knew my mom?"
"Your mom's real name was Elaine Fenris. The Fenris family is the oldest Alpha bloodline in the north. She ran away from a wolf clan political marriage, went into hiding in the human world, and kept her true identity secret."
"No way. My mom was a regular human."
Miriam pointed. "That mark on your collarbone isn't some blood bond sign. It's for true fated mates."
"What do you mean?"
"Damian Reynolds is your fated mate. The contract was merely a front. The mark you share is something your blood chose for you. Nobody can change that. When he signed the divorce papers—"
Right then, my phone screen lit up.
Joanna's message popped up. [He signed it. Damian signed the divorce papers. Marcus posted about it on Instagram.]
Miriam's words were left unfinished.
*****
At the moment, what I didn't know was that on the far side of Northfeld, up on the top floor of the Reynolds Tower, Damian ripped his shirt open.
Right in the middle of his chest, the blood bond mark was spreading like crazy. It turned black and wove a dark web along his veins.
He sent all the papers flying off the table.
Selena pushed the door open and stepped inside. When she saw the spreading black patch on Damian's chest, she turned away, hiding a smile only she understood.