Chapter 3

I had struck a nerve. Sarah's face flushed a violent, angry red.

"You miserable bitch, how dare you curse my child," she shrieked.

She snatched a cup of steaming hot coffee off the desk and lunged forward, hurling the scalding liquid directly at my face. I stepped aside with fluid grace, leaving the boiling coffee to splash violently across the imported designer rug she had put in.

"What is going on in here?" Olaf's deep voice boomed from the doorway. He marched into the room, his expression instantly darkening as his eyes took in the massive coffee stain on the floor and Sarah's hysterical state.

"Olaf," Sarah wailed, instantly melting into a puddle of tears as she threw herself into his arms. "She arrived and started cursing our baby, saying our child is going to be a freak."

Olaf wrapped his arms securely around her, turning a lethal, furious glare in my direction. "Augusta, have you lost every shred of your dignity? How dare you show your face here and cause a scene?"

Olaf's eyes burned with a mixture of intense hatred and utter impatience, as if I were a loose end he couldn't shake.

"I came back to retrieve what belongs to me," I said, pointing directly to the ring on Sarah's finger, my voice remaining entirely flat. "That ring is a sacred heirloom left by my mother, not a prop for you to use to appease your lover"

Olaf let out a harsh scoff, deliberately stepping in front of Sarah to shield her from my view.

"The moment you entered the gates of my pack, everything you brought became collective pack property," Olaf stated with disgusting entitlement. "Sarah is currently carrying my child, which makes her infinitely more qualified to wear that ring than you will ever be."

The absolute righteousness in his voice made my stomach turn.

"Pack property?" I asked, looking him dead in the eye. "If I hadn't spent the last five years cleaning up your pathetic messes and securing every major merger, Blackwood Group would have filed for bankruptcy years ago.

"And now you have the audacity to talk to me about pack property?"

The truth clearly stung. Olaf's face turned an ugly, mottled shade of purple.

In a desperate bid to force me into submission, he forcefully released the full pressure of his Alpha aura into the room.

The heavy, suffocating scent crashed over me like a wave, threatening to crush my lungs. I clamped my jaw shut, staring right through him and refusing to back down even half an inch.

Sarah watched my silent struggle from behind his shoulder, a vicious, satisfied smirk playing on her lips.

"Oh my, my stomach..." she suddenly gasped out, clutching her abdomen with an incredibly theatrical wail of agony.

Olaf instantly suppressed his Alpha aura, his face filling with panic as he held her steady. "What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

Sarah leaned weakly against his chest, pointing a trembling finger at me. "Her look is so terrifying. She's trying to hurt our baby."

Olaf flew into an absolute frenzy of rage.

"Augusta, you are a thoroughly vile, malicious monster," he roared, pointing a shaking finger directly at my face. "You couldn't even give me a child, and now you have the nerve to go after my own flesh and blood?

"Security. Throw this psychotic woman out of my sight."

Within seconds, several massive, heavily built werewolf guards rushed into the executive office, forming a tight, aggressive circle around me.

I offered no resistance, keeping my cold eyes locked onto Olaf's face.

"You are going to regret this, Olaf," I said quietly.

Olaf threw his head back, letting out a booming laugh that echoed off the walls. "Regret? That word doesn't exist in my vocabulary.

"Throw her down into the subterranean cells. Anyone who sneaks her food or water answers to me. I am going to make sure she finally understands exactly who rules this pack."

The guards stepped forward, violently grabbing me by the arms and dragging me out of the office.

I kept my body completely relaxed, letting them haul me down to the dark.

It was dark and stagnant in the basement, filled with a musty odor. With a loud clang and a piercing scrape, the heavy iron door shut tight behind me.

This place had originally been built as a dungeon to break lower-ranking werewolves who violated pack laws. Now, it was supposed to be my cage.

I walked over to a relatively clean corner and sat down, calmly smoothing back my hair.

In the darkness, my fingers brushed against my earlobe, activating a microscopic transceiver disguised as a simple stud earring.

"Did you catch all of that?" I murmured into the dark.

Asher's deep, velvety baritone vibrated through the small earpiece almost instantly. "Every single word."

"Honestly, his stupidity is a whole new level," Asher added, a thread of dark amusement running through his tone. "Do you want me to send a strike team to get you out of there right now?"

"No need," I replied, closing my eyes as the pieces of my trap fell perfectly into place. "Let him enjoy his little victory for a few more days. The higher he climbs, the more spectacular his fall will be."

For the next three days, I remained locked in the damp cellar without a single drop of water or a crumb of food.

Olaf was clearly determined to break my spirit until I came crawling to his feet to beg for forgiveness.

Every few hours, guards would rotate shifts, stepping into the cell to throw a few petty insults my way.

Sarah even made a personal appearance once.

She stood outside the iron bars, holding a silk handkerchief over her nose as she looked down at me with pure disgust.

"My, my, look at you now," she taunted, holding a glass of fresh, chilled juice right before my eyes. "You look worse than a stray dog in the alley. Are you thirsty, Augusta? All you have to do is beg me.

"Get down on your knees, give me a proper apology, and admit you're nothing but a pathetic, useless failure, and I might let you have a sip."

I didn't even bother opening my eyes, treating her screeching voice like background noise.

Seeing that she couldn't get a reaction out of me, Sarah lost her temper, hurling the glass against the iron door.

"You stubborn bitch. Let's see how long you can keep up this act," she shrieked, her high heels clicking loudly as she stormed off in a huff.

I touched my dry, cracked lips in the dark, a cold smile spreading across my face.

Three days was more than enough time for Asher to get all the pieces in place.