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31. JACKSON

Chapter thirty-one

JACKSON

The beer in my hand is lukewarm, the condensation long gone, but I keep drinking it anyway. Not because I want to, but because if I don’t, I might pick up the bottle and hurl it across the room. The house is too quiet. Not the kind of peaceful silence that soothes after a long day, but the kind that grates, buzzing in my ears like static.

Lyle’s upstairs with Hailey, trying to calm her down for the third time today. She’s been inconsolable since Reid left, sobbing about betrayal and abandonment, about how “she gave everything” and Reid just threw it back in her face. But what about what we gave? What about what I built? Reid didn’t just leave; he’s going to tear apart everything I’ve worked for, everything I’ve sacrificed to keep this pack intact.

I slam the bottle down on the table, the sound cutting through the silence. How dare he? How fucking dare he?

We took him in when no one else would. We gave him purpose, a place. And this is how he repays us? Walking out the door like he’s too good for us?

The thought makes my blood boil, my nails digging into the wood of the kitchen table. He is just a Beta. A Beta. He was supposed to know his place, to follow orders, to do what he was told. It wasn’t complicated. He wasn’t asked to run the world, just to keep the wheels turning in this house.

And Hailey—our Omega—needed him. She needed someone to clean up her messes, to anticipate her needs. That’s the whole damn reason we brought him in. Hailey was...is...a handful. She’s emotional, sensitive, hard to manage sometimes. But she’s ours. She’s our responsibility and Reid knew that when he signed the contract. He knew what he was getting into.

Except he didn’t, did he? Because Reid never signed it.

The realization settles over me like a lead blanket, heavier with each passing second. I rub my temples, trying to drown out the memory of his smug face in this very room.

My jaw clenches, and I shove the thought away. It doesn’t matter now. What matters is that Reid is gone, Hailey is a wreck, and the pack is falling apart because of him. So what if Hailey bent the truth a little to get what she wanted? She’s our Omega. She’s allowed to take what she needs, what she wants, what she desires .

Reid didn’t understand that. He never did.

And now, thanks to his dramatics, we’re under a microscope. No one will truly be able to prove what happened in this house, I’ve made sure of it but we’ll have to go through the entire damn process again to find another pack Beta that will bend to our will.

I snatch the beer off the table and take another swig, grimacing at the taste. He’ll get comfortable, I tell myself. Too comfortable. Reid’s always been too soft, too trusting. He thinks he’s safe now, but he’s wrong. He’ll slip up and when he does, I’ll be waiting. Because this isn’t over. Not by a long shot.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs pulls me out of my thoughts and I look up to see Lyle standing in the doorway. His face is tight, his shoulders tense. “She’s asleep,” he says quietly, like that’s supposed to mean something to me. He sinks into the chair across from me. His elbows hit the table, and he leans forward, hands clasped together so tightly his knuckles turn white.

I don’t respond, just glare at him until he shifts uncomfortably. “Look,” he starts, running a hand through his hair. “This isn’t ideal, but we can spin this. We always do.”

“Spin this?” I bark out a bitter laugh, the sound harsh even to my own ears. “Reid torched us, Lyle. He didn’t just leave—he burned everything on his way out.” He hasn’t yet but there will be some damage control to deal with. Everyone will ask what’s going on as we start searching for a new Beta. The allegations will get out but we’ll nip in the bud.

Lyle flinches but doesn’t argue. Instead, he just stands there, staring at me like he expects me to have all the answers. Like I’m supposed to fix this mess.

And maybe I can.

But it’s going to take more than spin. It’s going to take strategy. Patience. And a willingness to do whatever it takes to remind Reid exactly where he belongs. Because he doesn’t get to walk away from this. He doesn’t get to walk away from me.

“What happens now?”

I glare at the Alpha I’ve built a life with, one that’s slowly falling apart. “We protect Hailey and then the business.” Our Omega comes first, before everything else. Our fathers built the legacy we’re now living but that’s second to her. She skirted the truth a few times and Reid paid for it but that’s the life of a pack Beta. That’s not on her head.

It’s on him for not being able to handle it.

