Chapter 54
Chapter 54:
Before I could process the relief — or the crushing abandonment — Kain’s storm-gray eyes suddenly glazed over, the telltale sign of an active mind-link. When he focused back on me, the temperature in the room seemed to drop.
“My father considers the trash taken out,” Kain relayed, his tone carefully neutral, though a dangerous muscle ticked near his ear. “And now, he wishes to discuss the Blackstone legacy p>
“Legacy?” I echoed, my voice brittle.
“He demands at least five grandchildren to secure the Lycan and White Wolf bloodlines,” Kain said, the words hanging in the air like a death sentence. “He is offering a Tuscan villa for every boy. A Parisian penthouse for every girl. He also insists the Marking ceremony happen immediately. He doesn’t want us wasting time p>
The air vanished from my lungs. A villa. A penthouse. I wasn’t a Queen to them. I was a transaction — a high-priced breeder acquired to churn out heirs, wrapped in the initials of a dead woman Kain couldn’t let go of. I had traded Jase’s cruel cage for a gilded, terrifying one.
Kira POV
𝗟а𝗍𝘦st c𝗁𝖺pte𝗋s оn
I stood frozen in the shadows of the upstairs gallery, the dim light casting long, distorted shapes across the portraits of past Wolfe Alphas. My heart pounded so hard it bruised my ribs.
Ten million dollars.
Tuscan villas. Parisian penthouses.
I looked down at my trembling left hand. The diamond engagement ring Jase had given me caught the faint light. It used to be my ultimate prize. Now it felt like a shackle to a sinking stone. Jase’s company stock was plummeting, and he was facing human assault charges because he couldn’t control his temper around that Lycan King.
My Jase, my future Alpha, was being destroyed — while Adelina, that pathetic, wolfless girl, was being handed the world simply for existing.
My Inner Wolf snarled, thrashing against my ribs in a blind, rabid frenzy of envy. I dug my manicured nails so deeply into my palms that the sharp, metallic tang of my own blood hit the back of my throat.
She didn’t deserve that Manor. She didn’t deserve that wealth, or the protection of a monster who could write ten-million-dollar checks like pocket change.
It should be me.
Adelina thought she had won. She thought she could buy off my parents and live happily ever after in her Parisian penthouses. But she was wrong. Jase was a desperate, cornered beast right now, utterly obsessed with getting her back. And a desperate beast was the easiest thing in the world to weaponize.
Adelina POV
The ride to the penthouse den at Blackstone Tower was suffocating. The silence between Kain and me was thick enough to choke on, heavy with the weight of his father’s crude demands.
I kicked off my heels the moment we entered the massive, cavernous space. Three walls of floor-to-ceiling bulletproof glass overlooked the glittering diamond river of the Manhattan skyline, but the minimalist, cold-toned decor only made me feel more isolated. I sank into the velvet sofa, pulling my knees to my chest.