39. Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Wrenley
The evening is bleeding into darkness now.
The lamps are still dim, the air thick with the hangover of everything that came before.
Torque stands near the door, arms folded, watching but not interfering.
Max and Liam stay just behind me, close enough to breathe the same air but far enough to let this be mine.
Noah sits across from me, wrists zip-tied, jaw tight. There’s a fresh bruise blooming along his cheekbone. He looks different now, smaller somehow, but meaner for it. The kind of anger that feeds on itself until it’s all that’s left.
I don’t say anything. I just stare. Let him sit in it.
Let the silence do the talking. He keeps glancing around the room like he’s looking for an ally, but there’s no one left here who’d claim him.
The seconds stretch long enough for this bravado to curdle into irritation. He clears his throat, opens his mouth.
I lift a hand. Shake my head once. He shuts his mouth, stopping what was about to come out.
Another long beat passes before I finally speak. “Noah,” I say, voice low, even. “Why?”
He laughs, bitter and humorless. “Why what? Why did I help Sebastian? Why did I let him use me? Or why did I want to?”
I don’t answer. I just wait.
His smile fades as he leans forward, eyes sharp, voice dripping into something jagged. “You really want the truth?”
I don’t move. I don’t blink.
“You want to talk about using people? You built me up, made me think I could be more than what the world carved out of me. You made me believe I mattered.”
His jaw flexes, bitterness bleeding through every word.
“And then you gutted me and walked away without looking back. I tried to move one. I really did. But then I see you again—sitting pretty in Max’s penthouse, and then started a relationship with Reaper, like you finally found men worthy of the chaos in your veins.”
Behind me, I feel Max go very still. Liam’s silence sharpens into something lethal. But Noah is unraveling now, and he doesn’t see it.
He laughs once—low, broken, humorless. “Maybe Sebastian did use me. Maybe I’m nothing but the wreckage both of you left behind. But at least with him, I knew what I was.”
He lifts his chin, eyes burning with equal parts hurt and hatred.
“You made me believe I could be more—then punished me for it.”
The words land like a blade between us. Not enough to kill, but sharp enough to scar. I don’t let it show. I just stare at him until he breaks eye contact. Then I say, calmly, cold as steel. “You don’t get to talk about who I made you anymore.”
I let Noah’s last words settle for a moment, watching the way he shrinks back into himself. His jaw tightens. His gaze drops. The fire he had seconds ago flickers to embers.
I shift in my seat, leaning forward. “How did Sebastian find you?”
Nothing. Not even a twitch. “What did you give him first?”
Silence.
“What did he promise you?”
His jaw works. His eyes go dull. He’s closing himself off, the same way he used to when he didn’t want to admit the truth. The same pattern. The same wall.
“Answer me, Noah.”
He stares at the floor.
Before I can press again, Elias’s voice cuts in from behind me. “Wren.”
I glance over my shoulder. He tilts his head toward the hall. Quiet. Subtle. Urgent.
I stand slowly. Max and Liam fall in beside me instantly, shadows at my back. Riot cracks his knuckles as he steps forward toward Noah’s chair.
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Riots says, voice low and delighted.
Torque snorts from where he’s leaning against the wall. “Oh, this is gonna be fun.”
I shake my head at them both but don’t bother hiding a smile. We step into the hallway, the door clicking shut behind us.
Elias crosses his arms. “He’ll crack,” he says quietly. “But not with straight questions. The more you talk like this is business, the more he will keep shutting down.”
I arch a brow. “So what do you suggest?”
“You need to hit where he’s raw,” Elias says. “The past. Your relationship. The part he hasn’t let go of. He’ll respond to you, but not if you talk to him like a soldier. Talk to him like the girl he thinks he lost.”
Max and Liam grunt in almost perfect unison—the kind of sound that would make a lesser woman nervous.
Elias winces. “No offense.”
“None taken,” I say.
Max crosses his arms. “This is bullshit.”
Liam’s jaw ticks. “He doesn’t get to weaponize your past.”
I step between them, resting a hand on each of their arms. Their muscles are tense under my palms, coiled tight with possessiveness and hate and a love they don’t know how to hide.
I look between the two of them, letting a slow smile spread across my lips. “Don’t worry.”
