Chapter 58
[Cruz’s POV]
Cruz had been pacing the length of his office for the past thirty minutes, contemplating the same one-word question that continuously tortured him for the past several months. ‘Why?’
Why on earth had he been plagued with such incompetent wolves?
Why couldn’t a single one of them succeed in their orders to perform the simplest tasks?
Every time he’d sent the order for them to deal with Lorenzo Sinclair, they were never able to deliver.
When he tried to send the rogues to collect Eleanor—they failed.
Last night, he’d sent his band of misfits to snag the forensics report on Agatha Wilde, before the star-crossed lovers could get their hands on it. And, once again, his wolves had returned home, empty-handed.
Not a single one of them was able to look Cruz in the eyes and explain to him what had happened. And in all honesty, the man didn’t really give a shit.
All he knew was that they weren’t able to get the damn report, and now Lorenzo and Eleanor were in possession of far more information than he originally wanted.
His nails bit into the palms of his hands while the anger inside of him continued to rage on. His wolf snarled and growled in bitter disdain.
Was he still feeling irate from the fact that neither of them had reached out to him? Yes.
He should have known that the message he’d sent to Eleanor wasn’t going to be enough. So, he took a more severe and ruthless approach...
‘Wish we’d been the ones to take out that annoying little bitch!’ his wolf remarked darkly.
Cruz gave the order to one of his loyal followers to collect Agatha and finish her off.
“At least they were able to get one thing accomplished,” he muttered to himself.
Ever since Agatha’s story hit the news, the majority of the Blue Moon pack and been overtaken by worried whispers and nervous talk.
Especially the Blue Moon Alpha, himself.
At that very moment, the door to Cruz’s private office practically flew off its hinges. Cruz, unfazed, merely glanced over his shoulder to catch a quick glance at his older brother’s murderous expression.
“Something on your mind, brother of mine?” Cruz drawled.
He stopped his excessive pacing and replaced his look of displeasure with one of resolute composure. He rounded his large desk and casually sat back in his chair.
His brother’s eyes glowed with untold fury.
“Don’t act like you don’t know what’s been going on, asshole,” the alpha snapped. “All anyone is talking about is that goodman girl!”
Cruz tilted his head to the side, feigning confusion. “Girl? You know very well that I deal with at least a dozen different girls every day. So, I’m afraid you’re going to have to be more specific.”
The alpha swiped his arm low and sent nearly everything that was sitting on Cruz’s desk, flying to the floor.
CRASH!!
“Agatha Wilde!” he shouted. “She’s dead and I want answers.”
Cruz shrugged his shoulders back and blew out a long breath. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you much. We’re not sure who did it.”
His brother narrowed his eyes, glaring at him in disbelief. “I don’t believe you.”
“Pitty.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Because it’s the truth. I have no idea who did it or what happened. Perhaps one of the clientele got a bit too rough and ended up taking it just a step too far.”
Neither of them was unfamiliar with the kinds of pleasures that many of their regulars tended to dabble in. There was a fair presence of both pleasure and pain that went on; however, the line was often blurred at times.
The alpha pulled his lips back into a malicious sneer. Cruz’s hand was just itching to take a real swing at his brother’s face.
“I don’t want this coming back to bite me, Cruz,” he hissed. “It would be just the police that we’d be dealing with.”
Cruz fought back an indignant snort. Oh, please. Since when was this entire ordeal ‘they’re’ problem? Between the two of them, for as long as he could remember, Cruz had always been the one to deal with the dirty problems. He’d been the one to clean up all the messes and make sure everything was always kept in order.
“Trust me, the police are not going to come snooping around here. You know half of that group are part of our ongoing regulars,” he explained. “If any of them even think to breathe a word of this to the press, it’s their own reputation they’ll be putting at risk as well.”
That was the beauty of the list.
Most of their clientele knew that their names had been documented as a way of fair exchange. As long as they paid and kept their mouths closed about the kind of unsavory business Blue Moon was involved in, Cruz had promised them protection of secrecy.
‘Yes, but without that god-forsaken list, everything could be compromised,’ his wolf barked out.
Without it, there was no security. No leverage.
“Don’t worry about it,” Cruz assured him. “This is likely to be a one-time thing. It will all blow over before you know.”
Only it wasn’t.
Cruz was well prepared to make this sort of incident one of many if Lorenzo and Eleanor continued to avoid his offer. He knew that she would never back away from the case knowing that there were very likely other lives on the line.
“Just remember, Cruz, should you be wrong...If this gets back to me, I’m going to rip your head off. All fingers will be pointing to the Blue Moon Pack.”
Cruz could almost imagine all the breaking headlines all with his brother’s ridiculous face plastered all across the news articles.
‘Indeed, brother. That is exactly what I’m hoping for.’
With enough gathered evidence to incriminate his brother, Cruz would be practically gifted the title of alpha of the Blue Moon pack.
