“What do you mean?” I asked. We’d all assumed the same. “Is that not what happened?”
Nadia swallowed hard and grabbed a stack of papers off the desk, shoving them toward me with a shaking hand.
“Read it,” she said. “Go on.”
I took them. It was a stack of legal documents. A partnership agreement with percentages and clauses. And one name that shouldn’t have surprised me—but did.
Fletcher Lewis.
“Fletcher is a co-owner of the brewery?” I asked.
“Silent partner,” Nadia snapped. “Funny how silent he managed to be about it, huh?”
Elwood leaned in slightly, reading over my shoulder. “The percentage is significant.”
“Yeah.” Nadia’s laugh cracked this time. “Yeah, it is, and what’s worse, there’s a clause in there that says if one of them dies, the surviving partner gets the whole thing. Me and the baby… we get nothing.”
“What did Roy plan to do with the money from Kettlebrook?” I asked.
Nadia let out a breath that sounded like it hurt.
“Like he said on the panel Monday night. He was going to expand,” she said. “Upgrade the equipment. Increase production. Hire more staff. He said this was our chance to really make something of the place.”
“All of it?” Elwood asked.
“All of it.” She gestured helplessly at the papers. “He already signed a contract and everything. He said once it was done, we’d never have to worry again,” Nadia whispered. “That everything would be taken care of.”
Her fingers curled tighter against her stomach.
“I’ll have this baby any day now,” she went on, voice trembling. “And his father didn’t provide for him. Not really. Not in a way that matters.”
Silence pressed in around us, and I watched her carefully. Her distress was real. My wolf didn’t scent guilt on her. No fear of being caught. Just… fear. Fear of what came next.
“Did you know about Fletcher?” Elwood asked gently.
“No.” Nadia shook her head hard. “No, I didn’t. If I had—” She cut herself off, swallowing whatever came next. “I wouldn’t have… I mean?—”
She stopped again.
Elwood’s gaze flicked to her, catching that stumble.
“I thought Roy had set things up,” she said instead. “For us. For the baby. I thought… I thought I was going to be okay.” She looked around the office like it had betrayed her personally. “But I guess not.”
I set the papers back down on the desk.
“Have you seen Fletcher since yesterday?” I asked.
“No.” Nadia’s answer was immediate. “I tried calling him when I found the papers. He didn’t answer.”
She sagged back into the chair behind the desk, one hand braced under her belly, the other still clutching the edge of the paperwork like it might change if she held on tight enough.
“I just needed things to go right,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “For him. For us.”
I felt bad for her because things hadn’t gone right. Not even close.
I glanced at Elwood. He gave a small shake of his head—no magic here. Nothing lingering. Nothing obvious.
“We should go,” Elwood said quietly.