I feel no remorse for making Reid see where he fit into our lives—on the outside, making sure that the house was taken care of. Every time he stepped out of line or a flicker of attitude ran through his expression, I was more than happy to show him his place. And now, he’s suddenly found something more , something sweet, something he wants to call his.

“And Reid?” Lyle tentatively asks. “What do we do about him? Because you let him walk right out of that door, Jackson.”

“Because we’re under investigation, Lyle. I might enjoy watching my fists connect with his face but that doesn’t mean I can’t control myself when I need to. If anything happened during this week, one or both of us would be in jail. Reid would have the ammunition he’s searching for and everything we’ve worked toward would be gone. As it stands, he has nothing .” A smug smile sits on my face as I think about it.

Lyle doesn’t respond, shaking his head in amusement. He pats the table and then heads back upstairs, neither of us in the mood to talk.

The phone rings, the shrill tone cutting through the thick silence of the house. I glance at the screen, see the name flashing across it, and immediately feel my jaw tighten. The family lawyer. Fantastic.

I swipe the call to my ear, my grip tightening on the phone as I sit back in my chair, trying to shake off the tension that’s been building ever since Reid slipped out of our reach.

“Jackson,” the lawyer’s voice comes through, sharp and crisp. “We need to talk.”

I don’t waste time with pleasantries. “What now, Bennett?”

There’s a brief pause before he responds, his voice laced with frustration. “You were supposed to be laying low. The whole point of getting a pack Beta was to help your image. To clean up the mess you’ve made. Not to make it worse.”

I can feel my blood pressure rising already. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Reid,” Bennett says, like I don’t know who he’s referring to. “The entire situation with him has become a public disaster. This is going to ruin everything.”

I snarl into the phone, “We didn’t ask for this. He just—”

“Don’t make excuses,” Bennett interrupts, his voice clipped. “The truth is, you’ve handled this poorly, Jackson. Your pack Beta is now officially a liability. And the way this is escalating, it’s putting the family’s reputation at risk.”

I’m standing now, pacing, the anger gnawing at me. “What do you mean ‘risk’? What exactly is going on here?”

“I’m saying it’s worse than you think,” Bennett continues, his words coming out in a rush. “That woman who first showed up at your doorstep? The one who demanded Reid be returned to her? She wasn’t just anyone on the case. She’s Reid’s Alpha. Not an investigator. This whole thing’s a mess.”

I stop in my tracks, the weight of his words sinking in like lead. “So, there’s no investigation because they overstepped, right? What’s the problem then?”

“There’s no investigation anymore ,” Bennett says, his voice almost mocking. “But not because of her. Because you two have been reckless. You beat your Beta to the point of near death, Jackson. And that’s what I’m dealing with now.”

I growl into the phone, the frustration bubbling up like a boiling pot. “He was out of line. He crossed a line.”

“Save it,” Bennett cuts me off, a hint of bitterness in his voice. “If you hadn’t been so careless, so violent, this wouldn’t have gotten out of control. You’d still have your Beta and your name intact. But now? You’re teetering on the edge of losing everything.”

The anger in me rises again, and this time, I can’t contain it. “And what the hell do you want me to do about it? Reid is gone. I’m not just going to roll over and take this. I’ve been trying to fix things.”

“Fix things?” Bennett’s laugh comes through the earpiece, so jarring I almost drop the phone. “Do you think you can fix things now? You really think you can just wave a magic wand and make it go away?”

“Then what the hell am I supposed to do?” I snap, my fingers trembling from the pressure. “You want me to just let him go? Let them take him back after everything? After what we did to him?”

A long silence stretches between us. Finally, Bennett speaks again, his voice steadier than before. “Unless you have a damn good reason for why you beat your Beta, Reid’s not yours anymore and everyone in the fucking business will know what you did. You’re going to lose your credibility, Jackson. Your father put everything into his name and you’ve all but ruined it.”

It feels like the floor drops out from beneath me. The words hit harder than any punch I’ve taken. “What?”

“If you can’t explain your actions, the family’s going to collapse,” Bennett warns. “There’s too much attention on this now. Too much scrutiny. And unless you can convince the public—convince me—that there was some legitimate cause for you to hurt your Beta, then I can’t help you. I won’t help you.”

