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That’s why, as one of the last things I did, I had another will drawn up in secret.

It gives you complete and total control over the pack and Harbor Mills.

You and your sister will need to get rid of Kyle.

If not, at best, he could hold up the succession for years in court. At worst, he’ll try to kill you.

The final will is hidden in a safe in the basement. The combination to which is on this letter.

Son, I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry for being a terrible father, I’m sorry for what I did to your mother, and I’m sorry for the way I turned my back on Dallas.

No amount of apologies will be able to turn back time.

All I can hope for is that you will fix the shit I’ve caused. If anyone can do it, I know you can.

It breaks my heart to know that I’m basically telling you that you’ll need to kill a man, but I don’t know any other way to get out of it.

I can’t take back what I forced Farrah to tell Avery, and I can’t take back the things I said to you.

All I can say is that I hope you don’t despise me too much.

Perhaps, if there really is a place beyond this life, we can meet there one day and finally have a real conversation.

Until then, know this. I love you. You are my son.

You, your sister, and your half - brother are the only three good things I’ve ever created in my miserable life, and I love all of you, even if I couldn’t show it while alive.

Goodbye, my boy.

Love, Dad

I read the letter three times, my hands shaking more and more.

I couldn’t fully comprehend what I was looking at.

It was in my father’s handwriting, but it sounded nothing like the abrupt, rude, and condescending man I’d known my entire life.

Instead, it sounded like a man at the end of his life who regretted everything.

Were these really my father’s words? They were. They sounded like him. It looked like, in the end, he had changed. He’d changed and confirmed what I most feared. There was only one way to deal with Kyle once and for all.

Still staring at the letter, I texted Farrah and Trent, telling them to get their asses to the alpha house.

While I waited, I rushed to the basement and found the safe.

It was tucked into the wall behind a toolbox.

Inside, I found a manilla envelope that contained the will naming me as heir to the Harbor Mills pack.

It meant nothing yet. Even if I sent it in and showed the people in charge that I was the alpha, Kyle would be enraged by what I’d done. It would put a target on my back. This piece of paper would settle things once and for all, but only after I’d dealt with Kyle.

Farrah and Trent arrived a few minutes after I returned to the living room.

“I hope this is good,” Trent said. “You better not have dragged us up here to chew us out.”

“Chew us out?” Farrah frowned at him before looking at me. “What the hell’s he talking about, Cole?”

Trent and I filled her in on what had happened the last few days, and Farrah listened intently. Her initial confusion gave way to anger and outrage. When I handed her the letter, her face became an emotionless mask. She read the letter twice before meeting my eyes.

She shook the letter. “Really great he decides to be a decent fucking person after he’s dead. I love that,” she said bitterly.

“I know, but he’s gone. Can’t really chew him out now,” I said.

“Well, we’ve got to do what he says here,” she said. “We can’t leave the pack in this psycho’s hands. We’ve got to take Kyle out. Take him out and somehow save Dallas, too. From what you’ve said, and what Dad says in this letter, he’s innocent. Kyle used him.”

“It’s what I already told you, Cole,” Trent said grimly.

“You’re right,” I said. “This won’t be easy. I don’t want to kill someone, but I don’t know what other choice we have.”

“Cops?” Farrah asked.

Trent snorted. “What are they going to do? All we have is your dad’s letter.

Kyle has Dallas, who is also your dad’s heir.

Best-case scenario, they don’t do anything and tell us to go to court.

In the meantime, Kyle sends someone to put a bullet in our heads one night.

” Trent shook his head. “No, he’s too sneaky for that shit.

He’s covered his tracks well enough that there is literally nothing the cops could do even if we go to them.

If we do go to them, then he’d consider that an escalation and come for us faster. It’s what I’d do.”

“Trent’s right. There’s only one way this ends,” I said.

“I’m on it,” Trent said. “I’ve got some old buddies from the service that owe me.

A few of them live pretty close. One’s in Nashville, another in Charlotte.

A couple in Atlanta, too. I’ll make some calls, see if I can cash in on those favors.

Can’t promise they’re all free to come help, but I’ll get someone here to assist.”

“He gave me a week to get out of town,” I said. “That’s not happening. I’m not going anywhere. I’m gonna bring hell to Kyle’s front door. We need to be ready for his retaliation. That’s part of why I want Avery and Ashton out of town.”

It was a gut-wrenching decision. I wasn’t a killer. I’d never taken a life. Yet, here I was, planning it.

If that was what it took to rescue the pack, to save my brother, my mate, and my child?

I’d do it in a fucking heartbeat.