Chapter 115 Trap
ARDEN
It was still dark when I arrived.
The sky was still blanketed in heavy indigo, the horizon just beginning to tint the edges with gray. The sun hadn’t risen, but I knew it wouldn’t be too long. I’d left under the veil of nightfall and ran straight through, crossing into the South without alerting anyone.
The cold air bit through my jacket, but I barely noticed. My boots crunched against dry soil and brittle grass as I stepped through the woods, deeper into enemy territory, toward the one place I never thought I’d return to.
The cabin.
My breath caught in my throat.
Of all places, this was where he brought her? Did Mr. Winters know that this place was already imprinted into my memory? That Cade and I had once stood in this exact spot when we began to uncover the cracks in everything?
Probably not. He thought he was always ten steps ahead.
I clenched my fists.
But before I could take another step forward, a voice rang out from the shadows just beside the porch.
“Arden Stone,” he drawled. “So, you really came.”
My head turned sharply.
He stepped into view, hands in his pockets. He wore a simple shirt, slacks, and leather boots. He looked normal. That was somehow worse.
I felt a chill run down my spine. My fingers instinctively grazed my pocket for the burner phone I’d tucked there and the small blade I had hidden in my waistband, just in case.
But I wasn’t quick enough..
In one motion, Mr. Winters closed the distance and yanked both items from my hands. The
phone was crushed under his boot in an instant, the knife tossed into the distance.
“I see,” he started off. “I told you–no funny business, right?”
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I cursed internally and took a step back from him, shaking out the tension in my hands.
“Tessa,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. “Where is she?”
“What are you so excited about?” he asked with a fake pout. “You just got here. Come on. Let’s have a talk, shall we?”
I didn’t move.
He gestured to the front steps of the cabin with an exaggerated wave of his hand.
“I haven’t even gotten around to showing you my estate,” he said with a grin. “Isn’t it nice?”
My stomach churned.
He really didn’t know that I’d been here before, did he?
“Far from any eyes,” he mused out loud, turning in a slow circle. “Private. Safe. Quiet. You could scream as loud as you want, and no one would come.”
Suddenly, he screamed, causing me to cover my ears.
The sound echoed through the trees, a bird scattering from a nearby branch, but otherwise, nothing.
Then he laughed like a lunatic.
My body stiffened, and I instinctively moved back another step. My boots scuffed the dirt.
“See?” he said between chuckles. “No one. Isn’t it fantastic?”
“It’s pretty,” I said, my voice firm despite the tremble I could feel threatening to take over. “Very pretty.”
He stopped laughing.
Instead, he turned his head and looked at me with narrowed eyes.
“Well, I have to give it to you,” he said after a second. “Your confidence is really something.
It’s almost entertaining.”
He walked closer, cornering me like a wolf would a lamb, but I stood my ground.
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“From the unwanted child,” he began, his voice mocking, “to the rejected mate… Honestly, if I were you, I’d be the villain by now.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Not everyone is like you.
“Precisely,” he said, flashing a grin. “Not everyone gets to be like me. That’s why I’m the best. That’s why I win. Every time.”
“You’re delusional.”
His smile didn’t falter.
“Maybe,” he said. “But delusional people have a way of shaping the world to fit their madness. That’s what makes them dangerous.”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
He stepped forward, close enough that I could see the cracks in his once–polished persona.
“You should be,” he whispered.
“You’re an animal,” I spat, the words leaving my lips before I could stop them. “No,” I corrected myself, stepping back even as his grin widened. “You’re far worse than that.”
He tilted his head. “Oh? And here I thought you were starting to like me.”
“You think you’re on top of the world because of this empire you’ve built,” I said. “But it’s fragile.”
“Fragile?” he echoed. “That’s where you’re wrong, darling.” His smile darkened. “It’s far from fragile.”
His eyes narrowed. “You don’t know me.”
“I know enough.”
He chuckled. “All the proof you have of me–those little attempts to corner me, to expose me -they’re going to be taken down in a second. You want to know why?” He leaned in slightly.
“Because I have in
positions. Their families.”
1 clenched my fists.
the United Factions. Wolves who owe me their careers. Their
He kept going, eyes wild. “Bethany’s the one who’s fragile. She’s sick. A ticking clock. She might’ve had a good run for twenty years, but this?” He flung his arms out. “It’s mine now. It’s all fucking mine!”
His voice echoed through the trees. The birds didn’t even stir.
It was in that moment that I realized that he was far from saving.
This man, this monster, had no limits.
“I’m so close,” he hissed, pacing, his hands twitching. “So goddamn close. I kept up with this for twenty fucking years. I’ve eradicated so many students, anyone who threatened to drag me off this throne.”
He paused and looked straight into my eyes.
“But the two of you,” he said slowly. “You and your little friend group.”
“I could give you that,” he admitted. “You truly went far. You even got Cade Callahan to run. Hats off, Arden Stone.”
He gave me a mock salute, but his smirk was still feral.
“But that ends now.”
He walked up to me again.
“I always thought Honey was Cade’s biggest weakness,” he said. “So I targeted her first. 1 thought that would break him fully.”
I sucked in a breath. Every word he spoke was poison.
“But I came to realize,” he said, tapping the side of his head, “it wasn’t her.”
He stared at me, eyes burning.
“It was you.”
My chest constricted.
“What do you think his reaction would be,” Mr. Winters asked quietly, “if he found his mate… touched… brutalized… dead in the middle of nowhere?”
I didn’t move.
“With the election only some days away, how would he react?” He tilted his head, appearing like he was imagining it. “Would he explode? Would he rage? Would he burn every alliance he built for the sake of vengeance?”
I wanted to say no, but I knew the answer.
He would.
Mr. Winters grinned wider at the silence. “He would,” he said the words I was too afraid to say out loud. “Because it’s you, Arden.”
“Now,” He let out a low laugh, full of delight. Thank you.”
He stepped close again.
“Thank you for falling right into my trap.”
And then, without warning, his hand snapped forward and grabbed my jaw, fingers pressing hard against my skin.
I flinched but refused to look away.
His grip was rough and possessive.
“But don’t worry,” he murmured. “I won’t kill you… yet.”
My pulse roared in my ears.
“Why would I?” he asked softly, brushing a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You’re so pretty. You and your little friend Tessa. Good genes, the two thing you have going.”
I tried to pull back, but he held me in place.
of you. I guess that’s one good
“Let’s have some fun while we wait for that sunrise, huh?” he whispered.
