Chapter 433
Chapter 433:
It was time to head to the Soho House private club. I had a meeting with my new legal servant, and I fully expected Isabelle to make this process as painful as possible.
Adelina Wolfe POV
The plush velvet sofa in the dimly lit lobby of the Soho House was comfortable, but after forty-five minutes of waiting for Isabelle Sterling, my patience was wearing dangerously thin. The air smelled of expensive leather and old books — a quiet atmosphere abruptly shattered by a cloying wave of human perfume mixed with the sour, bitter scent of pure jealousy.
I didn’t need my dormant White Wolf to tell me who it was.
“Working so hard for a measly fifty million dollars?” Dr. Chloe Monroe sneered, stepping into my line of sight. Her smile was a mask of faux sympathy, but her eyes burned with elitist disdain.
R𝗲𝘢𝖽 𝗐𝗂𝘁𝗵𝗈𝘶𝗍 𝘪𝘯𝗍e𝘳𝘳𝗎p𝘁𝗶о𝗇𝘀 о𝘯
I kept my expression perfectly blank, refusing to give her the satisfaction of a reaction.
Chloe leaned closer, her voice dropping into a venomous whisper. “You can play the businesswoman all you want, Adelina, but we both know the truth. A Lycan King like Kain needs a Queen with a powerful Inner Wolf. Not a pathetic, wolfless ornament he has to pity and protect p>
Her words were a precision strike, slicing straight through my armor and hitting my deepest, darkest insecurities. The shame burned in my chest, but I forced my spine to remain steel-straight.
“You’re projecting, Chloe,” I said, my voice dripping with icy indifference. “You are so obsessed with my Mate because you can’t handle the fact that he rejected you. To Kain, you aren’t a rival. You aren’t even a memory. You are just the annoying ghost of an employee he fired p>
The cruel truth hit her like a physical blow. Chloe’s smug facade crumbled instantly, her face flushing with profound humiliation. Unable to formulate a comeback, she spun on her heel and practically fled the lobby.
I had won the battle. But as I sat alone in the dim light, Chloe’s toxic words took root in my mind, wrapping around my heart like thorny vines.
By 9:00 PM, the freezing rain of the Meatpacking District had chilled me to the bone. I stepped into the penthouse den at Blackstone Tower, my body aching with exhaustion. The room was dark, save for the city lights bleeding through the floor-to-ceiling windows. A single glass of scotch sat untouched beside a leather briefcase.
The air was suffocatingly thick with Kain’s ancient cedar scent, laced with a dark, brooding frustration.
He stepped out of the shadows, his massive frame tense. We had been locked in a bitter cold war for three days, and the distance between us felt like a physical chasm. I kept my eyes averted, trying to walk past him toward the hallway.
As I moved, I instinctively flinched, dodging his outstretched hand.
A low, dangerous growl vibrated in Kain’s chest. His patience had officially evaporated. With the undeniable, unyielding strength of an Alpha, he caught my wrist — not hurting me, but the grip was absolute. He yanked me flush against his hard chest, his golden eyes blazing down at me.