Page 118 of Unclaimed Bonds

Gentle hands rest on my shoulders. “You were protecting me. Weren’t you?” my mother asks.

“I can assure you, it was purely selfish.”

She scoffs. “I know a liar when I see one.” She leans in closer. “It’s my superpower. Remember?”

My hands tremble, so I grip the windowsill tighter. “I was trying to tell her the truth. I don’t want any more secrets lingering between us, but she…” I pause, swallowing the surge of emotion. “She gave me the businesses we built together.” I sniff. Her handing me those documents felt like a piece of my heart was ripped out. It was such a final gesture, one for which I wasn’t prepared. She ended everything about us. She submitted to my hurt and my rage and didn’t even fight back. She is truly done with me.

“She signed over the hotel business to you?” My mother asks. I nod in response not trusting the steadiness of my voice. She releases my shoulder and turns to my father. “Nathan?”

“Just the hotel business?” he asks.

“No. All of them—the clubs and restaurants. She signed over everything to me.”

“Where are the documents?” my mother inquires.

I shrug. I threw them on her bed, hoping she would take them back. She could have taken them with her, destroyed them, I hope. “I told her to sell them.”

My mother leaves my room and returns with the envelope. “Nathan, she left everything to Luke and the twins.”

“What?” we gasp in unison. I turn to face my parents.

“It’s all right here. All her businesses with the boys, she gave it all to them!”

My father grabs the papers and studies them. “Luke, this is more than your joint business. She left you and the twins her personal businesses.”

What the hell is she doing?

My mother cries, “Nathan, she’s going after the Resistance.”

Chapter 56

Awakening The Alpha Queen

JESSICA

TWO WEEKS AGO:

March 17, 2025: 5:45 p.m.

Whitemore Plantation

When Joe and Xavier exit the car, they retrieve several bags from the back of the SUV. “What’s all of this?” I ask Joe.

“Sixes will make arrangements to have the rest of your things delivered.” I look around at the bags. Those are not mine.

“Whose bags are these?”

Xavier continues to unload the car. “Us,” he answers, nonchalant.

I turn from Joe to Xavier and back again. “Your bags?”

Xavier nods.

“I don’t understand.”

“We no longer work for the royal family,” Joe explains briefly.

“No. You can’t do that. They need you. You’ve been there for years.”