My Alpha Husband Forgot I Was The Blackridge Reaper Chapter 08
He Tries to Ruin My Name
Ivy runs crying to Adrian.
Three days later, Adrian finally makes his move.
He comes to my study with two males.
One is the editor-in-chief of the Blackridge Gazette.
The other sits on the Business Council.
Adrian does not waste time.
“Everyone in Blackridge is talking about how you humiliated Ivy in front of your guests.”
He places a draft article on my desk.
“The Alpha’s daughter is jealous, cruel, and threatened by a younger female. If that story makes the paper, what do you think it will do to your father’s reputation?”
He is threatening me with the press.
Using my father’s name to force me back into line.
I finish reading the article and smile.
“Print it.”
All three males freeze.
I slide the pages back across my desk.
“Put it on the front page. Make sure the headline is large.”
Adrian’s smile disappears.
I rise and walk toward him.
“Before you publish it, let me remind you of something.”
I stop directly in front of him.
“Hale Bank holds the money of more than half the businesses in Blackridge.”
“And more than half of those businesses survive on contracts issued by the Alpha estate.”
The color drains from Adrian’s face.
That afternoon, two things happen at the same time.
First, the Halston Trust issues a formal notice.
Effective immediately, we are ending all business with Hale Bank.
Every Halston account will be closed, and every dollar will be withdrawn within three days.
The moment the notice becomes public, Blackridge’s business owners understand the warning.
If the Alpha’s own daughter no longer trusts Hale Bank, why should they?
By sunrise the next morning, a line forms outside the bank.
Every wolf in it wants their money back.
The line stretches from one end of the street to the other.
Second, the Blackridge Procurement Office makes an announcement.
All contracts for winter uniforms, food, and medical supplies will be reopened for public bidding.
Every Hale-owned company is suspended from bidding because of irregular accounts.
I secured that decision from my father earlier that morning.
I took the ledgers to Alpha Marcus and showed him every transfer Adrian had made.
My father read every page.
Then he looked up at me.
“Do it by the book.”
That is all the permission I need.
In three days, half the money held by Hale Bank is gone.
Richard Hale collapses and coughs up blood.
His driver brings him to the Alpha estate before midnight to beg for an audience.
The gates never open.
My father’s head guard delivers one message.
“Miss Halston says you had your chance to stop them. Now it’s too late.”
Richard’s car remains outside for an hour.
Then his driver takes him home.
As for the article in the Blackridge Gazette—it never appears.
I hear that the editor burned the draft in his fireplace that same night.
Afterward, he called in sick for three days and refused to leave his house.
Adrian has not returned to my estate.
Emma tells me he has locked himself inside the Hale residence with his father and their advisers.
They have been talking behind closed doors for three days.
“Miss Halston, do you think Mr. Hale will do something desperate?”
I look out the window toward the distant lights of the Hale estate.
“Yes.”
Emma’s scent turns anxious.
“Then what should we do?”
“Wait.”
I watch the darkness beyond the glass.
“That is exactly what I want him to do.”
Knox’s men are already watching every entrance to the Hale estate.
The moment Adrian makes his move, I will know.