Chapter 176: Quiet

*Bael’s POV*

The estate is completely still at this hour.

Bael sits at his big study desk. There is nothing open in front of him. No paper files, no tablet, no contracts that need his signature. There is only the desk lamp, casting a low, warm circle of light across the dark wood, and the deep silence that only happens when everyone else in the house has gone to bed.

He hears the faint crunch of tires on the gravel driveway before he hears the actual knock.

A moment later, Shen Rui appears at the study door. He is still wearing his work clothes from the day, his tie loosened just a little bit. His face carries that specific, careful neutrality he always uses when he is delivering serious news.

Bael doesn’t say anything. He just gestures once toward the empty chair across from the desk.

Shen Rui bows slightly, then walks in and sits down. He opens his notebook, places it flat on the desk, and begins to speak in a very quiet voice.

Ming’s defense team has been working around the clock.

They found a scapegoat. Liu Wen has officially accepted all responsibility for the financial fraud—fully, cleanly, and in writing. His lawyer filed the official paperwork this afternoon.

With Liu Wen taking the blame for all the stolen money, Ming’s lawyers are already drafting a motion to dismiss all charges against Ming. They are highly confident. They are moving very fast.

Bael listens to every word without interrupting. He doesn’t move a muscle.

Shen Rui finishes his report and slowly closes the notebook.

The study becomes incredibly quiet.

"How long will it take," Bael says, his voice flat.

"If the judge signs the motion." Shen Rui pauses, calculating. "A week. Maybe less. He will walk out a free man."

Bael looks back at the glowing desk lamp.

He thinks about his original plan. There is a second file sitting in Shen Rui’s highly encrypted drive right now. That file has absolutely nothing to do with money or fraud. It has everything to do with a truck, the highway, and a phone call made directly from Ming’s office three days before the crash.

The original plan had been clean and cruel: let Ming think he was winning his financial case, and then drop the murder charges on him all at once. Embezzlement and attempted murder. Public, total, and completely irreversible.

But Bael thinks about the consequences of a trial like that.

Bael thinks about Runze’s name being plastered in every single news headline.

He thinks about the flashing cameras outside the estate gates. The annoying reporters. The endless, intrusive questions. He knows the specific way people look at someone who has survived a targeted attack.

It is a disgusting mixture of pity and morbid fascination that follows a person around long after the news cycle has moved on to something else.

He thinks about Runze just a few hours ago at the dinner table. Six months pregnant, stealing glances at a plate of cold noodles he wasn’t allowed to have, and stomping on Bael’s shoe under the table with total composure while Grandmother pretended not to see.

Then Bael thinks about the hospital waiting room.

He remembers those three horrific days.

He thinks about what he promised himself during those dark hours in that waiting room. It was the solemn promise of a man who had nothing left to do but sit in the dark and realize exactly what he stood to lose.

*Runze is going to live in a safe world.*

That was the promise.

A safe world doesn’t mean a world where Ming goes to a loud criminal trial and Runze’s medical history gets read aloud to a room full of strangers. It doesn’t mean a world where some random journalist decides that a pregnant omega is the most interesting angle for a front-page story. It doesn’t mean letting any of this filth follow them into the life they are trying to build.

Safe means gone.

Bael looks away from the lamp, his mind entirely made up.

"Before the motion goes through," Bael says.

Shen Rui is already looking at him, waiting. He has worked for Bael for a very long time. He knows exactly when a sentence is complete, even when the words sound unfinished.

A heavy pause fills the room.

"The night before," Bael says.

Something slight moves through Shen Rui’s expression, a small flash of understanding, and then it is gone. He picks up his pen.

"Untraceable," Shen Rui says. It is a statement, not a question.

"Completely."

Shen Rui writes a single, short note in his book. Bael doesn’t look at it. Then Shen Rui closes the notebook, tucks the pen back into his breast pocket, and stands up from the chair.

"Understood." A pause. "I’ll make the arrangements."

Bael nods once.

"Good."

Shen Rui crosses the study, opens the door without a sound, and leaves. A minute later, Bael hears the faint hum of the car engine turning over on the driveway, the sound fades down the road until there is nothing left.

The estate settles right back into its deep stillness.

Bael sits alone in the dark for a little while longer.

He waits to feel something about the order he just gave. He expects some sort of hesitation, or a heavy feeling sitting in his chest. But there is absolutely nothing. Just the quiet of the room and the peaceful house around him.

He reminds himself of the facts: Ming paid someone to kill his wife and his unborn child. Bael is simply returning the courtesy.

The only difference is that Bael does not miss.

He reaches out and turns off the desk lamp.

***

Upstairs, the bedroom is dark and cool.

Runze is fast asleep on his side. One of his hands is curled beneath his cheek, and the diamond pendant around his neck catches the faint moonlight coming through the window. His breathing is incredibly slow, deep, and even.

The blanket has slipped down past his shoulder. Bael steps forward, his movements quiet and completely practiced from months of doing this, and gently pulls the covers back up over him without waking him.

Bael slips into the bed.

As soon as the mattress shifts, Runze moves in his sleep. He automatically rolls toward the center of the bed, gravitating right into Bael’s space for warmth, the way he always does without even knowing he’s doing it. Bael stays still and lets him settle against his side.

The bedroom is very quiet.

Outside, far beyond the high walls of the estate, the city continues its low, distant hum.

Somewhere out there in the dark, a man is sleeping in his bed, completely unaware that it is one of the last times he will ever close his eyes.

Bael pulls Runze just a little bit closer and closes his eyes.

He is asleep within minutes.