[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her":3,"chapter-my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-chapter-442":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","My Sister Stole My Mate, And I Let Her",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},764566,1010,"Chapter 442 A TRANSACTION","my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-chapter-442",442,"\u003Cp>ASTRID’S POV\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I ended the call with a smile on my lips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The curve of amusement lingered as I lowered the phone from my ear and rested it against the table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seraphina Lockwood was...refreshing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dangerous, certainly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Refreshing, nonetheless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My thumb brushed the moonstone ring on my middle finger as I considered my stolen—now recovered—shipment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Well,” I murmured, almost to myself, “that settles that.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What settles what?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I lifted my gaze, my thumb still resting on the stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damian Rooke sat opposite me, one arm draped lazily over the back of his chair as though this were a casual meeting between friends rather than what it actually was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A negotiation that had already begun to unravel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I leaned back in my chair, crossing one leg over the other as I studied him openly. There was something different about him today—not in appearance, but in the way he held himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taut. Restrained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like something violent had been forced into confinement, waiting for the right moment to break loose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Interesting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Unfortunately for you,” I said. “Your offer has become...unnecessary.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His gaze darted to the moonstone on my finger, then back to me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How so?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You came all this way,” I continued, “offering to locate my missing shipment in exchange for my assistance in finding your...Omega. But now, I have my shipment.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I let the implication settle between us: this negotiation was over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or rather, it should have been.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Damian didn’t look ruffled in the slightest, a factor which sharpened my attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because men like Damian did not take losses quietly. Not without compensation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re dismissing me rather quickly,” he said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I cocked my head. “Oh? Is there another stolen shipment I’m unaware of?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His lips curled, not a trace of amusement to be seen. “Precious stones are not the only thing you value.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I scoffed. “What would you know about value? The most important thing in your life held about the same worth as a stray dog.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His humorless smile disappeared in an instant, a flicker of anger and what looked like pain tightening his jaw.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Careful,” he warned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I scoffed. “I can’t imagine hurting me will serve as an incentive for me to help you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damian leaned forward, his gaze sharpening in a way that charged the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, it won’t.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So,” I said, “I’m intrigued—what else do you have that I could possibly want?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He rested his forearms against the table, his posture no longer relaxed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I wonder,” he began, “does the grief of loss truly get better with time?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stilled. “Excuse me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s been what—twenty years now?” His lips curled again, a sinister smile that dropped the temperature in the room. “Do you miss Esme and Rhysand less than when you first lost them?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The world didn’t stop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The air remained the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The light didn’t change.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nothing shifted outwardly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, everything narrowed. Sharpened. Condensed into a single, red-hazed, precise point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What about poor little Evelyn?” Damian continued, a wicked glint in his eyes. “Does the guilt still keep you up at night? Are you still haunted by her mysterious disappearance?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re treading on dangerous ground, Rooke,” I said, my voice a soft, dangerous warning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damian’s smile deepened. “Am I?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something dark and violent unfurled beneath my ribs, and for a fleeting moment, I considered it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How quickly I could close the distance between us.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How easily I could end him before he had the chance to finish whatever game he thought he was playing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew it too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I saw it in the slight shift of his posture, in the way his muscles coiled—not in fear, but in readiness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course he was prepared. He wouldn’t have said it otherwise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tell me,” I said, my voice still deathly soft, “you have all these resources—enough for you to uncover a secret that my closest lieutenants don’t know. Why can’t you find your little Omega yourself?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The smug look on his face was briefly eclipsed by rage so molten the temperature picked back up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My failsafe...failed,” he ground out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I bared my teeth in a shark-like smile. “Bummer.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Listen,” he said, “it’s not in my best interest to launch an open investigation into her whereabouts. I wouldn’t come to you if I didn’t have a choice.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rage cracked, just a little, to reveal the grieving man beneath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I recognized that look—I’d worn it for several months as I teetered between rage and sorrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes, out of nowhere, I could still feel the lingering heat in the air from the fire that turned my sister and her husband into charred husks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes, when I looked down at my hands, I could still see the soot that coated my palms and was buried underneath my nails after hours spent sifting through ashes for my niece’s tiny body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’d always prided myself on having nothing in common with Damian Rooke. I guess I was wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We both knew loss—varying levels, maybe, but loss all the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Help me find my mate,” he said. “And in return, I’ll tell you what you want to know.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I leaned forward. “And what exactly do I want to know? Who killed Esme and Rhys? Who took Evelyn? Where is she? Is she dead or alive? Exactly what question do you have the answer to?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He leaned back, a smug smile settling on his lips. He knew he had me. “I guess you’ll just have to find out.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn’t respond immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My mind was already moving—dissecting, reconstructing. Working through what he’d revealed and what remained unsaid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damian Rooke did not bluff without purpose, and he did not gamble without leverage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew something. Something specific enough to risk saying what he had just said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Dangerous offer,” I said finally.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But enticing, no?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I leaned back slowly, my gaze never leaving his.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re asking for my resources,” I said. “My network. My reach.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To locate someone who would rather be anywhere but with you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And in return,” I continued, my voice softening just slightly, “you offer information that may or may not be useful.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It will be.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I tilted my head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And if it’s not?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then you can kill me,” he said simply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, almost as an afterthought—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Though I’d prefer you didn’t.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite myself, a faint breath of something that might have been a laugh escaped me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bold. Reckless. But not foolish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damian was not someone who bared his neck to the wolves. He wouldn’t risk his life for a game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I let the silence stretch, deliberately this time, letting him sit in it, letting the weight of the moment settle fully before I spoke again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You understand,” I said, “that this does not become a partnership.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m not asking for one.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good,” I replied. “Because I have no intention of being entangled in whatever...operations you and your associates are running.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damian and I were not strangers, though I would not have called him an ally.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We operated within the same world—one defined by leverage, information, and calculated risk—and our paths had crossed often enough for a certain understanding to settle between us.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We had done business a handful of times, each arrangement built on nothing more than clean, mutual benefit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There had never been trust between us, nor any illusion of loyalty beyond the exact terms negotiated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under my leadership, the New Moon Trade Alliance maintained a careful distance. Our reputation was far too valuable to be entangled with someone like Damian, whose dealings thrived in shadows I could not afford to openly acknowledge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is a transaction,” I continued. “Nothing more.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Agreed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I studied him for one final moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Very well.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Relief didn’t show on his face, but I saw the figurative dark clouds in his eyes part.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And you,” I added, my gaze sharpening once more, “will tell me everything you know about what happened twenty years ago.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I will.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I leaned forward again, resting my hands against the table as I met his gaze head-on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Because if you don’t,” I said softly, “I won’t just take your life.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His expression didn’t change, but tension coiled in his shoulders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll take everything you’ve built,” I continued. “Piece by piece. Until there’s nothing left of you but the memory of a mistake.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tense silence followed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, his lips curved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fair enough.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I leaned back again, the faint smile returning to my lips, though it no longer carried the same warmth it had before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the game had changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The stakes had shifted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As my thumb brushed the moonstone once more, I allowed myself—for the first time in twenty years—to feel a twinge of hope.\u003C\u002Fp>",1434,"2026-06-03T02:27:49.405Z",1,"novelbin.me","6a118d30a1d33d625bd97fb46287cc2783315011a0b09b3934e8c05e58c4844c","my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-chapter-443","my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-chapter-441",488,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fmy-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-cover.jpg"]