Page 46 of Vows of Ruin

Max’s voice cuts in from the wall, low and deadly. “And what? What does that have to do with my wife?”

Matthew and Jessa share a look. That makes every inch of my spine go rigid.

“SPEAK!” I bark, the sound cracking like a whip across the room.

Matthew jolts. “The night after the accident, when we took the bodyguard, I helped Sebastian drag him off. I thought… I thought maybe he wanted information. But then…”

He swallows hard.

“He started carving into him while he was still alive. Said he wanted to take Wrenley to the breeding house. That she was just like him. That she belonged to him. He said…” Matthew’s voice drops. “He said she’s the only one who could carry his legacy. That she doesn’t know it yet, but she wants him too.”

Max growls from the shadows, stepping forward. Wrecker has to stop him with a hand across the chest.

Wrenley moves fast, slicing the dagger across Matthew’s chest. Standing taller with it still in her palm. “That’s for working with that son of a bitch. I’m still debating on killing you for Donnie.”

Matthew sucks in a breath and nods. “After that… I knew I needed out. He’s not sane. He’s not even human. I’m supposed to meet him in Lisbon in three weeks with a full report. He wants details on how the family is breaking down, your alliances, and your weaknesses. That was my job. But now? I’ll feed him whatever you want me to say.”

Wrenley locks eyes with Jessa. “So tell me, what do you want?”

Jessa’s voice cracks as she tries to speak again, tears slipping down her face, mascara smudging beneath her eyes. “I just want out. I want to get them all out. The girls, the ones still trapped. I know where they are. I know how the shipments move. I can help.”

Wrenley tilts her head, her expression unreadable, like she’s weighing the girl’s soul on a scale only she can see. The dagger still dangles from her fingers like a silent promise.

“Help us how?” I ask, my voice low and controlled, but the rage behind it is simmering.

“I was… I was assigned to track her cycle,” she whispers, looking straight at Wrenley but unable to hold her gaze, “Sebastian offered me money and my sister's freedom if I helped because I work at her gynecologist's office. He wanted to know when she’d be fertile. He talked about her bloodline to make something stronger. Called her his queen and said she’d be the first.”

Max lets out a harsh breath behind me. The room shifts. Wrecker stands taller, Riot curses under his breath. Torque doesn’t move; he just stares, jaw clenched tight enough to crack teeth.

Wrenley steps forward, slow and calm, lifting Jessa’s chin with the tip of her blade. “He wants to breed me?”

Jessa nods.

“And you helped him track my body for that?” she spits, digging the tip a little further into her chin, until a drop of blood falls.

“I didn’t know what it was at first.” She says quickly. “I swear, I just thought it was a medical log—”

“You don’t get to swear anything to me.” Wrenley cuts in. Her voice is like ice wrapped in velvet. “You’re lucky I don’t carve my initials into your ribs.”

I reach out, gently brushing my fingers across the small of her back. She doesn’t flinch, doesn’t look away. She just breathes, slow and steady.

Matthew clears his throat. “I don’t want any part of this anymore. I’ll go to Lisbon. I’ll feed him whatever you want me to say. Just get me out of this.”

Wrenley turns, looking at me. Her eyes burn, not with tears, but with cold, righteous fire that says we don’t run, we retaliate.

She faces Jessa again. “You give us everything. Every name. Every location. Every man who stepped through those doors. You want protection, you earn it.”

Jessa nods rapidly, crying again. “Yes. Yes. Anything.”

I step forward again, crouching low between them. “You’re going to tell us every fucked-up thing he said. Every twisted plan. Every place he touched down since he left. If you lie once—”

“I won’t,” Matthew says quickly. “I promise. I want to burn it all down.”

“Good,” Wrenley says, turning her blade slowly in her hand. “So do we.”

This safehouse is remote. Reinforced doors, multiple exits, cameras linked to a private server only Elias can touch. We don’t take risks when it comes to loose ends.

Torque finishes running a security check while I lay it out for Matthew and Jessa. They sit stiffly on the old leather couch, hands clenched, eyes darting to the armed Serpents stationed around the room.