99 Times for Alpha’s Bestie novel Chapter 67

BREANNE POV

“I know!” I blurted out, my voice cracking with desperation. “I just -After three years being mated, that precious pup vanished in an instant… I wanted so badly for you to have another that I took desperate measures!”

I clawed at his hand, burrowing into his chest like a scared kitten. The way he liked me to.

“Liam, I’ll never do it again! I’ll c-consult you about everything… P-Please forgive me, okay?”

My trembling form against him, I could already tell, was cracking through his ironclad resistance finally.

A heavy sigh escaped him. “Breanne, do you realize how monumentally stupid this was? You wounded Claire, and you ripped out my heart when I realized that you desecrated my pup’s remains. We’ll let the past lie, but from today onward, we can’t toe that line ever again.”

Liam shoved me away and rose to his feet.

“Rest well. I need to go and take care of things. The pack is currently drowning in problems, and it stems from your actions. I’ll visit when I can.”

As his retreating back disappeared through the doorway, I unleashed a scream.

Pillows flew. The thermos Liam left behind exploded against the wall. My iPad shattered on the marble floor, my private hospital room now a warzone of my fury.

Though He had bailed me out, thrown money at my problems, and promised to keep cleaning up my messes, the best friend who’d once spoiled me rotten was gone forever.

I refused to lose my control over Liam; I’ve spent too many years conditioning his responses to please only me. I wouldn’t allow that to slip now.

Gritting my teeth, I grabbed my phone, fingers trembling as I frantically tapped at the trending page.

I had staged such an Oscar-worthy performance at the airport, smashing my head until blood streamed down my face, playing the ultimate victim.

I was expecting to see Claire’s name dragged through the mud by thousands.

Yet the trending page was a ghost town, not a ripple in sight.

Rubbing my eyes in disbelief, I manually searched #Breanne Telder Airport, #ClaireReese, only to hit a dead end. Not a single hashtag, not one viral clip. I know the cameras were there, I made sure they were positioned where I needed them to be. Yet, it was as if my airport meltdown had been scrubbed from existence.

No f*****g way!

I had shelled out a king’s ransom to the most cutthroat paparazzi crew, demanding they blow this up like the infamous “bed scandal”. How dare those leeches take my cash and vanish like smoke?

Rage detonated in my skull. I dialled the paparazzi boss’s number into the phone, spitting into it like a viper.

“You slimy bastard! You took the money but delivered jackshit! Where’s my goddamn airport footage? That was supposed to blow up the internet!”

“Save the bullshit, Ms. Telder! Your chump change doesn’t cover the spare screws of our smashed-to-smithereens gear!” An even louder roar blasted back.

“Some heavyweight turned our cameras into scrap metal-we’re lucky to be still breathing! Do you think we’re going to eat this loss? We lost three pro rig setups, which is a rough cost of fifty grand! Wire it by sundown, or we’ll skin you alive!”

My eyeballs damn near popped out of my skull.

Not only had they botched the job, they were shaking me down for their own incompetence! Damn it!

“In your dreams, vermin! Go chase whoever smashed your gear! Think I’d be your cash cow? Over my dead body!”

I shot up from my hospital bed, fists trembling with rage.

“Feisty, aren’t we? Well, we’ve got juicier material about you. No compensation? Fine. We’ll just take these high-definition, uncensored photos straight to the Alpha heir, Liam Sterling. Surely one million dollars is mere pocket change for his beloved friend?”

A sinister chuckle came through the phone.

“What photos?!” My knuckles turned as white as my face while I gripped the phone, my voice shaking uncontrollably. “Wait, you said it was fifty thousand for the camera cost? Why did the price change? Explain yourself!”

“You should have taken the fifty thousand when offered. Let’s call these inflation costs for making me wait. As for the photos, what do you think they could be during a time like this? Ms. Telder’s curves are quite the spectacle-high definition, uncensored, leaving nothing to the imagination! Would the once great Sterling Moon pack continue their support of such a disgraceful loose end?”

The paparazzo’s mocking laughter cut off abruptly as the line went dead.

I should have known better than to do business with fox shifters; they were known to be tricksters, which made them great in this line of business.

I paced the room restlessly, nearly jumping when my phone pinged.

One glance at the incoming photo made my blood run cold.

There I was, completely exposed, staring straight into the lens, with the unmistakable backdrop of Liam’s . private bedroom behind me.

The memory struck like lightning: that night when Claire had kindly helped me with the bedding.

I now realized my error in judgment and that the bedding had been just a pretense. Claire’s hidden cameras had been the real agenda.

This photo was undoubtedly just the beginning, and then followed the censored clip from the birthday party. I realize that these were just the tip of the iceberg of what this bastard had.

If these got out, Liam and I would be finished for life. He would be forced to step down from his future title as Alpha of the Sterling Moon pack, and I would undoubtedly be banished.

Ice-cold dread swept through my entire body. My hands convulsed as I transferred every last penny of the one million to the paparazzo.

When I called again, my voice dripped with grovelling desperation, begging him to destroy every incriminating photo.

Claire!

White-hot rage exploded in my veins; my hatred for Claire was now reaching unprecedented heights.

I would never let Claire off the hook.

I would make that woman the most pitiful spectacle, eternally damned to humiliation.

But first, I needed to figure out who the mysterious naussance was with the hero complex, always protecting Claire time and again?

In Edmonton, true men of influence were few. Could it be that the mystery hero was from the Thorne Alpha family? Was it Alpha Lucien Thorne?

The mere thought sent an electric jolt of terror through me.

“No! That was impossible!”

Alpha Thorne was ruthless and volatile, a known predator who openly despised Claire to his core. Why would he ever help her?

But then again, if it’s not him… then who else had the power to pluck Claire from the inferno, over and over? She had no one.

I would dig through hell itself to drag this mysterious benefactor into the light.