Isolde’s POV
The pounding on my apartment door started at six in the morning, and I knew exactly who it was before the first shouted threat echoed through the thin walls.
"Isolde Blackwood! We know you're in there!"
*Shit.* I rolled out of bed, my heart hammering against my ribs. Through the peephole, I could see three men in expensive suits – the kind that screamed money and violence in equal measure. Dad's creditors had found me again.
"Open the door, sweetheart. We just want to chat about your daddy's little problem."
My wolf, Lyra, stirred restlessly beneath my skin. *Let me handle this,* she growled. *I'll show them what happens when they threaten a Blackwood.*
*There are too many of them,* I whispered back. *We don't stand a chance.*
"Five seconds, then we're coming in!"
I grabbed my jacket and phone, then slipped out onto the fire escape. The metal was freezing against my bare feet. Three stories down, I dropped into the alley behind my building. My enhanced hearing picked up the sound of my front door splintering.
Twenty minutes later, I was standing outside what used to be our family estate. The Blackwood mansion looked like a shadow of its former self – half the windows boarded up, the once-pristine gardens overgrown with weeds.
Before going in, I tried calling Kieran one more time. His phone went straight to an automated message: "The number you have dialed is temporarily out of service."
I found Dad in what used to be his study, surrounded by empty bottles and stacks of papers. When I walked in, he looked up, and I barely recognized the man who'd once commanded respect in every boardroom in the city. His eyes were bloodshot, his face unshaven, and he reeked of desperation.
"Isolde." His voice was hoarse, heartbreaking. "What are you doing here? Baby, you shouldn't be here—"
"Don't call me baby." My voice was sharper than a blade. "Leone's men just trashed my apartment."
His face went pale instantly. "Did they... did they hurt you?"
"Not yet." I looked at his trembling hands, feeling a complex mix of emotions surge through me. This man had once been my hero, the one I thought could protect me from everything the world could throw at me. Now he couldn't even protect himself. "But I don't think that's going to last much longer. Numbers, Dad. I need to know exactly what we're facing. Don't lie to me this time."
He closed his eyes as if speaking the numbers would make everything real. "Marcus Leone... two million."
I felt my chest tighten. Two million was already astronomical, but the expression on his face told me there was worse coming.
"What else?" My voice was barely a whisper.
"Silver Moon Group..." He opened his eyes to look at me, tears beginning to form. "Twenty million."
The number hit me like lightning. My knees went weak, and I had to grab the doorframe to stay upright. The room started spinning, and I struggled to breathe.
"Twenty-two million." I repeated the number as if saying it enough times would make it smaller. "Dad, how could you... how could you..."
"I know it sounds terrible—"
"Terrible?" My voice suddenly exploded. "Terrible? Dad, this isn't just terrible! This is... this is impossible to pay back! We lost everything – the house, the company, everything!"
"I know, I know!" He covered his face with his hands. "But I found a solution. Isolde, I swear, I found a way to get us out of all this."
I felt Lyra churning with rage inside me. Whatever "solution" he'd found, I already had a bad feeling about it.
"What solution?"
He took a deep breath as if preparing himself for what he was about to say. "Silver Moon Group has this program. It's called the Moon Alliance Program, and they're recruiting exceptional young women. It's a very prestigious opportunity, Isolde. The compensation... the compensation is enough to cover all the debt."
Nausea rose in my stomach. "What kind of program?"
"Legitimate!" he said quickly, seeming to read the suspicion in my eyes. "High-level management positions with substantial signing bonuses. Baby, you'd be perfect for it. You're smart, beautiful, you have the best education..."
"And desperate enough to do whatever you need me to do." My voice was so cold it felt foreign even to myself.
"It's not like that!" He stood up from his chair, stumbling toward me. "Isolde, you have to trust me. This is a real opportunity. Even Sybilla has already been selected. This could be a fresh start for both of you—"
I felt my blood turn to ice. "Wait. What did you just say? Does she know?" Each word shot from my mouth like a bullet. "Does she know you've signed us both up for this so-called Moon Alliance Program?"
His silence told me everything.
"You bastard." The words came out slowly and clearly. "You didn't even tell one of us."
"Isolde, please let me explain—"
"Explain what?" I took a step toward him, and he actually backed away. "Explain how you betrayed both your daughters? Explain how you decided our lives mattered less than your gambling debts?"
"I had no choice!" he shouted desperately. "They'll kill me! Isolde, they'll actually kill me!"
"So you decided to give them us instead?"
"It's not like that! This is a good opportunity, I swear—"
"How much?" I cut him off.
His face completely crumpled, and tears started streaming down his cheeks. "Eleven million... eleven million each."
I felt the world shake beneath my feet. Eleven million dollars. He'd priced me and Sybilla at eleven million dollars each.
"Tomorrow morning at eight." His voice was so broken it was barely audible. "A car will come for both of you. Isolde, I had no choice. If I don't pay, they won't just kill me. They'll come for you two, they'll hurt you. At least this way, at least you'll be safe—"
"Safe?" My voice was trembling, whether from anger or grief I couldn't tell. "You think selling us to some mysterious program will keep us safe?"
I stared at this man who had once been my father, feeling the last shred of hope in my heart die. "You know what, Dad? I used to worship you. I thought you were the strongest, smartest man in the world."
"Isolde—"
"Now I look at you and all I see is a coward. A coward who would rather sell his daughters than face the consequences of his own mistakes."
His tears flowed harder, but I didn't care anymore. My heart had gone completely numb.
"Tomorrow at eight, right?" I turned toward the door. "I'll be there. Not because I want to, but because if I don't go, you'll die."
Now all I wanted was to find somewhere to hide and cry.
But I didn't have time to cry. I had less than twenty-four hours to find Kieran and Sybilla, and figure out how to deal with whatever was coming.
