Billionaire Alpha's 99 Deadly Games

Chapter 4

Within seconds, the messages disappeared from the chat, as if they'd been nothing but a

hallucination.

Aria stared at her phone, her hand trembling so violently she nearly dropped it. The realization hit her like a physical blow, driving the air from her lungs. The cold truth spread through her veins like

poison.

Everything-her "accident" at the pool, her fever, the “medicine"-had all been meticulously orchestrated as part of their sick game. The pills Lucas had so tenderly given her, pretending to care,

were specifically designed to intensify her suffering.

She'd known they were using her, had heard it with her own ears at the pack healer's, but experiencing it firsthand made the betrayal infinitely more devastating. The calculated cruelty of it all made her physically ill.

Her phone lit up with Lucas's name.

"Where the fuck are you?" His voice was sharp with urgency, almost angry. "Why aren't you at the

den?"

Aria took a deep, steadying breath, forcing herself to sound detached: "My fever got worse. I had to

go to the ER."

The line went dead silent before Lucas responded, his tone suddenly softer: "I'm coming over."

"Don't," she cut him off, her voice eerily calm. "They're just giving me fluids and keeping me overnight. You seem busy with your... other priorities. Don't let me interrupt."

Her controlled tone seemed to quiet something in him too. After several seconds of silence, he asked

carefully: "Did you check your phone at all?"

So that was it. He wasn't worried about her health-he was terrified she'd seen those messages, that their game was exposed.

"No," she lied, "The doctor said my temperature was dangerously high. I've been a little preoccupied with not dying to scroll through social media."

silence before Lucas spoke, his voice carrying

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Alpha's 99

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Chapter 4

nothing bad will

want to scream. A bitter laugh caught in

the past three years could be traced directly back to him. He wasn't her

evening. Aria was

to a halt beside her. Before she could process what was happening, three rogues jumped out and grabbed her, one clamping a sweet-smelling cloth over her mouth

nose.

thought before the darkness claimed her was a desperate prayer: Please let this

Aria found herself in a seedy motel room, wrists and ankles bound with zip ties.

a finger down her cheek. "Lucas's

still clearing from her mind, "Who are you? What do

reaching for the buttons on her blouse. "That alpha heir's been hogging

some pictures for your mate," a third one said, pulling out his

in her weakened state, she

they tore at her clothes, tears streamed down her face. Despite everything, in that moment of pure terror, she still found

thoughts, the door exploded inward, wood splintering

voice was unrecognizable-a primal roar of pure rage

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Chapter 4

stumbling over each other in their haste to escape

her body. When she looked up at Lucas, what she saw stopped her heart-genuine fear in his eyes, raw panic, and something that looked dangerously close to devastation. For that brief moment, it was like seeing an entirely different person. "Aria..." He rushed to her side, his hands visibly shaking as he reached for her. But the trauma was too fresh. She flinched away instinctively,

she could process it, the room began to spin, black spots dancing across her vision. The combination of medication, trauma and exhaustion finally overtook her, and she slipped

later, Aria drifted back to awareness in what

open her eyes, she heard voices just outside her door-Lucas and his friends, speaking in hushed but heated

voice was barely controlled, trembling with rage. "Which one

to speed things up. Ninety-seven down, just two more to go, then you're free

rose sharply, making the others fall silent. "I never authorized anyone to fucking touch

big deal? Isn't this whole thing about making her life hell? Why are

crash-like something being violently overturned-followed by