Claimed after divorce by my brother’s best friend

CH 8 - Aria

ARIA POV

The car felt too small for the thoughts in my head.

I drove with both hands tight on the wheel, posture straight, eyes forward. I wasn’t speeding. Speed draws attention. Speed gets remembered. I moved with the kind of precision that comes when panic has been burned out of you, leaving only calculation behind.

The i********: post replayed behind my eyes like an afterimage. Jasper’s smile. Chloe’s hand on his arm. The way he leaned toward her without even realizing he was doing it.

Let the world see, I thought again.

Let them all see.

The clock on the dashboard blinked forward. Fifteen minutes until pickup. Enough time. Barely.

Kara was quiet inside me. Not gone. Watching. Coiled.

‘We move clean,’ she said. ‘Just another normal, boring day.’

“I know,” I whispered, ready to do the only thing I could to get my kids out of this rotten pack.

Trees blurred out the window and my mind was already spinning, thinking about the hotel room I’d booked under my real name in Portland.

Martha had planned a press conference for tomorrow morning. We were going public with the divorce. A real legal battle for the world to see. Humans would tear Jasper in shreds.

Suddenly, my phone rang.

Jasper.

Of course.

I didn’t answer immediately. Let it ring once more. Twice. Just enough to set the tone. Then I picked up, voice already neutral. I couldn’t blow everything now. I needed my nerves working. And I prayed to the Goddess he wouldn’t have found the divorce papers just yet. I needed five more minutes.

“Hello,” I said flatly, unable to act like his mistress. And that, if possible, bothered me. She was better than me at something. I knew I was being petty, but still… I hated that she was better.

Jasper didn’t even pretend to ask how I was or what I was doing. Didn’t even pretend to care about me. He went straight to the point.

“Do you know what kind of mess you’ve put me in?” he snapped.

What kind of mess *I* put him in? That would have been hilarious if not for the situation.

I pictured him pacing his office. Shirt sleeves rolled up. Jaw tight. The posture he used when he wanted to feel like a man in control while everything slipped through his fingers.

“Good afternoon to you too,” I said.

“This isn’t a joke, Aria,” he said. “Alaric f*****g Biltmore just tanked the deal. No warning. No counter. He pulled out and took half the backing with him. Greenwood Industries are not our partners anymore.”

I said nothing. Didn’t tell him he could drop the act and call Alaric by his real title. Alaric Biltmore, alpha of Greenwood Pack. One of the three packs in Oregon. Probably the most powerful on the West Coast. Plus, he was my brother’s best friend since… well, forever.

I let him talk.

“He’s always been a stubborn asshole,” Jasper continued, voice rising. “I don’t know what his problem is, but this—this is personal.”

Kara stirred.

Not angry.

Offended.

‘He should mind his tone,’ she warned.

I swallowed it down.

“That deal mattered,” Jasper said. “You know it did. And now Chloe’s a wreck, the board is panicking, and I’m left cleaning up—and you…!”

“You’re blaming me?” I asked.

“Who else?” he scoffed. “You and your brand-new food supplement. *It would help people, Jasper. It would sell tons, Jasper.* It’s not a niche, Jasper. Clearly Greenwood Industries doesn’t think like you. I’ve been a fool to follow your ideas, your damn gut. Look at us now! We can do nothing without his money!” he thundered.

I almost laughed.

“Funny,” I said. “I didn’t know you were still thinking we are a thing.”

Silence on the line. Just long enough to register.

“Don’t start,” he said. “This isn’t about whatever you’re feeling.”

There it was.

Dismissal, wrapped in irritation.

“Chloe was right,” Jasper went on. “She told me you would have blamed her for this. And frankly, now I’m inclined to agree. I didn’t know this side of you, Aria.”

Kara surged hard enough to steal the breath from my lungs.

Heat flared behind my ribs. Sharp. Territorial.

‘We didn’t know this side of him either,’ she said. ‘Spineless, narcissistic asshole.’

“Is Chloe advising you on business now?” I asked.

“She’s trying to help,” he snapped. “Unlike you, disappearing whenever things get complicated.”

I tightened my grip on the wheel.

“You mean like when your son almost died?” I said quietly.

He exhaled hard.

“Don’t twist this,” he said. “That was an accident.”

“And whose responsibility was it?” I asked.

“You left,” he shot back. “You walked out.”

I smiled.

Cold.

“That’s interesting,” I said. “Because from where I’m sitting, I stayed. I stayed when it was hard. I stayed when your industry was bleeding money. I stayed when you couldn’t look your own children in the eye.”

“Don’t,” he warned. “Don’t do this.”

“Why not?” I asked. “Because Chloe’s having a hard time already?”

He paused.

“Yes,” he said. “Actually. She is.”

There it was.

The line drawn.

“Right,” I said. “Of course she is.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Jasper added. “This is business. That product launch—your idea—will be our downfall. You need to fix this.”

Kara snarled.

Low. Deep.

‘Let me chew his ass. I will not mark his neck, but I’m ready to mark his ass.’

“My idea,” I repeated, trying not to laugh at my wolf’s unhinged rant.

“Yes,” he said. “And now it’s costing us.”

I let that settle.

He had no idea.

No idea that the bags were already in the car. No idea that the papers were signed, sealed, waiting. No idea that every word he spoke was just confirming what I already knew.

“I don’t have time for this,” I said.

“You don’t have time?” he barked. “You’re the one who started this mess—”

There was a sound then.

Paper.

The soft scrape of something being moved on a desk.

Jasper went quiet.

I could picture it perfectly. Him sitting down. Running a hand through his hair. Reaching for a file.

Then—

“What the hell is this?”

I checked the rearview mirror. Clear.

Here we go.

I could already see the school gates, hear the bell ring.

“Aria,” he said slowly. “Why are there divorce papers on my desk?”

There it was.

The moment.

The line crossed.

I took a breath.

Not to steady myself.

To sharpen.

“I was wondering when you’d find those,” I said.

“You can’t be serious,” he said. “This is insane.”

“No,” I replied. “This is overdue.”

“This is jealousy,” he snapped. “You’re reacting because things didn’t go your way.”

“I’m reacting because our son was hospitalized,” I said flatly. “Because you chose your fated mate over your children. Because you turned our marriage into a headline.”

“You’re overreacting,” he said. “Think about the kids.”

I laughed then.

A short, humorless sound.

“Oh, I am,” I said. “That’s the difference between us.”

“Aria,” he said, voice shifting. Softer now. “You don’t want to do this. Not like this.”

“I already have,” I replied.

There was movement on the line. His chair scraping back. Footsteps.

“Where are you?” he demanded.

“Out,” I said.

“With who?”

“Does it matter?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said sharply. “It does.”

I pulled into the school parking lot.

“Talk to my lawyer,” I said.

“Aria—”

I hung up.

My hands were steady as I put the car in park.

The school doors opened.

Ella came out first, backpack bouncing, eyes scanning. When she saw me, her face lit up like the world had snapped back into place.

Owen followed, slower, but smiling.

I got out of the car.

The moment they reached me, something inside my chest loosened.

I knelt, arms around both of them.

“We’re going,” I said softly into their hair. “Just like I promised.”

Ella nodded. Owen wrapped his arms around my neck.

“Okay,” he said.

I buckled them into the backseat.

As I pulled out of the parking lot, my phone buzzed again.

Jasper.

I turned it face down.

The pack gates were just two minutes away.

I could do it. I had to do it.

I pressed harder on the gas pedal and prayed to every god that my self-centered, almost ex-husband wouldn’t remember his kids finished school at three sharp on Mondays.