Aria’s POV
He put on the mask of the loving patriarch, his brows drawn like he cared.
“You’re the only daughter of the Darvin family,” he went on. “The Darvin Group will be yours soday. Why go to such lengths? Why make things difficult?”
I folded my arms, watching him with detachnt colder than the moon in winter.
Shalessness, it was truly an art form.
He’d stord in, claws out, and at the first scratch he received from , he hid behind false fatherly concern.
Sophia shifted beside him, uneasy, biting her lip. She knew this was a delaying tactic. She also knew I could sll her fear, her envy, the rot of desperation clinging to her like perfu.
“Alright then,” I said suddenly, smirking. My voice dropped, almost playful. Everyone froze.
Patrick’s eyes lit up. “Aria...you agree?” He asked, rubbing his hands together in excitent.
“How about this, return the shares to your father. Since we’re family, they’ll be yours eventually. You’re too young to handle a company this big. Let your father manage it a while longer...” He laughed, the sound brittle to my ears.
His heartbeat spiked. He thought he’d won.
He didn’t notice the sarcasm etched into every line of my face.
“I have a better idea,” I purred. “You still hold... what? Forty-three percent? Since it’ll be mine eventually...” I tilted my head, my smile widening, my eyes glittering like frost, “why not draft a will?”
The word dropped like a blade.
There was absolute silence. Reporters froze, their eyes wide.
Sophia inhaled sharply. Even Rowland’s lips twitched, suppressing a laugh.
Patrick blinked...once, twice...as if he hadn’t heard right. He was in his forties, still in his pri. To be asked for a will by the daughter he tossed away must have sounded ridiculous.
“With a strained smile, Patrick croaked, ‘Aria, you must be joking, right?’”
His voice was too loud and it grated on my ears. My wolf bristled beneath my skin, tail lashing in irritation. The scent of fear rolled off him in waves, sour and rancid.
My own smile vanished. My voice ca out cool, emotionless.
“If you won’t sign, then leave with your pack of vultures.”
I was once a prey to them.
It must really shock them to see that I now had sharp teeth.
The look on Patrick’s face showed he had finally realized he was being played by .
His jaw clenched tight, his pulse thundering.
“Aria, I’m not dead yet!” he spat.
“Almost.” I flicked my nails, bored. “I can sll the rot.”
A ripple of shock tore through the crowd.
Patrick’s eyes went bloodshot, rolling back as if he might drop dead right there. Margaret grabbed his arm before he toppled. The air around her trembled with fear.
Sophia stepped forward like so righteous lamb.
“Sis, even if you’re upset, how can you curse Dad like that?”
I looked straight through her and did not utter a word, not a breath spared.
Just cold, crushing silence.
It hurt her more than anything I could’ve said.
Margaret puffed up next, shaking like cornered prey.
“Your father has lowered himself so much, yet you act high and mighty? Fine! I’ll pretend I never had a daughter. But you will NOT get the Darvin Group!”
She made to storm off, but Patrick yanked her back out of fear and desperation.
I held forty percent of the company shares, he held forty-three. I was only percent away from becoming the CEO of their empire.
Their precious dynasty was collapsing to the daughter they discarded.
Sophia tried to fan the flas, her voice trembling.
“Aria is just angry... once she calms down... she’ll return the company to you.”
I almost laughed.
A sound like a wolf’s bark escaped , sharp and humorless..
Margaret’s eyes shook. I saw regret in her gaze, heard it in her heartbeat.
“If I had known,” she whispered, her voice cracking, “I should have ended it when you were a baby.”
My pupils burned gold. My claws pricked against my palms just beneath my skin.
She would have killed . Her own child.
Because I refused to kneel.
“For your information, Aria, I still have ten percent of the shares,” she stamred. “If I give them to Patrick, your efforts are for nothing!”
Sophia and Patrick brightened like hyenas scenting a corpse.
I stared at Margaret. Sothing inside wavered. Not pity, more like... mourning.
For the ghost of the mother I never had.
She flinched at my gaze.
“Let’s go,” she urged, tugging Patrick like a leash.
He gripped her back.
“Margaret... were you serious?”
“Of course.”
He embraced her and praised her.
My wolf gagged.
“I don’t have ti for your performance,” I cut in. I held up my phone, it had a ten seconds count down. “If you’re not gone by the ti this ten seconds is over, I’ll turn you over to Asterfell enforcers”
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