Chapter 7

Ava's POV

It was a small but heavy iron box, my grandmother’s crest.

The box held our family heirloom—emerald earrings from our bloodline, stones that were said to glow green in moonlight when worn by the rightful heir.

It had been given to me by my grandmother.

My pulse quickened as I opened the box.

It was empty.

For a second, I simply stared. Then the truth settled with cold certainty. Someone had taken them.

I did not need a scent or witness or proof. My wolf knew. It had to be Laura.

My breath came sharper. I shoved the lid closed and kept searching, faster for my other valuables, urgency clawing through me.

My savings account book was gone.

The manuscripts and teaching volumes my mentor Mr. Oliver Hale had given me were also gone.

The attic spun with the taste of theft.

Right then, every instinct in me howled to run, to storm across the city to the Stone estate, tear through their gates, and demand my belongings back from Laura in front of everyone.

But instinct wasn't a strategy.

Without proof, I would be dismissed, humiliated and cast out again.

I forced myself to stop and calm down.

I grabbed the only remaining thing left of value, an old notebook Oliver Hale had given me years ago, its pages were yellowed and wrinkled with age and use. Somehow, she had missed this one, she probably thought it was useless.

Clutching it to my chest, I rose and walked out of the attic without looking back.

I grabbed the keys to my old car, the one I had before I went to prison. I started it and the engine roared to life. I let out a sigh and drove out of the villa with one destination in mind, my grandmother’s house.

Streetlights streaked past the windshield like pale moons. The city was asleep. My wolf paced restlessly inside me, grief and rage tangled so tight within me they were almost the same.

At a red light, I lowered my gaze to the notebook in my hands, the only thing left of my mentor, Oliver that I still had.

My thumb stroked its worn cover. Tears burned, clouding my vision.

I had nothing left. My mate was gone. One of my pups was dead, the other one completely hated my guts.

My name had been dragged through courts and prison. Five years of my life were carved out and discarded.

Even the belongings of the two people who had loved me most, my mentor, Oliver and my grandmother, had been stolen from me.

I let out a broken breath.

What kind of wolf fails to protect everything entrusted to her? I couldn’t even guard my place as Oliver’s last student. Laura had taken that too. She was wearing my role, my legacy, my identity like another borrowed skin.

If only…

If only I had fought harder when they accused me of murder. Maybe none of this would have happened.

My head bowed over the steering wheel at a stop. My fists clenched until veins stood out along my forearms, despair and fury thrashing in my chest.

Fine.

Laura could have Victor, I wanted nothing to do with him anymore. She could have Jasper.

She could even parade herself as the heiress of the Stone family.

But Mr. Oliver’s teachings and my grandmother’s heirlooms…

Those I would never surrender.

I owed them that much.

By the time I reached my grandmother’s house, the moon was past its peak.

The old estate loomed in darkness at the edge of the woods. It had stone walls and tall windows that were black and hollow. It looked abandoned and cold.

I got inside. The house was filled with dust. It was obvious no one had inhabited it for a while.

My throat closed.

“Grandma,” I whispered into the silent hall. “It’s me, Ava. I’m back.”

Only echoes answered me.

My grandmother had died in my second year of imprisonment. I hadn’t even been allowed to attend her funeral. I hadn’t touched her hand one last time. I hadn’t howled farewell beneath the moon.

I stood there for a long time, listening to the silence.

That night, I was unable to sleep.

I sat in my grandma's old study with Oliver Hale’s notebook open before me, light flickering over worn pages. My mind raced. I lost five years of my life, I experienced betrayal upon betrayal, theft upon theft.

I pondered about all I had to do next

The first step I had to take was clear. Tomorrow, I will go to Smith Corporation.

I would place the divorce papers in Victor’s hands and have him sign them. Then I would sever our bond, cutting all ties between us.

There would be more Ava Smith.

Only Ava.