Their expressions don’t change. Protective. Angry. Beautiful.
“I’m the one who’s going to weaponize it,” I say softly.
I hold their eyes for another heartbeat, then add with a wink, “I’ll make it up to both of you later.”
Liam exhales hard through his nose. Max mutters something under his breath, like unfair. But they let me go. They always will. Because the storm I’m about to walk back into? I’m the one who commands it.
The war room falls silent the second I step back inside. Riot leans against the wall, Torque stands near the door pretending he’s not thoroughly entertained. Noah’s still in the chair, shoulders tight, gaze pinned to the floor like the answers he doesn’t want to give are hiding there.
I drag my chair closer, just a few inches, but the scrape of the legs against the tile is loud enough to make him flinch. I sit. Lean forward. Lower my voice to something softer, something that sounds like a memory, not an interrogation.
“You know…” I murmur, brushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear, “There were good times between us too.”
His head snaps up. His eyes lock on mine. Not warm. Not nostalgic. Still cold. Still angry. But he’s listening. So I keep going.
“You remember that time we drove out to the middle of nowhere just to go to that county fair?”
A flicker. Barely there. But I see it. His jaw tightens, and something behind his eyes shifts, hate wrestling with the past he’s been trying to bury. I lean back slightly, letting the memory paint itself between us.
“You were so proud of that truck… until it started overheating twenty miles from the highway.” A small ghost of a smile tugs at the corner of my mouth. “And Margot came with us—remember? She damn near ate her weight in fried everything. I thought she was going to die on the Tilt-A-Whirl.”
Torque snorts behind me. Riot cracks a grin, shaking his head. I ignore them. Noah’s staring at me now, eyes dark but no longer dead. I keep going.
“And then the Ferris wheel broke down, leaving us stuck at the top.” I shake my head. “You were terrified. You tried to play it cool, but you held onto the bar so tight you almost bent it.”
A breath leaves him, sharp, and shaky. His eyes soften. Just a fraction. Only someone who knew him this well would notice. I lean in, voice barely above a whisper. “That was the first night you kissed me.”
For a moment, there’s peace. His throat bobs once, hard. A crack appears in the armor, thin, fragile, but there. That’s my opening. And he knows it. I watch him break, slowly, painfully, like his chest is collapsing in on itself. He whispers, barely audible. “Yeah. I remember.”
The room holds its breath. I let the softness linger just a second longer, my tone gentle. “Noah… that mattered. You mattered. I’m not pretending you didn’t.”
For half a heartbeat, I can see the man he used to be. The one who laughed too loud, drove too fast, loved too hard. But then something snaps. His expression fractures, pain curdling back into fury. His eyes narrow, sharp with accusation.
“I fucking told you,” He spits, voice rising. “You use people. You twist them. And then you toss them aside when they’re empty.”
I feel Max stiffen behind me. Liam’s breath goes low and dangerous. But I keep my attention on Noah, letting him burn with anger.
“You think making me remember that night is going to break me open?” He snarls. “You think you can manipulate me into giving you what you want?”
The softness drains from me like someone flipped a switch. I lean back in my chair, crossing one leg over the other, my voice going flat and cold. “If memory is manipulation, then you handed me the weapon.”
His nostrils flare. “You’re unbelievable.”
“No,” I say calmly. “I’m focused. Something you haven’t been in a long time.”
That does it.
He surges forward in the chair as far as the restraints allow, eyes blazing. “You want the truth?” he snaps. “Fine. I’ll give you the fucking truth.”
The room goes dead silent. Torque stops laughing. Riot straightens. Max and Liam become statues behind me. Noah spits the words like poison.
“I helped Sebastian because he offered me something you never did—a place that wasn’t built around you. A purpose that didn’t orbit Wrenley fucking Ashford.” My jaw tightens. He keeps going, unraveling faster now.
“He found me because I let him. Because I said yes. Because when he asked for names, I gave them.”
I feel my blood go cold. He meets my eyes and doesn’t flinch. “I told him about Torque’s brother.”
Torque’s curse cuts through the air behind me, sharp and raw.
“I told him how to reach him. What he responds to. What buttons to push.”
A hush falls heavier than any scream.
“And when Sebastian wanted to know who mattered most in your inner circle…”
He smiles, bitter, broken, triumphant. “I handed him the map.”
