Aria’s POV
The last trace of a smile drained from my face.
The mont the words left my lips, my wolf surged forward, restless and eager. I reached behind and drew out the whip. It slid into my palm like an extension of my arm.
Embedded along it were fine, vicious spikes, each one catching the glow like a row of hidden fangs.
Sophia froze.
I slled it instantly—the sharp, the fear lacing her scent. Her body reacted, a violent shiver racing down her spine. I narrowed my eyes slightly, studying her the way a predator studies prey. The terror widening her pupils fed sothing dark and steady inside .
I slowly ran my fingers over the leather handle, grounding myself, savoring the mont. This whip wasn’t random. I’d taken it from a place that rembered pain, a place where weakness was burned away and survival was all that mattered.
“You...” Sophia’s voice broke.
Her pupils dilated as she stared at the weapon in my hand.
Then...
Crack.
Sophia’s scream ripped through the room before her mind could register what had happened. She crumpled to the floor, the delicate fabric of her clothes tearing as angry red welts blood across her pale skin.
For a heartbeat, madness flashed through my eyes. I felt it, the raw urge to keep going, to let my wolf take over completely.
But I forced it down.
During those long days in the hospital, trapped between pain and fever, I’d had more than enough ti to think. To rember, to connect the dots. The fear, the suffering, the helplessness...I always knew who was behind it all. I was waiting for everyone to find out but no one did.
“Mom! It hurts!” Sophia sobbed, writhing on the floor, gasping for air.
Margaret shouted through the hole. “Aria, put the whip down! Let’s talk this out!” she pleaded, anger trembling beneath her voice.
I blinked surprised.
All my life, Margaret had been cold with . Distant and srict. There were nights I’d stared at the ceiling, wondering if I was truly her daughter at all. And now...now that I’d raised a hand against her precious adopted child, she softened.
The irony was almost laughable.
A cold scoff echoed in my mind. I lifted my lashes slowly, my expression blank, her words passing through like air. These people no longer mattered. Their opinions, their judgnts, they had no place in my world anymore.
I would do what I wanted.
My right arm lifted again, the whip raised high. My wolf bared its teeth, muscles coiling, ready.
Sophia looked up, saw the weapon looming above her, and nearly fainted. She squeezed her eyes shut, trembling violently, waiting for the pain to descend.
But it didn’t. A sound had made stop.
Slowly, shaking, Sophia opened her eyes and burst into tears.
“Nathan!”
My brows drew together sharply as I stared at the uninvited guest.
The door had been kicked open, and Nathan strode in, his Alpha aura flooding the room in an instant. Margaret and her sister followed behind him. The mont he took in the chaos, he moved on instinct, grabbing my wrist which was still in the air.
I felt his grip tense, felt his surprise. He hadn’t expected this strength. Not from soone who’d just left a hospital bed.
My lips curved into a faint, knowing smile.
“What are you doing?” he demanded, his brows knitted tightly, his gaze flicking between the whip, Sophia, and .
I t his eyes calmly, my own dark and unfathomable.
“The way she treated Lana,” I said slowly, each word hard, “I’ll treat her the sa.”
My wolf stirred, satisfied.
“It’s only fair.”
Nathan’s POV
I finally understood Aria’s reasoning and it only made the crease between my brows deepen. My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin, sensing danger where my mind tried to impose logic. I rubbed my temples, fighting the pressure building behind my eyes.
“This has nothing to do with Sophia,” I said, forcing my voice to stay steady. “It was the nanny. She was bribed by soone you had a past conflict with. She’s the one who tried to harm Lana.”
Aria stared at for a long mont, long enough that my wolf felt like prey under her gaze. Then she let out a cold snort.
“Nathan,” she said flatly, “I don’t need you to believe . And don’t interfere.”
She tried to wrench her wrist free from my grip. Instinct took over before thought, I tightened my hold, my fingers pressing down as a warning. Her glare snapped to mine, sharp enough to draw blood without claws.
“Stop this,” I growled.
The sound ca out low, edged with impatience and an Alpha’s command I rarely let slip. Aria’s back stiffened. Slowly, that familiar cold smile curved her lips again, her eyes glacial and rciless.
“Let go.”
I tightened my grip further, my strength no longer fully human. “Co ho with . Lana is waiting at Hemsworth Villa.”
At that, she stopped struggling.
Then she turned and looked at .
That look...I knew it. I’d seen it before, usually when she had already decided to burn the world down. But this ti, it hit like a blow to the chest. My wolf whimpered, retreating.
An emptiness spread through , cold and numbing, my heart trembling as if caught in an unseen clawed fist.
“I said, let go of now!,” she said, enunciating every word.
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