Chapter Seven

Natalie POV

I sat at my desk and pulled a blank document onto the screen, my fingers hovered over the keyboard. I stared at the blinking cursor, feeling a strange sense of calmness. The terrifying discovery about my parents had burned away every drop of sadness inside me, leaving nothing but a cold focus.

"You want to be a genius, Scarlett?" I whispered to the empty room. "Then I will make you sound like one."

My fingers hit the keys, I wrote a masterpiece of high-level corporate finance. I filled the pages with complex economic terms, aggressive tax strategies, and deep legal frameworks. I made the speech sound exactly like the brilliant five-year expansion plan I had created.

I knew Scarlett. She was a beautiful, powerful female, but she had never worked a day in a corporate office. When she stood on that stage tonight and read these words, the pack elders would be amazed. But if any of the smart investors asked her a single question about what she just read, she would not know the answers.

The door to my office suddenly swung open without a knock, I quickly minimized the speech and looked up. Thomas, Adrian’s Beta, walked in. He looked at me with his usual nasty sneer, his eyes dropping to my simple clothes.

"Still in your plain clothes?" Thomas asked, leaning against the doorframe. "The Alpha told you to wear the blue dress, the gala starts in less than an hour."

"I am finishing the speech, Beta Thomas," I said quietly, keeping my face blank. "I will change as soon as I am done."

Thomas cackled, he walked over to my desk and looked down at me like I was a bug on his shoe. "Make sure it is perfect," Thomas warned, crossing his arms.

I looked up into his cruel eyes and offered him a small, polite smile. "Do not worry, Thomas," I said. "The speech is flawless."

"Just get it done," Thomas snapped,"Print it out and have it sent down to her dressing room. And hurry up."

"Of course," I replied.

Thomas turned around and walked out of my office, slamming the door behind him. I let out a slow breath and opened a new, highly secure window on my computer. While I was typing Scarlett's speech, I was doing something else in the background.

I logged directly into the supernatural business council's legal database, and I pulled up the original drafts of the five-year expansion plan. Because I had created the strategy on my own time, on my own personal laptop before bringing it to Blackwood, the intellectual property legally belonged to me. Adrian had always been too arrogant to ask me to sign a transfer agreement, he just assumed what was mine was his.

I filled out the copyright forms, I attached the timestamps that proved I had written the original code six months ago. I typed my full name, Natalia Ernest, as the sole owner of the strategy.

I clicked submit.

A green checkmark appeared on the screen.

Patent Registered, ownership confirmed.

When Scarlett presented the plan tonight, she would not just be lying. She would be publicly claiming stolen, legally protected property in front of the highest financial committee in the state.

I opened the Blackwood main server. For three years, I had built the hidden architecture that kept this company alive. I had created the financial models, the supplier routes, the risk management codes, and the investment trackers.

I highlighted my original frameworks, I did not delete the basic surface files. If I deleted everything, the company would crash tonight, and Adrian would immediately shut down the building. I needed him to be distracted. So, I just pulled out the deep roots.

I closed the server, my computer screen showed nothing but my empty desktop background.

I reached into my desk drawer and pulled out a white piece of paper, I took my favorite black ink pen from its holder.

For a moment, I just stared at the blank page. A few days ago, if I had to write a letter to Adrian, it would have been full of emotion. Now, I had nothing left to say to him.

I pressed the pen to the paper and wrote three simple sentences.

My partnership with the Blackwood Group is officially terminated, effective immediately. All personal items have been removed, do not attempt to contact me.

I signed my name at the bottom.

I opened my bottom drawer and took out a long stick of black sealing wax and a small lighter, I flicked the lighter and held the flame under the wax. I watched the black wax melt and drip onto the center of the folded white paper, forming a dark, glossy puddle.

I picked up my stamp and pressed it firmly into the hot wax. I grabbed a small cardboard box from the supply closet, and I packed my favorite pen, my coffee mug, and the framed picture of my parents that used to sit on my desk.

I stood up and put on my long black winter coat, I left the stupid blue dress hanging on the back of the door and picked up the black-wax letter in one hand and my box in the other. I walked out of my office and shut the door. It locked automatically behind me with a loud click.

The top floor of the headquarters was silent and empty. The sun had gone down, and the only light came from the emergency exit signs glowing red in the dark hallway.

Beneath my feet, I could feel the floor vibrating. The bass of the gala music was thumping from the grand ballroom downstairs, I could faintly hear the sound of hundreds of wolves laughing, drinking, and celebrating the empire they thought their Alpha had built.

I walked down the dark hallway toward Adrian’s office, his door was slightly open. I pushed it wide and stepped inside. I walked up to the desk and placed the letter with the black wax seal right in the center of his desk pad. I reached over and turned on his small desk lamp, pointing the spotlight directly onto the letter. There was no way he could miss it when he came back up here.

I took one last look around the beautiful office where I had spent three years of my life working for a ghost. "Goodbye, Adrian," I whispered to the empty room.

I turned around and walked out and took the executive elevator down to the ground floor. When the doors opened, I could hear the roar of the party coming from the main hall. Waiters were rushing past carrying trays of champagne. Security guards were distracted by the arriving Alphas.

I walked toward the side exit, pushing open the glass doors. The cold night air hit my face instantly, the city was loud, filled with honking cars and flashing streetlights. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the freezing air.

For the first time in my entire life, I felt free. I was no longer an Omega seeking approval or an invisible architect hiding in the shadows. I stepped onto the wet sidewalk and began to walk away from the Blackwood building.

Suddenly, my cell phone buzzed violently in my coat pocket. I stopped walking and pulled it out, the screen lit up in the darkness. It was a text message from an unknown number.

I opened the message.

Well done, Natalia. You finally walked away, I am waiting in the black car at the corner. Let us talk about you.

My heart skipped a beat.

I slowly lowered the phone and looked down the dark street. About fifty yards away, idling silently directly under a flickering yellow streetlamp, was a sleek, heavily tinted black luxury car. The engine gave a low, powerful purr.

Someone had been watching me, someone knew exactly what I was doing tonight.

I stared at the dark windows of the car, my mind raced.

Which executive was it? Was it one of the senior directors who noticed my brilliance? Was it a rival Alpha trying to swoop in and steal Adrian's best weapon before the night was even over?

A wave of disgust washed over me.

They were all the same.

They just wanted to use my brain to build their own castles. They wanted to put me in another office, give me another fake title, and let me do all the work while they took all the power.

Not anymore.

I was done working for Alphas.

I was done letting other people control my destiny.

I looked straight at the tinted windows of the black car and did not smile.

I deleted the text message from my phone. I tightened my grip on my cardboard box, turned my back to the idling car, and walked in the opposite direction, just then my phone buzzed again, another text coming in.