750 The Trap


    From yesterday to today, Ashen Pact’s strongholds had slipped deeper into chaos.


    Madam Evelyn hit hardest of all–her men stormed Cyren Mines with raw force, nopromise.


    +8 Pearls


    Dale was seething when Dan returned. Manny was already waiting in the study, while Artemis lingered in the parlor, intercepting Dan at the door.


    “Dan.” She stepped forward quickly.


    Neither Dale nor Manny moved, but Artemis’s face showed strain. Much of what she controlled hade under attack, losses mounting by the hour.


    But Dan didn’t spare her a nce.


    Her chest tightened. “Take whatever you want from me or Manny–just give Tessa back to Victor, will you?”


    That line finally drew his eyes. But the cold mockery in them made her throat close.


    “Ashen Pact’s struggle for power should stay within these walls,” she pressed, voice quivering. “No matter who wins, it’s still in Morris hands. But outsiders… you know the ruin that brings.”


    Dan’sugh was sharp and scornful. “Stay within our walls, is it? And how exactly would you have kept it inside? How much did you bargain away to Monroe behind our backs?”


    Her face drained of blood. She stared at him, stunned. “You… you know?”


    He snorted and walked past, heading upstairs toward the study.


    Artemis’s whole body trembled. She had been so careful. How had he learned about Monroe?


    Halfway up the stairs, Dan tossed the words over his shoulder: “Monroe’s not an outsider too? You brought him in for Manny’s sake, yet demand I shut the gates when it’s my turn? Where’s the justice in that?”


    Her knees weakened. He was right–she had cracked the doors open herself. Now she wanted them mmed shut?


    “This is why you dragged Diana back, isn’t it?” Her voice cut sharp through the hall.


    The name froze the air. Diana–her nightmare, her shadow, the ghost she could never banish.


    For years Artemis had sent hunters out to find her, to erase her for good. But none ever


    Chapter 750 The Trap


    …


    <b>47 </b>


    +8 Pearls


    returned. Now she saw the truth: Dan had been pulling strings all along. His reach had always been deeper than she guessed.


    Dan halted, turning his gaze back on her. It was the same cruel light she’d once seen in his mother’s eyes–moments before death.


    Her breath faltered.


    “You and Dale met on a trip, didn’t you?” Dan asked suddenly.


    Her fists clenched. “Why bring that up?”


    “Bad weather, andslide. He was knocked out cold. You carried him all the way to the hospital, didn’t you?”


    Artemis’s lips parted soundlessly.


    “My sources say you broke bones that day. Spent a month in the hospital yourself. So tell me- how does a woman with fractures carry a grown man on her back?”


    He used the name Dale, not father. He hadn’t spoken that word in years. Maybe not since the day his mother died.


    Her heart thudded against her ribs.


    Dan’s voice cut closer, relentless. “Mother was there too. Same canyon, same day. She walked out of that hospital without a scratch. Why do you think she was there?”


    The silence mmed heavy, thick enough to choke.


    Artemis met his eyes, dark fury twisting through her own. But she couldn’t summon a single


    answer.


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