CHAPTER 163: CUSTODY BATTLE...

Third Person POV

At the parking lot of the courthouse, Isolde sat in her black car outside the building.

The car was quiet except for the faint hum of the engine, and she had come an hour earlier than the required time for the court session. Two things Isolde never joked with were: consistently being on time for everything.

And second, good food.

She sat in the back seat of the car, lost in thought. She had to act fast. It was only a matter of time before the lab would be discovered and broken into, and there was no telling when that could happen.

Plus, it didn’t help that everyone was onto it. Aside from Alphas who have been collaborating with that underground merchant to find their children, a lot of private investigators were getting close to the truth, and she cannot afford to waste money in the name of a bribe.

The only reason the underground merchant had not yet acted out was the fat check she had to cut him last month, and he had given her only six weeks, and there were just three weeks left. She knew she had to act fast.

She sighed and reached for her phone one last time when the car door suddenly opened and Albert slipped into the passenger seat.

"Good morning, ma’am," Albert greeted.

Isolde ignored his greeting. "

"How are the preparations going?"

Albert cleared his throat. "Everything is ready. But...we’ve discovered something, a problem to say the truth."

Isolde narrowed her eyes. "What now?"

"The transportation of all the test subjects," he said carefully. "It won’t take three days as we planned. It might take nearly a week."

Isolde’s hands gripped the leather seat. Her teeth clenched together as she turned to face him. "What the fuck do you mean, a week?"

Albert shifted uncomfortably. "Moving the test subjects during the night isn’t safe. They’re nocturnal creatures and draw more power when it’s dark. During the day is better because that’s when they rest. But we can only transport four per container because of their size."

Isolde closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "So it means we have to drag this court case out as long as possible. Keep everyone distracted by the legal drama."

"Can you do that?"

"I’ll do my best to stall for time," Isolde said coldly. "But Albert, you’d better not fail this time. If you do, you’ll be food for the test subjects yourself."

Albert’s face went pale. He nodded quickly and got out of the car, disappearing into the morning.

Isolde sat alone for a moment, tapping her fingers on the armrest while she thought. Then she leaned forward and spoke to her driver.

"The lawyer did say Alpha Silas wanted this court session to be as quiet and private as possible, right?"

Her driver, who also worked as her assistant, nodded. "Yes, ma’am. They didn’t want to bring it to public attention or escalate it in the media. After the difficulties the pack had to go through when Miss Charis was missing, they don’t want to risk another scandal."

Isolde’s lips curved into a thin smile."Well, what if we tell a little bird? There’s no harm in letting the press know about an interesting custody case, is there?"

The assistant understood immediately, returning the smile. "I’ll make some calls."

He got out of the car and walked away, already pulling out his phone. Within minutes, Isolde knew, reporters from every major news outlet would be getting anonymous tips about the dramatic court case starting today.

Isolde smoothed her suit and walked toward the courthouse entrance. If she needed to buy a week, turning this into a media circus was the perfect way to do it.

An hour later,

The courtroom was packed with people.

Reporters sat in the back rows, their cameras ready to capture every moment of what the newspapers were calling "the custody case of the century." Pack leaders filled the middle sections, all watching to see how this fight between an Alpha as powerful as Silas Greye and a human Isolde Knox would turn out.

At the front of the room, Isolde Knox sat calmly at the defendant’s table. She wore a dark blue suit that made her look both professional and dangerous. Her team of five lawyers, the most expensive ones in the werewolf world, sat beside her, each one costing more per hour than most people made in a month.

Across the aisle, Alpha Silas Greye looked terrible. His face was pale and thin, like he hadn’t eaten or slept properly in weeks. His wife Eva sat next to him, holding his arm to keep him steady. Their legal team looked confident, shuffling through thick folders of evidence.

The Judge was a 64-year-old who was supposed to be on a family vacation with grandkids tucked away in the plains of the human world, but had been called back because of this case.

Isolde had made sure that none of the judges were available except him. She wanted this particular Judge because he was family-oriented and loved children. His socials were filled with family picnics, countless family vacations, star-gazing nights and lots of fun with his family.

Despite his busy schedule, the Judge never skipped out on family time.

The man stared from Isolde to Silas, taking in a deep breath before speaking.

"We’re here today to decide the custody case of Greye versus Knox. The plaintiff claims unlawful kidnapping and detention of a minor child."

Alpha Silas’s lead attorney stood up. He was a tall man with grey hair who had won hundreds of cases like this one. "Your Honour, this is a simple case of child abduction disguised as charity."

"Please elaborate," the Judge said tiredly.

He walked to the centre of the room, his voice ringing throughout the courtroom. "The Crestborne family has suffered deeply, your honour. Charis Greye is the beloved daughter of Alpha Silas and Luna Eva, and seven months ago, she disappeared from the pack. Like many teenage girls, she fought with her parents and ran away to punish them. Her parents have been searching for her ever since, spending thousands of dollars on private investigators."

The lawyer pulled out a timeline and showed it to the Judge. "What they thought would last for a few weeks continued for seven months. Alpha Silas searched high and low. He toured the entire pack...."

"We get it," the Judge interrupted him. "Make your point."

He nodded and continued. "They searched endlessly for her, fearing the worst. But then they discovered that this woman—" he pointed at Isolde "—took their child and held her under false pretences of rescuing her. Charis Greye had run away to punish her family, and Ms Knox seized the opportunity to cause more pain to Alpha Silas and his wife by claiming their daughter as hers."

Gasps rippled through the room.

The Judge raised his hand. "Order, in my court."

Silas’s attorney pressed on. "Charis was born into privilege. Every luxury the world has was at her disposal, and yet Ms Knox manipulated her, poisoned her against her family. We will show that Charis was kidnapped by Ms Knox and swayed into becoming her daughter, whereas her rightful place is with her parents."

He sat down, looking pleased with himself. Several pack leaders in the audience nodded in agreement.

Isolde’s lead lawyer stood up next. She was a woman in her forties with sharp eyes. "Your Honour, my client saved a young woman from a life of abuse and forced marriage."

She walked over to the evidence table and picked up a large folder. "The plaintiff wants us to believe that an Alpha’s daughter—someone with access to the best of everything society can offer—would run away for no good reason. Especially when she comes from the wealthy and respected Crestborne pack."

The lawyer opened the folder and pulled out several photographs. "But the truth is, Charis had been fighting for her life. Her parents severely abused her."

The attorney handed a file to the clerk, who passed it to the Judge. "These pictures show marks on Miss Greye’s back from repeated beatings."

The Judge’s brows knit as he looked at the pictures.

"She was also forced to reject her fated mate, Slater Riggs," the attorney continued. "Commanded to marry the Alpha King’s son instead, denied her right to choose, her right to her own wolf’s bond and treated like some bargaining chip, all because of some political benefits her father would stand to gain if the marriage happened."

"Your Honour," Alpha Silas’s attorney sprang to his feet, "I would like to remind the court of Sub-Section 14, Article V of the Alliance Code. Under this statute, political marriage is admissible by law. It shall not be considered a crime when two or more packs enter into a marital union for the purpose of establishing peace, strengthening alliances, or promoting unity between their territories. This is a long-standing tradition in our society, upheld by generations of Alphas. The Crestborne Alpha, Silas, acted fully within his rights as a parent and leader when arranging a union between his daughter, Charis, and the Alpha King’s son. This was not an act of cruelty but one of duty—an obligation to protect his pack, secure his bloodline, and honour the laws that govern all of us. To call this ’abuse’ is to call into question the very foundation upon which our packs coexist."