Chapter 29
Chapter 29:
The next morning, after Kain left for a board meeting, I sat alone in the penthouse solarium. The space was encased in bulletproof glass, offering a dizzying 270-degree view of the New York skyline.
Despite the financial war I was about to wage on my family, my pride demanded I secure my own future. I had spent the last two hours emailing my architectural design portfolios to the top five firms in the city.
My laptop chimed. Then it chimed again.
Within twenty minutes, I received five rapid, overly polite rejection emails. My stomach plummeted. The final email, from a prestigious Pack-owned firm, included a subtle, chilling line: Due to an internal industry warning regarding your profile, we cannot proceed.
𝗥𝘰𝗆𝗮n𝗰𝖾 𝘢n𝗱 𝘱𝖺sѕіo𝘯 o𝘯
Before I could process the rejection, my cell phone rang. Unknown number.
“Hello p>
“Having a rough morning, Adelina?” Dixie Davenport’s voice dripped with fake sympathy and undisguised glee.
My grip tightened on the phone. “What did Jase do, Dixie p>
“Alpha Jase,” she corrected smugly. “He made a few calls. Every Pack-affiliated architecture firm and human contractor on the East Coast has been notified. Anyone who hires you loses all their Davenport Tech contracts immediately. You’re blacklisted, sweetie p>
A hot wave of anger washed over me. Jase was trying to starve me out.
“He’s just worried about you, Adelina,” Dixie continued, playing the role of concerned sister perfectly. “It’s too dangerous for a wolfless Omega out there. Jase said if you just come back, apologize, and admit you need your Alpha, this will all stop. He’ll even forgive your little stunt with that Rogue p>
He wanted to destroy my career so I would crawl back to his cage.
I didn’t yell. I didn’t cry. I slowly lowered my left hand to my lap, the morning sunlight catching the massive, flawless pink diamond resting on my ring finger. The symbol of a Lycan Queen.
Jase thought he was cutting off my oxygen, completely unaware that I was now breathing the air of gods. His threats were so incredibly, pathetically small.
I ended the call without a word and blocked the number. I closed my laptop, the sting of the rejections entirely eclipsed by a cold, lethal clarity. I stood up from the white sofa, ready to go to the hotel and fire a CFO.
Jase POV
The metallic, ozone scent of my own frustration choked the air inside my glass office at Davenport Tech. Three days. It had been three days since I ordered the industry-wide blacklist on Adelina. She was supposed to be starving, desperate, and crawling back to my penthouse to beg for my forgiveness. Instead, she had vanished into thin air.
I violently yanked at my silk tie, staring at the stagnant stock prices on my monitor. My Inner Wolf clawed relentlessly at the inside of my skull, roaring for the Omega that belonged to us. Stolen. Find her. Ours.