Page 34

"Probably both, honestly. Doesn't really matter which, considering the outcome works entirely in our favor either way." I set the transcript down, working through the full implications. "If he's destroying every record connecting his organization to this operation, that includes anything that might have documented what his teams actually witnessed up here. Whatever confirmation they thought they had, whatever suspicion still lingers about what happened during the storm confrontation, he's about to erase all of it himself."

"Cleaning up his own mess accidentally cleans up ours too."

"Exactly." I feel something loosen in my chest that's been wound tight since the first tire tracks appeared near Yvonne's cabin, weeks and what feels like an entire lifetime ago. "This is it. Whatever Cross's people saw, whatever they suspected, none of it survives contact with an organization actively trying to erase its own liability. He's not walking away because he's convinced there's nothing supernatural here. He's walking away because acknowledging what happened here would destroy him personally and professionally."

Zoey's quiet for a while, processing something more complicated than simple relief. "Simon's still going to face consequences for this, right? For selling my location to begin with?"

"More than consequences. This transcript alone probably ties him directly to a criminal conspiracy that goes well beyond simple stalking charges. Financial records, communications, the whole paper trail Cross is trying to destroy still exists somewhere, even if his organization manages to scrub their own copies." I meet her eyes, certain about this much at least. "He's not walking away from this. Whatever protection Cross's organization might try to arrange for themselves, Simon's exposure is going to be far harder to erase completely."

"Good." The word carries real weight, satisfaction underneath the simple syllable. "He spent months destroying my sense of safety, first through the attack itself, then by selling information that put both of us in danger for weeks. I don't want him quietly disappearing into some plea deal while the people who actually orchestrated using me as bait walk away completely clean."

"I don't think that happens, based on what this transcript suggests. Cross is scrambling to protect his organization, not Simon specifically. If anything, Simon becomes exactly the kind of loose end that gets fully exposed once Cross's people finish distancing themselves from him."

We spend the rest of the morning reviewing what the pack's intelligence has gathered, piecing together the full scope of what's actually happened over these past weeks. By afternoon, scouts confirm Cross's remaining presence near the mountain has vanished entirely, vehicles gone, staging area abandoned, every trace of surveillance equipment pulled from the territory in what reads like hurried, thorough retreat rather than tactical withdrawal.

Everett calls the council together one final time that evening, the mood entirely different from every previous gathering since this crisis began. "Scouts confirm complete withdrawal. No indication of any continued presence, surveillance, or investigation activity anywhere near pack territory." His gaze moves around the room, settling on the transcript Rebecca's placed at the center of the table. "Combined with what we've learned about Cross's internal reaction to this operation's exposure, I believe we can consider this threat genuinely resolved."

The council responds with something I haven't seen in weeks, open relief instead of careful vigilance, pack members who've spent this entire crisis braced for danger finally allowing themselves to feel something like safety again. Grady, of all people, is the first to speak the words nobody's quite dared say out loud yet.

"It's actually over."

"It's over," Everett confirms, something like genuine warmth breaking through his usual measured authority. "This pack survived a threat that could have ended us, and did so without sacrificing the secrecy that's protected us for generations. That's not a small accomplishment. That's generations of careful survival, validated tonight."

I find Zoey afterward, standing near the den's entrance watching the last light fade over ridgelines that no longer carry the constant weight of surveillance and threat. She turns as I approach, something soft and disbelieving in her expression.

"It's really over," she says, like she's still working to believe it herself.

"It's really over." I pull her close, the relief of it settling slow and complete through every part of me that's stayed braced for danger since the first tire tracks appeared near her cabin. "Whatever comes next, we get to build it without Cross, without Simon, without this constant threat hanging over every choice we make."

"What comes next, then? Really, now that it's actually true instead of just something we've been hoping for."

I look out at the mountain settling into peaceful evening quiet, autumn nearly finished now, winter's first cold edge already creeping into the air each night. "Whatever we want. A life together, permanently, built on choices instead of survival. I think that's the first time I've been able to say that and actually mean it in seventeen years."

She leans into me, and we stand there together watching the last light fade completely, the danger finally, genuinely behind us, a future entirely our own finally spreading open ahead.

33

ZOEY

Ava calls three days later, the first real conversation we've had in weeks that isn't just brief check-ins confirming I'm still safe. I take the call on the landline at Yvonne's, Kellan sitting close enough that I can feel his steady presence even through a conversation happening entirely in my old world.

"They arrested him again," Ava says without preamble, voice tight with something between relief and disbelief. "Simon. Additional charges, conspiracy, wire fraud, accessory to something the DA's office won't fully detail yet. His original stalking sentence just became the least of his problems."

"What happened?"

"I don't know all the details, honestly. Someone leaked financial records to federal investigators, proof he'd been selling information about you to some private organization for months. It's bigger than anything anyone initially charged him with." Ava's voice carries genuine confusion underneath the relief. "Zoey, where have you even been? The label's been asking questions I can't answer, and now suddenly there's this massive new case breaking, and I don't understand any of it."

I glance at Kellan, weighing exactly how much of the truth I'm actually able to share. "I've been somewhere safe, Ava. I can't explain everything right now, but I promise you Simon's arrest connects to exactly why I needed to disappear so completely."

"Are you okay? Really okay, not just performing okay for my benefit?"

The question lands somewhere honest, and I let myself actually consider it before answering. "I'm better than okay, actually. I've found something out here I didn't know I was looking for." I glance at Kellan again, steady beside me through this entire complicated conversation. "I need to tell you something, and I need you to actually hear it instead of immediately trying to manage the fallout."

"Okay. I'm listening."

"I'm not coming back. Not to touring, not to the pace of the career we've built together, not to any version of the life I was living before the attack. I've found somewhere I actually want to be, someone I actually want to build a life with. I'm choosing that over everything else."

"You're serious."