Chapter Three

Natalie pov 

"Adrian," I asked him one night when we were alone in his car. "Do you think... do you think we could be mates?"

Adrian did not say no. He just pulled me close and kissed my forehead.

"We do not need the moon to tell us what we are, Natalia," he murmured against my hair. "You belong with me."

I believed him. That belief became my entire world. It was the food that kept me going when I was tired. It was the shield that protected me when other wolves sneered at me in the hallways. I loved him with every single piece of my heart.

A loud door slam brought me right back to the present.

I blinked. The breakroom was still dark and quiet. My hands were shaking.

I checked my watch. It was almost time for the big party.

I stood up and smoothed my skirt. I had work to do. I pulled out a fresh leather folder from my bag.

This was my special project. I spent six months working on it in secret. 

It was a five-year expansion plan that showed how Blackwood could safely push into territories owned by the bloodthirsty Red Moon pack and the Gold Claw pack without starting a war. 

It was my masterpiece. If Adrian used this plan, Blackwood would become the biggest supernatural company in the whole country.

I wanted to give it to him before the party started. I wanted to see his eyes light up. I wanted him to hold my hand and say, 'We did it, Natalia.'

I walked out of the breakroom and down the long, carpeted hallway toward Adrian's private office.

The heavy oak doors were almost closed, but a small crack was left open. Warm yellow light poured out onto the dark floor.

I raised my hand to knock on the wood. Then I heard voices inside.

"The party is going to be huge, Boss," a voice said. It was Thomas, Adrian's Beta. Thomas was a cruel wolf who always sneered at me when Adrian was not looking. "Every Alpha from the northern region is coming."

"Good," Adrian replied. His voice sounded calm and cool. "That is exactly what I want."

I smiled softly outside the door. I held the folder tight against my chest. They were talking about the celebration. I took a breath, ready to push the door open and join them.

"What about the human girl?" Thomas asked suddenly.

I froze. My hand stopped an inch away from the wood.

"What about her?" Adrian asked.

"She fixed that thirty-million-dollar mistake today," Thomas said. His voice sounded annoyed. "Marcus would not stop talking about it. The board members are starting to ask who keeps fixing our financial models. Some of them think she is too smart for her own good."

My heart began to beat fast. 

I waited for Adrian to speak. I waited for him to tell Thomas to respect me. I waited for him to say that I was the brain of this company.

A soft laugh came from inside the room. It was Adrian's laugh. But it did not sound warm. It sounded cold, like ice scraping on metal.

"Let them talk," Adrian said casually. "It does not change anything."

"Are you going to bring her to the main stage tonight?" Thomas asked. "She has been running your whole backend for three years, Adrian. She thinks she is your partner. Hell, half the staff thinks you are going to announce she is your mate tonight."

There was a long silence.

I held my breath. My chest hurt so bad I thought my lungs would burst. I leaned a tiny bit closer to the crack in the door.

"Partner?" Adrian snorted. The sound was full of nasty laughter. "Do not be ridiculous, Thomas."

The world seemed to stop turning. The noise of the city outside vanished. All I could hear was the loud blood rushing in my ears.

"She is a wolf-less Omega," Adrian said. His voice was dripping with cold contempt. "She is broken. She has no power, no pack, and no wolf. She is nothing."

I felt like someone punched me right in the stomach. All the air left my body in a sharp gasp. I slapped my hand over my mouth so I would not scream out loud.

"Then why keep her around?" Thomas asked.

"Because she is useful," Adrian answered smoothly. "She works twenty hours a day for a tiny salary because she thinks I love her. She thinks she is special because an Alpha looks at her. It is so easy to control her, Thomas. All I have to do is smile at her once a week, and she saves me millions of dollars."

"You are cold, Boss," Thomas laughed.

"I am smart," Adrian said. "She served her purpose. She helped me build Blackwood. But now we are big. Tonight, I am meeting the Alpha of the Crescent Pack. He has a real daughter. A purebred Alpha female. That is the kind of woman who belongs beside me on the throne. Not a useless, wolf-less human."

I stood outside the door, frozen solid.

The hallway was cold, but inside my body, everything felt like it was burning to ashes. The leather folder in my hands felt heavy as lead.

Three years....Three years of my life. Three years of missed sleep. Three years of blood, sweat, and tears. Three years of loving him with every piece of my broken soul.

It was all a lie.

He never saw me as a person. He never cared about my mind. To him, I was just a stupid, desperate girl who worked for free because he smiled at me.

Tears filled my eyes, blinding me. They ran down my cheeks, hot and fast, soaking into the collar of my shirt.

Inside the office, I heard footsteps moving toward the door.

"Come," Adrian said to Thomas. "It is time to go down to the gala. Let us go show them who rules this city."

My body moved on instinct. I stepped backward, slowly and quietly, pulling away from the door. I backed up into the dark shadows of the hallway.

The heavy oak door swung open.

Adrian walked out. He adjusted his gold cufflinks. He looked powerful, rich, and handsome. He walked past the shadow where I stood. He did not look at me. He did not smell my scent. He did not even know I was there.

He walked toward the elevator to take his throne.

I stayed hidden in the dark. I looked down at the five-year plan in my hands. The paper was crushed where my fingers gripped it too tight.

For three years, I was the invisible woman behind the Alpha. I was the brain that built his empire. I was the fool who loved a monster.

I wiped the tears off my face with the back of my hand. My body stopped shaking. The soft, scared girl who begged for love died right there in that dark hallway.

Something cold and hard took her place.

If I built the Blackwood Group... I could tear it down.