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When I hear them leave, I focus on how good they make me feel instead of the anxiety swarming like their presence was the only thing keeping it at bay.

Nothing’s going to go wrong, I reassure myself.Connor will fix the pipe, and we’ll make a plan for the rest. The others will get home safely tomorrow and all will be right with the world.

But the strange feeling in my gut never goes away.

Nate and Dez text they make it to the airport, then again when they board the plane. I get more than one selfie of Nate pouting and save them all before finally forcing myself out of bed and into the shower.

Thirty minutes and a text from Mark later, I show up to absolute chaos at Nymph. Industrial fans blowing across the soaked floors and the December chill doesn’t help. Water even swirls in the light fixtures, which is concerning. I’m not interested in being electrocuted.

Taking pictures, I carefully send a few to girls, updating them with the progress, then dial my alpha. The ringtone goes foreverand then his voice hits the line. “You’ve reached Connor. Sorry I can’t talk but leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

Beep.

“Hey, Con. Just wanted to let you know there’s water in the lights too. I’m going to shut the electricity off. We’ll need to fix the pipe early or we’ll be stuck doing it in the cold with flashlights. See you when you get here.”

After some careful poking around the space, I find the electric panel and shut the power off. The girls check in here and there, offering assistance, but I decline. My pack lead said he’d help me and I’m trusting that he will.

I’m on my hands and knees with too many shop towels around me when my phone goes off. Thinking it’s Connor, I nearly faceplant trying to reach it, only to see Sasha’s name.

Fuck. Things have been quiet on that side of things. Mother’s still texting, but Kai muting the message thread has done wonders for my mental health. I don’t even read them anymore. Sasha’s gotten some unhinged emails from the pack on my behalf, but I’ve asked her to delete them without forwarding. I’m not interested in anything they have to say.

With nearly two months to go before the case resumes, I’m hopeful my lawyer’s finally found the smoking gun we need to get rid of my exes once and for all.

Rushing outside to avoid all the noise, I shiver when cold air hits my wet knees and fingers. Mental note, bring a change of clothes next time I come. “Hey, Sasha.”

“Morning, Daphne. How goes it?”

“Terrible,” I laugh, filling her in on the shop. When I’m done, there’s a somber silence on the other end. “Still there?”

“Yeah, I was just thinking, maybe this is a good thing.” I don’t like how defeated she sounds. Sasha Knight doesn’tgive up. So why do I get the feeling she is now? “Look, there’s no easy wayto say this, but I think we need to consider settling with Pack Parker.”

For the second time today, I drop to my ass. I’m already soaked from head to toe, but the water feels like lead holding me to this place. This moment in time where everything went wrong. “You said we had a chance.”

“We did, but that was when I was hoping some of the other lawyers in town would help.”

“They haven’t?” I know she mentioned asking for consults, but that’s the last update I heard.

“They won’t even read the files. I’ve tried every lawyer in thestate,and no one will consult, either because they aren’t interested, or they were warned off.”

“What about Taylorson?”

“Still on extended leave with no service. I’ve tried to hire ten PIs to find him and not one of them will take us on, Daph.”

I’m not a mathematician, but it doesn’t seem normal that there’s notonepersonin the city who’ll help. Sounds a lot like someone with deeper pockets than me paid them to look the other way. Just like they did to everyone who could’ve helped me before.

Sasha sighs. “Without the documentation, you’re more likely to lose Nymph in its entirety unless we make some calculated moves before our next hearing. You can’t even sell the business to someone else or the judge would bepissed.”

“Why the timeline?”

“If we settle out of court, your exes will let you keep half. If you continue ‘dragging our good name,’ that’s a direct quote, they intend to take the three-quarters they’ve already asked for and sell it to a fast fashion brand.”

No.

I remember sitting at dinner one night three years ago, Corey, Jacob and Lance on their phones ignoring me as usual.A popular fast fashion brand stole my design, and their product was shitty and lacked the respectful design elements I’d worked so hard on for my consumers. It was a fucking travesty, and I spewed venom the entire meal.

Apparently, the one time I wish they’d ignored me was the moment they tuned in. Why am I not surprised?

Sasha outlines buying my exes out of the business, but that’s not really an option when I have to pay the contract back as soon as the dissolution is over. Knowing Pack Parker, they’ll make the price for Nymph high enough that I either can’t afford it or it’ll take every penny I have. All to turn the knife a bit more.