Page 35 of Stormhold

Timothy Walters shook his head. “I am. The White Hand wanted eyes on Stormhold Tech without raising flags about my intentions. So he sent me to live with Ron, knowing one day, I’d be in the perfect position to help him.”

“So you’re willing to give it all up in the name of revenge?”

“I want nothing to do with the White Hand after he killed my brother,” Timothy Walters scathed, showing his teeth. “After he betrayed me first.”

“How will I know that you won’t betray me in an instant, like you’re willing to betray Killian for the sake of your brother?” Arkane questioned in a bristling, cold tone that made Timothy Walters stiffen.

“I wo-wouldn’t dare,” he promised with a slight tremble. “Trust me, Mr. Stormhold.”

Arkane remained quiet, not saying a word. It was perfectly clear that he would never trust an outsider. He said so himself.

“It’s okay even if you don’t, but please allow me a way to show my faith,” he added when Arkane still didn’t say anything.

Arkane slowly tilted his head to the side. “And what would that be?”

“The White Hand plans to use the Invictus to destroy the city council building and pin it on you.”

Arkane paused for a moment. It looked like this was news to him. “And how does he plan to do that?” he asked slowly.

“I’m to retrieve the package from Marcus and switch it with the White Hand’s person on the Narrow Four Cross lane, and he’s to bring it to the White Hand tonight. They have plans to convene at the Rose Ellen Hotel. My brother told me he often goes there to meet someone important and always takes special precautions. Not even the high Covent members know about it. All I know is that it’s always in room 404 at midnight. Rumors say that it’s someone close to you.”

Could it be the traitor? Gauging from Arkane’s reaction, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. How close was this traitor to Arkane?

If it were me, I wouldn’t trust a word out of his mouth, and Arkane, being a lot smarter than me, probably didn’t either.

“If I find out you’re speaking lies, better know there’s no escaping me, no matter where you hide, Walters. I will find you,” Arkane warned in a casual tone, but the undertones of his warning were clear.

“Of course, Mr. Stormhold. But like I said, I wouldn’t dare go against you, sir. I can’t stay here for long. The Covent will get suspicious if I don’t keep up with my schedule,” he said hurriedly. “But you’ll see after tonight. You’ll have no doubt about my intentions. I must go now. Time is of the essence,” Timothy Walters announced, sliding us a timid smile before scurrying out of the room like some ticking time bomb was waiting to explode.

The moment he left, Arkane dropped his hands from me and glared like I had committed the gravest mistake of my life.

I sighed internally. I knew this was going to be a long day.

CHAPTER 13

ARKANE

Fifteen minutes ago

“Sir, a moment.” Mikhail interrupted my call with Senator Froyd. The man had been filling my ear with political jargon for the past seventeen minutes, and I had no choice but to listen because it was part of my job.

“Know everything and see everything around you, even if it doesn’t make sense. The East is your responsibility,” my father drilled that into my head more times than I could count. The first time my father said that, I think I was about five, only for him to tell me a hundred more times till I got sick of hearing it. Sometimes I wanted to self-implode from all that I knew and live a day just for myself.

One look at Mikhail’s face and I could tell it was important.

“Edward, I hate to cut this short,” I lied as the man’s boastful voice stopped on the other end of the line. “I’ll get to you soon,” I said and hung up before he could say another word.

“It better be important,” I said, pressing a finger between my brows. I wasn’t sure when was the last time I slept. I had spent the past two days following one failed lead after another, while still keeping an eye on my territory. If I turned a blind eye at times like this, all the political leaders would jump on a wagon to run things their way, bringing anything but peace.

Aside from that, all I knew was that Harvey Walters was buried six feet under the ground, and the city seemed quiet. So unusually quiet that it was bothering me, and it only seemed to be getting more complicated the deeper I got.

“Ms. Esteal is meeting with Timothy Walters in the Twins Codex right this moment.”

“What?” I asked, already on my feet. It was the last thing I expected to come out of this mouth. “How the hell did that happen?” I gritted out.

This could go terribly wrong, and I didn’t want more blood stained on my hand. I told her again and again to only watch from a distance and not interfere. If Timothy Walters figured out that she was Lylah Queen’s daughter, it would be hell for both her and me.

“He cleverly evaded our men by switching cars,” Mikhail answered as we both rushed outside. “But I had a separate team tail him. It was actually Ms. Esteal who figured it out.”