Chapter 429
Chapter 429:
Adelina Wolfe POV
The morning sun glared off the floor-to-ceiling glass walls of Sterling Capital’s flagship conference room, but the brilliant light did nothing to warm the space. Across the long, heavy black walnut table sat Isabelle Sterling. She hadn’t even offered her hand when I walked through the thick glass doors.
The air in the room was suffocating, thick with her cold, expensive human perfume — a sterile, calculated scent designed to mask any underlying emotion and grate against a werewolf’s heightened senses. But my dormant White Wolf remained a quiet, calculating presence in the back of my mind, anchoring me with an icy, strategic calm.
“Your European expansion projections for The Wolfe Hotel Group are entirely delusional, Ms. Wolfe,” Isabelle said, her voice a flat drone of unvarnished hostility. “Frankly, I’m surprised a wolfless girl thinks she has the slightest clue how to manage a Pack’s assets on a global scale p>
I didn’t flinch. I kept my posture perfectly straight, meeting her venomous glare. “The data speaks for itself, Isabelle. The fifty million Series B funding will yield a twenty percent return within three quarters. The market research is bulletproof p>
Isabelle’s lips curled into a vindictive smirk. She slid a sleek leather folder across the pristine table. “Sterling Capital is prepared to offer the fifty million. However, we require a structural safeguard. Clause four p>
𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗻
I flipped the document open. My eyes locked onto the bold print, and my blood ran cold. Absolute veto power over all executive appointments granted to the primary stakeholder’s proxy: Jase Davenport.
My breath hitched for a fraction of a second. Jase. The broken Alpha who had thrown me away, now reduced to Isabelle’s puppet. She wanted to hand my failed ex-boyfriend the leash to my empire. This wasn’t a business negotiation — it was a public execution of my pride.
I closed the folder and pushed it back across the walnut table. “A poison pill. I’m not handing control of my legacy to a man who couldn’t even manage his own Pack p>
Isabelle’s eyes flashed with raw, irrational hatred. “You have twenty-four hours to sign, Adelina. Or your little European dream dies on this table p>
Thirty minutes later, I was pacing the hardwood floor of my penthouse office at the Wolfe Hotel. The adrenaline of the insult was still burning in my veins.
“Sarah,” I snapped, pressing the intercom on my desk. “I need a full background check on Isabelle Sterling’s impending marriage to Jase Davenport. Every financial tie, every rumor. Now p>
My CFO, standing nervously by the doorway, cleared his throat. “Luna… if Sterling Capital pulls out, our expansion is dead in the water. Perhaps you could ask your Mate? The Lycan King could fund this with a single phone call p>
My dormant wolf bristled at the implication of weakness. I turned to him, my voice dropping to a lethal, Alpha-like calm. “This is my Pack’s legacy. I will not have my Mate fight my battles for me. Am I understood p>
He bowed his head quickly, exposing his neck in submission. “Yes, Luna p>
An hour later, Sarah slipped through the doorway and handed me a thick tablet. “You were right to dig, Adelina. It’s worse than we thought p>