Chapter 3

Lucas's face went red. He opened his mouth to start cursing.

I gave him one cold look and let my Alpha Heir's Authority roll out.

He was just an Omega. He couldn't stand against pressure like that. He was on his knees in less than a second.

The people around us shifted, uncomfortable.

Only Ron stayed calm, his expression unchanged, like the pressure hadn't touched him at all.

So he wasn't just any debt collector.

He gave the check a little flick and turned to the others, his voice mild. "Are you all deaf? What are you waiting for? Get to work."

I had no interest in watching the rest of this circus. I turned and walked away.

Behind me, Lucas's curses turned into yelps of pain. I didn't slow down.

Looking back now, his act had been so sloppy. I really must have been blind in my last life — I bought it right up to the day I died.

When I got home, I told Dad everything that had happened.

Dad knew I had feelings for Lucas. He'd arranged for me to work at Lucas's company specifically to give us more time together, and he'd looked out for Lucas's career, too.

When I finished, he was furious.

"This Lucas — he's gone too far!"

I patted his back. "Dad, don't waste your anger on someone like him. He's not worth it."

"I'm done with that piece of trash."

I rested at home for a few days before going back to the office.

The moment I walked in, I saw Catherine, eyes red, gently dressing Lucas's wounds.

So Ron had been good to his word. Lucas had been having a rough few days.

A small crowd of coworkers had gathered around them, all clucking sympathetically.

When they saw me, they turned. No one said anything, but the looks on their faces told me what they thought of the "tyrannical Alpha's daughter."

A low, indignant voice came from somewhere in the group.

"So what if she's the Alpha's daughter? Does that mean she gets to kill someone's baby? Hire thugs to beat people up?"

Catherine got up and grabbed the speaker by the wrist, wiping at her tears. "Don't. It's enough that we got hurt. I don't want her coming after you, too."

Lucas joined in. "She's right. Get back to work, all of you. Her position is nothing we can challenge. She's already taken several of my projects without warning — what can we do? She's powerful."

That did it. The room turned.

Nothing made people angrier than someone snatching away the chance they earned with their own work.

Everyone instantly sympathized with Lucas’s plight, a chorus of voices demanding I apologize and hand the project back to him.

But Lucas's actual abilities were mediocre at best. Without my father pulling strings, he wouldn't have been anywhere near this new partnership.

The opportunity was never his to begin with. There was nothing to "give back."

"Quiet! It's working hours. What do you all think you're doing? Want your pay docked?"

Mr. Whitfield walked in, snapping at the room.

The crowd went silent and scattered back to their desks.

I had already finished packing up my few personal things. I turned to him, calm. "Mr. Whitfield, I won't be coming in anymore. I quit."

I walked out of the office without looking back, leaving a roomful of stunned faces behind me.

I was the Alpha's daughter. The reason these people felt comfortable speaking to me that way was that I had never built any real authority of my own.

Men like Mr. Whitfield, like my father — no one ever dared question their decisions.

In my last life, to stay at Lucas's side, to clear his path, I had given up better companies and bigger platforms. I'd settled for this small pack-owned office just to be near him.

This time, I wasn't giving up my future for anyone.

I was going to become someone no one would dare question.