Chapter 382
Chapter 382:
“Bring Lily up here. Now,” I commanded.
Minutes later, the human receptionist stood before my desk. Lily was trembling so violently it looked as though her legs might give out. Tears spilled down her cheeks before I had even asked a single question.
“I’m so sorry, Ms. Wolfe,” Lily sobbed, her hands twisting the fabric of her uniform skirt. “She threatened my career. She said her father would dismantle the hotel brick by brick if I didn’t let her up to retrieve her Hermès bag. I was terrified p>
I didn’t raise my voice. I simply turned my computer monitor toward her and played the security footage my team had just pulled. It showed Victoria practically sprinting down the hallway toward the elevator, her hand clamped over her designer bag in a conspicuously guarded posture.
“You are dismissed, Lily,” I said, my voice a flat, emotionless void.
𝗤𝗎аl𝗂𝗍𝘺 𝘵𝗿an𝘀𝗅𝗮𝗍iо𝗇𝘀 𝘰n
As the weeping receptionist hurried out, I picked up my phone. I was about to call Fletcher Banks to lock down the city when the screen lit up with an urgent message from Blake Davenport.
It was a screenshot of an Instagram Story.
Victoria Sterling, smirking into a mirror. Resting against her collarbone was the unmistakable, icy blue brilliance of the Blackstone Sapphire. The caption beneath the photo read: Some gifts are just perfect. A flawless surprise for a true queen.
Blake’s text followed immediately: Is this woman insane? Isn’t that what Kain gave you p>
A dark, humorless laugh escaped my lips. Victoria’s desperate need for validation and her pathetic attempt to humiliate me within our social circle had just handed me the exact weapon I needed to destroy her. She thought she had blocked me — entirely forgetting that I had loyal allies embedded in the very society she worshipped.
I forwarded the screenshot directly to Liam Craig in the Blackstone legal department for immediate cloud forensics. Then I bypassed my Beta and dialed Victoria’s number directly.
She answered on the third ring. The ambient noise of a trendy SoHo café buzzed in the background.
“Adelina,” Victoria purred, her voice dripping with lazy, practiced arrogance. “To what do I owe the pleasure p>
“I want the necklace back,” I said, my tone completely devoid of warmth.
“What necklace?” she replied, feigning a light, confused laugh. “Are you losing your mind p>
“Drop the act, Victoria,” I cut her off, the absolute authority of a Queen lacing every syllable. “The Instagram photo of you wearing it is sitting on my legal counsel’s desk right now. I’m giving you one hour. After that, I will file charges with the Continental Pack Council for the theft of a Luna’s artifact p>
The background noise of the café seemed to vanish entirely.
“You know exactly what they do to humans who dare challenge Lycan authority,” I added, letting the lethal promise hang in the silence between us.
A sharp, terrified gasp echoed through the speaker — followed by a suffocating, dead silence.