Chapter 303

Chapter 303:

He flinched, stepping closer. The sour scent of his distress — laced with stale alcohol — wafted toward me, making my nose wrinkle. “I lost everything today, Adella. My rank, my Pack, my legacy. But I managed to save one thing. The only thing that matters.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a thick envelope. A triumphant, almost manic smile twisted his lips.

“The Everett Estate,” he announced, holding it out like a lifeline. “The bank was seizing it tomorrow. I liquidated my personal assets to put a hold on the auction. It’s your parents’ home, Adella. I saved it for us. Come back to me, and we can rebuild it together. It’s my gift to you p>

For a heartbeat, the world tilted. My childhood home. The garden where my mother sang. The study where my father worked. Braydon was dangling my past before me, but the price was my future.

“Is that so?” Dallas’s voice was dangerously calm — the eye of a hurricane.

He didn’t look at Braydon. He looked over his shoulder. “Duncan p>

Duncan Whitaker, Dallas’s Beta, stepped out from the shadows of the building entrance, silent as a ghost. He held a sleek black folder in his hand and crossed to us, offering it not to Dallas but directly to me.

“What is this?” I asked, my fingers brushing the cool leather.

S𝘁𝗈𝘳𝘪е𝘴 yo𝗎 𝗐𝗈𝗇’𝘁 𝗉𝘂𝗍 𝖽o𝗐ո 𝘰𝗇

“Open it,” Dallas said softly.

I flipped the folder open. Inside was a property deed. The Everett Estate. But the owner wasn’t the bank, and it certainly wasn’t Braydon Hyde.

Owner: Adella Everett.

The date on the stamp was from two days ago.

“You…” I looked up at Dallas, shock stealing my voice.

Dallas turned his gaze to Braydon, his expression one of utter boredom. “You didn’t save anything, boy. I purchased the estate forty-eight hours ago. The debt is cleared. The land is hers. Not ‘ours.’ Hers p>

Braydon’s face went pale, then a blotchy red. The envelope in his hand shook violently. “You think you can just buy her loyalty?” he spat, his voice cracking.

“I didn’t buy her loyalty.” Dallas stepped forward, his aura flaring so violently that Braydon stumbled back against his car. “I returned her birthright. Something you would have used as a leash, I gave as a key.” He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me flush against him. “Go home, Braydon. Before I decide that stripping your rank wasn’t punishment enough p>

Braydon looked at me, searching for any trace of the girl who used to worship him. He found only the Luna of the Blackwood Pack staring back.

With a sound of pure frustration, he threw the envelope into the gutter, scrambled into his car, and peeled away, tires screeching like a wounded animal.

Silence returned to the street.

“Let’s go inside,” Dallas said gently.

We rode the private elevator to the penthouse in silence, my mind still reeling as I clutched the black folder to my chest. When the doors opened into the warm, expansive living room, I finally found my voice.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, turning to him. “You bought my family’s estate two days ago. We were in the cabin. You could have told me p>

Dallas set his jacket over the back of a chair and walked toward me, his large hands cupping my face, his thumbs tracing my cheekbones.