My voice comes out quiet, too quiet. “What map?”
He lifts his chin. “Everything I knew.” His eyes shine with something twisted, grief wrapped in spite. “Your patterns. Your weaknesses. Everyone you protect. Everyone who protects you. Every soft spot you don’t admit you have.”
Riot mutters, “Jesus Christ…”
Liam’s breath shifts behind me, slow and murderous.
Noah keeps going, like he can’t help himself anymore. “I gave him the blueprint to burn your world down. Wrenley.” His voice cracks just enough to show the truth underneath the hatred. “Because you burned mine first, and I hate your guts for it.”
He wanted this to hurt. He needed it too.
It doesn’t. When he finishes spewing his venom.
The room is silent. So silent I can hear the soft hum of the overhead lights…
and the sound of my own pulse sharpening behind my ears.
Noah sits there like he expects me to break.
Cry. Scream. Crack in half. I sit there, perfectly still, heartbeat steady, expression unreadable. Cold settling into my bones like frost.
“You hate them,” I say softly. “Because you could never reach them.”
He flinches, and there it is. A quiet laugh slips from somewhere behind me, low and amused.
“Damn,” Elias mutters. “That’s gonna leave a mark.”
Torque lets out a sharp huff of laughter “Jesus,”
Wrecker right behind him chuckles, “That’s cold,” neither of them even trying to hide it. Noah’s jaw tightens, something wild flashing in his eyes, but I don’t look away. I don’t need to. I can feel them.
Max, to my left, still and steady, like he’s watching something he already knew was inevitable. Liam, just behind me, the air around him shifting, that quiet dangerous pride bleeding through without a single word.
Noah still doesn’t understand me. I inhale once, slow, steady, and reach down to the sheath at my thigh.
The shift in the room is immediate. Max and Liam don’t stop me.
They don’t move at all. Torque mutters under his breath, “Oh shit.” Riot grins like he is watching performance art.
Elias and Margot stiffen but don’t speak.
I draw the dagger free, the metal whispering as it slides from leather.
I don’t point it at him, not yet. Just turn it in my hands, slowly spinning it between my fingers as easily as a coin.
Noah’s eyes track every movement. I let my voice go quiet.
Dead quiet. “Do you know what the saddest part of all this is?” I ask.
He swallows but doesn’t say anything. I tilt the blade, watching light ripple along its edge.
“You think you’re the victim,” I continue.
“You think what we had was some kind of epic tragedy that justified… this.”
I flick my gaze up, pinning him in place. “You think I ruined your life?” A small, humorless laugh slips out. “Noah… you were already sinking long before I ever touched you.”
His jaw tightens. “Don’t—”
But I cut him off, the dagger’s point lifting, not threatening him, not reaching him, just drawing a line in the air between us. “I didn’t hollow you out. I didn’t destroy you. I didn’t make you easy prey.”
My voice sharpens, blade-like. “You walked yourself to Sebastian. You opened the door. You handed him everything.”
I lean in. “And the worst part?” I whisper. “You still want to blame me… because the truth is so much uglier.”
He clenches his fists, knuckles white.
“You didn’t help Sebastian because I used you,” I say, mocking the phrase. “You helped him because you’re weak. Because you’re bitter. Because you needed someone else to blame for what you became.”
His face twists, fury and shame wrestling under his skin. I tilt my head, voice dropping even lower. “You didn’t break because I left you. You broke because you had nothing left in you worth saving—and that terrified you.”
He sucks in a breath like it hurts. Good. I finally point the dagger at him, not touching him yet, but close enough to be a threat. Just aimed. A symbol.
“But here’s the real truth, Noah.” I let the blade hover in the space between us. “You gave Sebastian the map of my world… and you still don’t understand the one thing that matters.”
I lean in, slow, controlled, terrifyingly calm. “You didn’t burn my world down.” The dagger doesn’t waver. “I survived you. I became stronger because of you. And everything you did—every betrayal you handed him—will only make me harder to break.”
His eyes widen, fear finally bleeding through the anger. I rise from my chair, pressing my cheek to his, whispering in his ear. “Thank you.” I sit back, lowering the dagger to my knee. My smile, cold and devastating.