Page 234 of Knot So Lucky
"Careful," I warn softly. "You're already facing felony charges. Adding slurs to your arrest record seems unwise."
I hand the recording device to Marco, who accepts it with shaking fingers.
"Give this to Ronan. He's waiting outside. He'll make sure it gets to the right people. Lawyers, the racing federation, everyone who needs to see evidence of Adrian's innocence."
"Ronan knew?" Marco looks dazed.
"I’m his twin sister after all. We talk even if we don’t show it outside of the garage," I confirm. "We've been building this case for weeks, gathering evidence, waiting for the right moment. I simply had to play along with my pack who were working very diligently to protect their “helpless” Omega. This—" I gesture to the chaos around us, "—was always the plan."
I walk toward Jenny then, who's being held firmly between two officers.
The Beta's eyes are wild, her carefully constructed mask completely shattered. She leans in close but says it loud and clear for everyone to hear.
"At least I don't have a dead Alpha."
The words are cruel.
Calculated.
Designed to cut deep.
It’s a shame she’s so slow in this cunning game of cat and mouse.
That's when I pull my phone back out and hit the speaker button.
"Yeah, you're right," I say clearly, my voice carrying through the garage. "Having a dead Alpha would absolutely suck."
"I mean," a male voice crackles through the phone speaker, rich and amused and very, very alive, "I'm certainly feeling grateful to not be dead right now."
The garage goes silent.
Completely, utterly silent.
I watch as the blood drains from Jenny's face, as her knees literally buckle, as the officers have to hold her upright to keep her from collapsing entirely.
"Though I have to say," Adrian's voice continues, "whoever planned my funeral is going to be severely disappointed. Wasting all that money on a cemetery plot when I'm perfectly alive and well, currently enjoying what I believe is checkmate in four moves against Ronan on this online chess stimulator. The man's brilliant with legal strategy, absolute shit at chess."
"You—" Jenny's voice is barely a whisper. "You're?—"
"Alive?" Adrian sounds far too cheerful. "Very much so. Though I appreciate your concern. Or rather, I would if it were actually concern and not thinly veiled hope that I'd died so my Omega would be vulnerable and easier to manipulate."
"The hospital called!" Jenny shrieks, her composure utterly demolished. "They said time of death—they SAID?—"
"They said what we paid them to say," Adrian interrupts smoothly. "Turns out when you're a billionaire with significant medical donations on your record, hospitals are remarkablycooperative about staging death notifications for legal sting operations."
I can hear the smile in his voice, can picture the way his eyes crinkle at the corners when he's particularly pleased with himself.
"The crash was real," Adrian continues, his tone hardening slightly. "The investigation into sabotage was real. But the convenient timing of my 'death' right before the biggest race of the season? That was bait. And you, Jenny, swallowed it whole."
Around the garage, people are starting to react. Marco lets out a whoop that's probably audible in the next county. Several techs are cheering, hugging each other. Richard has his hand pressed to his chest like he's trying to keep his heart from exploding.
But I only have eyes for Jenny, watch as the realization of how completely, utterly, devastatingly she's been played settles over her like a shroud. The manic expression spreading across her face would almost be funny if it weren't so genuinely unhinged—eyes too wide, mouth working soundlessly, every muscle tensed like she might shatter.
I lean in even closer, close enough that I can smell the acrid fear-sweat beneath Jenny's medicinal scent, close enough to see the exact moment understanding crystallizes into horror.
"Checkmate," I whisper.
Then I straighten, adjust my race suit, and walk toward the garage exit where my car waits—beautiful and deadly and ready to make history. Behind me, I can hear Jenny being dragged away, still screaming denials that no one believes, still insisting on her innocence even with her own confession recorded and witnessed.
