Chapter 92

Tyler

Silence. Then footsteps, fast and sharp. Her ridiculous heels clicking. I turned slowly as Vivian emerged from the shadows, arms crossed over her chest, one brow lifted in practiced disinterest.

“Custom batch.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder.

"I'm aware," he said. "And it's fucking horrible."

She flushed. "Tyler, you have a lot of nerve talking to --"

"You have a lot of nerve pretending like you're the victim," I said, looking at her, I turned my phone on to record in my pocket before turning away and walking.

Vivian stormed after me, like she thought the sound of her heels would scar me. Typical. She did it all the time when I wasn't doing what she wanted. She had always mistaken noise for control, chaos for influence.

“Don't you walk away from me!” she barked, catching up to me in the corridor just past the east stairwell.

I didn’t turn around.

Not until she stepped into my path, fury radiating from every inch of her.

“You lied to me,” she said.

I looked at her. Really looked at her. The sharp lines of her face were drawn tight and ugly. I tried not to think about how hideous she really was often, but it was too obvious now. Her lipstick was smudged, her brows uneven, and her shoulders were too square for someone pretending not to be panicking. She'd had a rough night in a holding cell, maybe sucked off a guard for a favor.

She'd always been quick to throw sex around.

Vivian stepped closer, eyes narrowed. "Who the hell was she? I told you I don't share."

"You made it clear that you thought of me as a convenient sex toy…"

"When I get on the stand and tell everyone, you're done."

"… is that before or after I tell them under truth oath all about your scheme?" She paled. I could see the panic in her eyes.

“You throw me to the wolves, I'm taking you with me,” Vivian said. "I'll tell everyone how often we fucked, how much you came."

And I'd tell everyone how often I threw up afterwards. How she made my skin crawl. I'd pull out the fucking receipts on my doctor visits for the past few years and I could tell that she wasn't getting how much evidence I had against her. I didn't need to tell her that I had records from the night she tried to make me forget.

My stomach turned thinking of it and the longer I said nothing, the more tense she grew.

"Nothing to say?"

"You've been setting me up for years, Vivian, and while a gamma under Dominic, I had no choice but to do as you'd compelled."

"I didn't--"

"But now, it's different."

"No one is going to believe you," she hissed. "You don't have a lawyer good enough."

I tilted my head. "I'd bet Brightclaw's legal team would love to hear what I have to say."

She exhaled sharply. “He'd never--"

"Never underestimate love, Vivian, and I promise your father's love for his pack goes way deeper than his love for you right now."

It was a lie, but I didn't need her to know the truth. Brightclaw would listen, sure, but Dominic, even now, loved Vivian dearly.

Arielle, however, was as vicious as they'd come. She'd shake my hand for the chance to run Vivian and whoever else should could get her hands on through a fucking shredder, and even if I was next, it wouldn't be nearly as bad.

Maya… Maya would see that I was listening to her. That I cared, that I made a mistake but I wanted to be better for her. Because of her and that's all I wanted.

"You used me.”

“You used me first,” I countered. “Let’s not play pretend now.” I took a deep breath. "It's a fucking relief not to have to play pretend anymore."

“Fine,” she snapped. “But let's not pretend that you have a shit ton to gain in this, Tyler. You've got more to lose than me, and you'll never grow the balls to follow through on your threat. You're only a gamma because of me, and when this is all over, you'll be groveling at my feet just like always, pet."

My stomach jolted. Memories I didn't even have a clear vision on, things I didn't want to remember, flashed through my mind. Fear. That overwhelming fear of being discovered, being exposed. I couldn't breathe. The panic clawed up my throat even though I knew what she was doing.

I knew and I couldn't pull back.

Aiden, Maya called from the back of my mind.

My first name. The one my grandmother had given me. The one my father hated because it was too much like hers, too girly for what he wanted me to be, too weak. My hand twitched at my side. She smiled, her eyes filling with that hellish light that plagued more of my nightmares than anything.

"You're going to get on that stand and take the blame."

Aiden, Maya called through some haze from so long ago. I could feel her there. Feel her heart breaking, but not pulling away. Our bond hummed and pulsed with her pain, and I used it to anchor myself, to breathe.

I lowered my voice. "Does it hurt more that even through all of your manipulation, your power, your compulsion, no one will ever give a damn about you?"

"My--"

"Dominic is about to let Mountainhowl rip you to pieces because he's finally taken off the blinders." I smirked. "I don't know what you did, what you said, but your days are numbered."

"You're going to do as I say because you don't have a choice." She smirked. "Do you want me to make you?"

My back itched and twitched and I swallowed, staring at her.

"Let me be clear, Vivian," I said. "I'm going to do what I need to, and I don't care what you want."

"You--"

"I've never cared what you wanted. I was your friend because my father required it of me. I gave in because of your position, and everything I've done on your orders is a matter of survival." I stepped toward her, she stepped back, looking more panicked by the second.

"Stop--"

"You think I'd have let you treat me like that for nothing? You think I would have gone after Renee if you hadn't told me? Hadn't told me about the money? You think I didn't figure out that you were never going to even consider marrying me? That I was just a plaything?"

"T-Tyler--"

"And all of that was fucking fine. I'd accepted my place in life, I'd accepted that was probably the best I could fucking do, and I had to bide my time until I met Maya." I sneered. "If I hadn't, I would have left the pack years ago."

"Your little girlfriend---"

I snarled at her. "Don't fuck with me Vivian. It will not end well. You even breathe in Maya's direction and you'll pay." I looked her over. "From the looks of things, you can't afford it."

Our message history alone was going to destroy her, let alone anything else. All the things I helped cover for her and everything that was still in the works. I'd reveal it all.

"Leave Maya alone."

She paled, but she said nothing as I left there, heading to the guarded doors to get a guard to escort me to the main area where I could speak to a clerk and start getting a new lawyer.

It was about time I got ready for the shit storm that was coming.

Vivian

My whole body shook.

It wasn’t rage at first.

It was shock. The kind that numbs your fingers and steals the words from your mouth. I stood there, in that hallway, staring after Tyler like I didn’t even recognize him because I didn't.

What the fuck?

Who the fuck did he think he was threatening me?

The only reason he had managed even half of what he had was because I was his friend because I had an interest in him.

He would have been less than nothing if it weren't for me.

He should know that.

He should act like it, but he'd meant it. That cold look in his eyes told me that he really, truly meant everything he said.

It had never occurred to me that Tyler might hate me.

Not even once. He was supposed to be mine. A plaything, yes, but a loyal one. A convenient one. Trainable. Obedient. Watching him bend and break was some of the best sex I'd ever had, but all this time he thought he was using me?

And he thought he would get away with it?

I could barely breathe past the fury swelling in my throat.

I spun on my heel and marched back down the hall. He wanted a better life?

He wanted Maya?

He wanted to pretend like I was nothing but a stepping stone?

Fine.

Let’s see how far he gets when I pull the ground out from under his feet and ruin that little bitch's life as soon as all this nonsense was over.

Daddy would fix it and then I would fix Tyler.

If Tyler thought this was the end, he clearly didn’t understand the rules of the game he’d been trying to play.

I was Vivian Brightclaw and I wasn't going to lose to him, Renee, or anyone.