Page 82 of Knot Her Beta

I swallow, the tightness in my throat having nothing to do with the dry air in the store. “So, yeah. It went about as well as a house fire.”

“You can recover from house fires. Believe me, I know.” Dominic is quiet for a long moment. “Tell me about the trust fund.”

I shouldn’t. This is the part I haven’t told anyone, not even Chloe. The safety net I’ve carried in the back of my mind since I left home at eighteen, the knowledge that if everything fell apart, I had a parachute. Now the parachute is gone, and the ground is a lot farther down than it was before I flew home to Connecticut.

“It’s from my maternal grandfather’s side,” I say. “It’s old money. Older than the Finch Holdings. The family trust controls it, not individual beneficiaries. I would have gained access at thirty, or upon marriage to someone the board approved.”

I flatten my palm on the table, the cool wood warming at my touch. “Since I’m no longer considered family, and the marriage isn’t happening, that future is... gone.”

“Do you mind if I look into it?”

I blink. “What?”

“The trust.” He says it the same way he might ask to review a set of blueprints. “Not because the Wrights need your money, to be clear. But it belongs to you, and refusing an arranged marriage shouldn’t cost you your inheritance.”

The offer hangs between us, both simple and enormous. No one has ever offered to fight the Finch lawyers on my behalf. Not even me.

“The Finch legal team is good,” I warn him. “They’ve been protecting that money since before I was born.”

“If the Sinclair Pack didn’t scare me away from getting my mate what they owed her, neither will the Finch lawyers.” His confidence is quiet and absolute. “Send me the paperwork. The trust documents, whatever you have. I’ll have Nathaniel’s legal team take a look.”

A tension uncoils in my chest that I’ve been carrying for so long that I forgot it was there. “I’m not optimistic.”

“You don’t have to be. That’s my job.” He taps the table once. “Now, back to the pack invitation.”

Just like that, we’re back on solid ground. Business. Family business. The kind with spreadsheets and insurance policies and unlimited access to Holden’s blueberry muffins.

I take a breath. “What happens if someone else has also asked me to join their pack?”

Dominic’s lips twitch. “Would that someone happen to be a certain Alpha superintendent at Wilson Construction?”

Heat floods my cheeks, and I stare at the floor. “Perhaps.”

“Grady.” He says my name gently. “While you were away, we extended the same invitation to Emily and Jared.”

My head snaps up. “What?”

“They’re considering it. We’re pretty certain they’re going to accept.” He studies me. “They haven’t talked to you about it?”

“No.” The admission hurts more than expected. Emily didn’t tell me. She had the chance last Sunday in her kitchen, and she didn’t say a word. “When?”

“Last week. They got stuck on the island after dinner at Leif’s.” He shrugs. “We’d been planning to wait, but there was an opportunity, and Blake and Nathaniel sprung it on them.”

I digest this, turning it over. Emily had said she’d find a way to build a pack to bring me in. I just didn’t think this was how she planned to do it.

I frown. “And they haven’t accepted yet?”

“No. Emily’s prideful. She’s been doing everything herself for a long time.” Dominic smirks. “But they’re going to accept.”

“How can you be so certain?” I ask.

“Because we already have the Omega they want.” He leans closer, his grin turning positively evil. “And we’re about to get their Beta.”

And now it all makes sense.

This is what they get by bringing me in.

Chapter Twenty-Two