Chapter 256 Sophia has been blocked
Author’s POV
Derek had snatched it mid-sentence, his wolf reflexes faster than her human ones.
"Derek!" Sophie lunged for it but he held it out of reach, eyes locked on the road ahead, voice dropping to something dangerous.
"Your brother committed fraud, Sophie. Fraud. Do you understand what that means?"
"I understand that woman is trying to destroy our family—"
"Your brother destroyed his own life!" Derek’s control finally snapped. The car swerved slightly before he corrected, pulling over to the shoulder with a screech of tires.
He turned to face her fully, and Sophie saw something in his eyes she’d never seen before.
Fear.
"Listen to me," Derek said, voice low and urgent. "If you push this, if you drag lawyers into it, Aria doesn’t just defend herself. She goes nuclear. She reports the fake marriage. The fake documents. Everything."
"Ethan would never—"
"Ethan’s facing prison time if she does." Derek’s words came out hard, each one landing like a stone.
"The pack loses their Alpha. Your father, already in the hospital from stress, gets hit with another scandal. Your grandmother watches her legacy crumble. And you?"
He leaned closer. "You lose everything tied to the Holt name. Our business connections, our contracts, our reputation—all of it tied to your family’s status."
Sophie’s mouth opened, then closed.
"So no," Derek continued, voice turning to steel. "You’re not tracking her. You’re not suing her. You’re not doing anything except letting this die."
"I can’t just—"
"You can. You will." He handed back her phone, movements deliberate. "Because if this blows up, it’s not just Ethan who suffers. It’s both of us."
Sophie stared at the phone in her hands, fury and helplessness warring in her chest.
Her wolf wanted to fight, to claw, to force Aria back into the corner where she belonged.
But Derek’s words echoed in her head. Prison. Scandal. Losing everything.
"There has to be something—"
"There is." Derek’s expression shifted, calculating now. "Friday. The International Investment Summit downtown."
Sophie blinked. "What?"
"My company got backdoor access to the VIP networking event. Reserved seating, direct access to the major investors and pack leaders attending."
He pulled back onto the road, voice turning thoughtful. "I was planning to go alone, but if your family needs connections, needs to rebuild their image after your father’s arrest..."
Understanding dawned slowly.
Sophie straightened, her business mind kicking in past the rage. "You can get us in?"
"I can get your grandmother in. Maybe your mother." Derek glanced at her. "But you have to promise me—no more going after Aria. Not now. Not when your family’s this vulnerable."
Every instinct screamed to refuse.
But Sophie forced herself to think past the anger.
The summit was huge. Politicians, corporate leaders, Alphas from visiting packs—all gathered in one place. If the Holts could make the right impression, secure new investments, new alliances...
They could rebuild. Become strong enough that Aria’s revenge wouldn’t matter anymore.
"Fine," Sophie bit out. "But this isn’t over."
Derek said nothing, just kept driving.
Sophie stared out the window, fingers drumming against her thigh.
Then another thought struck her.
Clara.
Clara was still technically pack. Still bound by those responsibilities, those obligations that came with being mated to an Alpha.
And right now, Ethan was home alone, injured, probably falling apart.
Sophie grabbed her phone again, pulling up Clara’s number.
Derek noticed. "Sophie—"
"I’m not calling Aria." Her tone was clipped. "I’m calling my sister-in-law."
The phone rang three times before Clara picked up.
"Sophie?" Clara’s voice was cautious, wary. "Is everything okay? How’s Ethan—"
"Where are you?" Sophie didn’t bother with pleasantries.
A pause. "I’m... out of town. Why?"
"Your mate got beaten bloody last night. He’s home alone right now, hurt, can barely walk—and you’re out of town?" Sophie let ice creep into her words. "What kind of Luna abandons her Alpha when he needs her?"
"I didn’t abandon—look, I had this conference scheduled for months—"
"I don’t care what you had scheduled." Sophie’s wolf pushed into her voice, making it resonate with authority. "You get back here. Tonight. Take care of your responsibilities."
"Sophie, I can’t just leave—"
"You can. You will." Sophie used the same tone Derek had used on her minutes ago, and hated how effective it was.
"Unless you want the whole pack knowing their Luna couldn’t be bothered to show up when their Alpha was hospitalized."
Another pause, longer this time.
When Clara spoke again, her voice had changed. Gone flat and cold.
"I’m at a conference in Capital. It runs through Friday."
"Then you leave early—"
"No." The word came out firm, final. "I’ve got meetings scheduled, presentations to give. I’m not dropping everything because Ethan got into a bar fight."
Sophie’s jaw dropped. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me." Clara’s tone stayed icy calm. "I’m sorry he’s hurt. I really am. But I have a career, Sophie. Obligations that don’t revolve around pack politics or your family’s drama."
"This isn’t drama, this is your mate—"
"My mate who’s been lying to me for years?" Clara’s voice finally showed emotion—bitter, caustic anger. "My mate who let me believe we were building something real while he pined after his fake wife? That mate?"
"Clara—"
"I’ll be back Friday. He’ll survive until then."
The line went dead.
Sophie stared at her phone, fury boiling up fresh and hot.
She hit redial immediately.
Straight to voicemail.
She tried again. Same result.
"That bitch blocked me too!" Sophie threw her phone into her lap, hands shaking.
Derek said nothing, eyes still on the road.
But Sophie caught the tiny muscle ticking in his jaw. The way his hands tightened on the wheel.
He was thinking the same thing she was.
The Holt family was falling apart. Crumbling from the inside while everyone who should’ve been loyal was jumping ship.
Sophie closed her eyes, forcing herself to breathe.
Fine. Clara wanted to play the career woman? Let her.
Friday’s summit would change everything. The Holts would come back stronger, more connected, more powerful than before.
And when that happened?
Sophie would remember exactly who stood by them.
And who didn’t.
---
Meanwhile, six hundred miles away in Capital, Clara stood in the empty conference room hallway, phone still clutched in her hand.
Her assistant poked her head out from the main room. "Ms. Voss? We’re about to resume. Are you ready?"
Clara’s expression smoothed into professional calm. She slipped the phone into her blazer pocket, every trace of emotion vanishing from her face.
"Absolutely. Let’s continue."
She walked back into the room where fifteen investors sat waiting, her heels clicking sharp and confident against the marble floor.