Chapter 454
Gigi stared at me for a long moment, weighing her pride against the survival of our bloodline. Finally, she gave a stiff nod. “Only until the threat is neutralized. I will not have that serpent in my house a second longer than necessary.”
Adella POV
The garden at Hyde Manor was a graveyard of withered winter roses. The freezing air bit at my pale skin, but I couldn’t feel the cold. I was entirely numb, staring at the dead petals scattered across the frost-covered stone path.
Footsteps crunched behind me. Braydon’s heavy pine scent wrapped around me — suffocating, but familiar.
“You shouldn’t be out here, Addie,” Braydon murmured, draping a thick wool blanket over my shoulders. “Though I suppose you have a right to be angry. Marshall Enterprises’ stock just surged by five percent this morning. The market loves a ruthless, unattached King.”
The words hit me like a physical blow.
Ruthless. He had thrown me away like garbage, paraded his mistress in front of cameras, and was now profiting from my destruction. I had spent months trying to heal his broken soul, and he had used my love as a stepping stone.
The hollow crater in my chest suddenly ignited. The sorrow burned away, replaced by a blazing, white-hot fury that made my blood boil.
I stood, letting the blanket fall to the frozen ground. I turned to Braydon, my eyes hard and dry.
“I don’t want your dirty money, Braydon,” I said, my voice ringing with lethal clarity. “I want to make him bleed.”
р𝘰р𝗎𝗹а𝗋 𝘴𝗍𝗈𝗋𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝗈𝘯 g𝖺𝗅ոo𝘷𝖾𝗅s.𝖼𝘰𝗆
Braydon’s eyes widened slightly, a dark, predatory thrill flashing in his gaze.
“I want my parents’ gallery back,” I declared, the wrath of a scorned woman fueling every word. “I want to tear down his commercial empire piece by piece. I want the Elders to see that an Alpha who discards his wife like disposable trash doesn’t deserve the Moon Goddess’s blessing.”
Braydon smiled — a genuine, terrifying grin of absolute victory. “You have my entire fortune and power behind you, Adella. Whatever you need.”
“Call your lawyers,” I commanded coldly. “I’m going to the penthouse to clear out the rest of my life. It’s time to burn his memory to the ground.”
Dallas POV
I sat in the dark of my study, staring at the security feed on my laptop. The cameras at the penthouse entrance showed Adella stepping out of Braydon’s car. Her face was a mask of cold fury, her spine rigid with a hatred I had never seen in her before.
It had worked. The poison had taken root.
She hated me. The plan was working perfectly.
I closed the laptop, plunging the room back into darkness. The image of her face, twisted with rage, burned behind my eyelids.
With trembling, bloodstained fingers, I pulled my phone from my pocket and opened the hidden, encrypted folder. Hundreds of photographs stared back at me. Adella smiling at the lake house. Adella sleeping against my chest. The only light I had ever known.
My thumb hovered over the delete icon.
Hate me, little wolf, I prayed silently to the empty room. Hate me enough to live.