“Help me?” I sneer, my throat tightening. “You think I need your help now? What about the goddamn forgery? Did you know about that?”

The question hangs in the air and Bennett doesn’t immediately respond. The silence is deafening, my heart pounding in my chest as I wait for the inevitable. I already know the answer.

“What do you mean?” Bennet asks, all the fight gone from his voice.

“I mean,” I push out, a growl on the edge of my words, “the contract. Reid never signed it. You knew that, didn’t you? You knew his signature was forged. You knew it wasn’t legitimate.”

“That… that’s not something you should be saying, Jackson,” he says finally, his voice tight, and for the first time, I hear a trace of fear in it. “You’re treading dangerous ground here. You need to think about your next steps carefully, Jackson. Because if you take this to the public, it’ll be the end of everything. For you, for your pack. For your family.”

“Cut the shit,” I snap again. “How long have you known? And don’t bother lying. You’re the one who handled the paperwork.”

Another pause, this one heavier. “It wasn’t my decision,” Bennett says finally. “Lyle insisted. Said it was necessary. The Wilhelms needed to maintain their image, and with Hailey being… difficult, the Camdens thought Reid would smooth things over. Lyle agreed.”

“Difficult?” I snarl, pacing faster. My free hand curls into a fist at my side. “You mean she’s a manipulative nightmare who wanted a servant, not a Beta.”

Bennett’s tone sharpens. “You needed someone to stabilize the household, Jackson. And Lyle made it clear that the contract was a formality. Reid wasn’t supposed to care. It’s not like he had better options.”

I laugh, the sound bitter and biting. “Better options? You mean we trapped him, forced him into this, and now it’s blowing up in our faces?”

“Watch your tone,” Bennett snaps. “You’re the one who let this escalate. I didn’t tell you to—”

“To beat him within an inch of his life?” I cut him off, my voice cold. “That’s what you’re trying not to say, isn’t it? That we went too far. That this whole thing was a disaster waiting to happen, and you just sat back and let it.”

“You’re in this mess because you couldn’t control your temper. Don’t pin that on me.”

The rage bubbles up, hot and sharp. “Don’t lecture me, Bennett. You’re supposed to fix this, not throw it back in my face.”

“I can only do so much,” he says, the irritation clear in his tone. “Reid’s gone, the investigation is underway, and unless you have a miracle tucked away, you’re out of options.”

A cold, sharp idea slices through the fog of anger in my head. I stop pacing, my grip on the phone tightening. “What if we flipped the narrative?” I say slowly. This is a terrible idea.

Bennett snorts. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Reid assaulted Hailey,” I say, the lie forming in my mouth like poison. “We found out after the fact and that’s why things got… heated. We weren’t punishing him for nothing. We were protecting our Omega.”

Silence. Then, “That’s a serious accusation.”

“Exactly,” I say, my voice firm. “Serious enough to make people think twice. He was unstable, dangerous, and we acted to defend our pack. It’s not about wanting him back. It’s about making sure he pays for what he did.”

“You’re digging a hole, Jackson,” Bennett warns, but I can hear the calculation in his tone. “If you go down this road, Hailey will have to corroborate the story. She’ll have to speak up, or you’ll have to speak on her behalf.”

“I’ll do it,” I say, more to myself than him. “We all know what’s at stake.”

“And what about Reid?” Bennett presses. “He’s already gone public with the abuse claims. If this turns into a back-and-forth, you might lose more than your Beta.”

“Reid doesn’t have a leg to stand on,” I snap. “He’s desperate, clinging to whatever scraps of dignity he can find. By the time we’re done, he’ll wish he never left.”

Bennett sighs. “I’ll file the charges. But don’t say I didn’t warn you, Jackson. This could go sideways fast.”

“It won’t,” I say, though the knot in my stomach tightens with every word. “Just do your job.”

The line goes dead, and I toss the phone onto the table, my hands shaking. The house feels too quiet again, the weight of my decision pressing down on me like a vice. This has to work. It has to. I won’t lose everything because of one fucking Beta.

Reid was smug earlier, his sharp little smile like a knife in my ribs. Let’s see how smug he is when this hits him. Let’s see how long he lasts when the world turns against him.

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