Chapter 4

My phone lit up again. A long voice note from Mia.

I tapped it. Her fake-sweet facade was completely torn away, her voice shrill and vicious.

"Hester, I'm warning you! If Felix's alliance falls through today, I'll tell everyone you used your job for personal revenge!"

"You're just jealous that my life is better than yours! You're jealous that Felix loves me!"

"If you dare ruin my life, I will never let you get away with it!"

As soon as the voice note ended, a call came in.

Mother.

I answered, and before I could speak, a torrent of abuse hit me.

"Hester! Did you even listen to a word I said?! Your sister is crying her eyes out!"

"Let me tell you, if you mess this up today, don't you ever come back to this family! I'll pretend I never had you as a daughter!"

Through the phone, I could faintly hear Mia's fake sobbing. "Mom, stop yelling at Hester... Maybe she really is just a bottom-tier Beta who isn't qualified to see the Alpha. It's normal that she can't help..."

That only made my mother angrier. "She's just cold-blooded! Since you two were kids, she always loved bullying you. Whatever you wanted, she had to steal it. And now she's sabotaging your mate's business! What is wrong with her?!"

Listening to these words, I suddenly found it incredibly hilarious.

Bullying Mia?

My mind snapped back to the past.

When we were kids, Mia broke the most expensive vase in the house. Without asking what happened, my mother forced me to kneel in the snow all night as punishment.

The birthday present I bought for myself with a year's worth of allowance? The moment Mia laid eyes on it, my parents snatched it from my hands and gave it to her.

Even my coming-of-age dress was cut to shreds by Mia with scissors, just because she said it looked better than hers.

All my grievances, all my concessions—in their eyes, that was me bullying Mia?

"Are you done?" I coldly interrupted my mother's screaming.

The other end of the line went dead silent.

"If you're done, I'm hanging up."

I hit the end button without hesitation and blocked both of their numbers.

I had stopped caring about this family a long time ago.

I am the Alpha of the Crimson Pack now. What I have is far greater than anything I ever lost.

The antique clock on the wall chimed heavily.

10:00 AM. Time for the meeting.

I stood up and walked to the massive window, looking down at the concrete jungle that belonged to me.

The wolf spirit inside me began to boil. I stopped reigning in the oppressive aura of a top-tier Alpha. It spread outward like physical ripples, filling the entire top-floor office.

The air grew heavy. Even the temperature seemed to drop to freezing.

Footsteps echoed outside the door.

"Alpha Felix, right this way," Marcus's cold, professional voice announced.

"Thank you. Please, be sure to put in a good word for me with your Alpha," Felix replied, unable to hide the fawning tone in his voice.

The office doors slowly pushed open.

I turned around and looked at the entrance.

Felix strode in, wearing a perfect, heavily-practiced smile.

"Greetings, honorable Alpha of the Crimson Pack, I am..."

His voice choked in his throat.

When he looked up and saw who was standing behind the desk, the smile on his face died instantly.

The crushing weight of a top-tier Alpha's aura hit him, threatening to pulverize his soul.

This was absolute dominance of hierarchy.

The files he had so carefully prepared slipped from his hands, scattering across the floor with a sharp slap.

He stared at me, his pupils contracting violently, his face as pale as paper.

His lips trembled for a long time before he finally forced a broken sound from his throat.

"Hester...?"

I looked at him. Looked at the man I had crushed on for years.

"Alpha Felix. Have a seat."