Elois POV:

The carriage ride back to Rowe Manor was a blur of silent fury. The plush velvet cushions that had felt so luxurious on the way to Alston's residence now seemed to mock me. I leaned my head against the cool glass of the window, watching the city pass by, but seeing nothing. My inner wolf was restless, clawing at my chest with every passing mile.

The warmth of my hope had curdled into a cold, heavy knot in my stomach.

"My lady, you look pale," my maid, Gwyneth, said softly, her voice laced with concern. She offered me a glass of water.

I opened my eyes. The reflection in the window showed a stranger with hard, amber eyes. My own. I took the glass, my fingers steady. "Gwyneth," I said, my voice even, "I need you to do something for me. Check the Lara Consortium's accounts. I want to know if my mother made another large transfer to the Pack recently."

Gwyneth's eyes widened in understanding, but she simply nodded. "Of course, my lady." She knew better than to question me when I used that tone.

My fingers tapped a restless rhythm against the windowpane. I replayed every word, every smile, every touch from Alston. The signs had all been there, hiding in plain sight. I had just been too blind with love to see them.

The carriage slowed as we approached the imposing gates of Rowe Manor. The estate was brightly lit, and I could hear the faint sounds of lively music and clinking glasses drifting through the night air. They were already celebrating the theft of my future.

As I stepped down, my aunt, Belia Rowe, a woman whose greed was only matched by her lack of taste, emerged from the main doors. Beside her was my cousin, Carson. Carson was preening in a new gown of lake blue silk, the latest design from the most exclusive couturier in the city, a couturier owned by the Lara Consortium. She even wore a matching set of pearls that I recognized from my mother's private collection.

"Elois, you are back!" Carson chirped, her smile sickeningly sweet. Her scent, a sickly sweet mix of vanilla and greed, hit my sensitive nose. She always masked her ruthless ambition beneath a sweet, obedient facade. She moved to link her arm with mine, acting like an innocent, docile younger sister. "Did you hear the good news? We are just preparing a toast for my new title!"

I pulled my arm away before she could touch me. The gesture was small, but sharp. Her smile faltered for a fraction of a second. I looked at her innocent, feigned expression and felt a wave of nausea.

Her eyes flicked down to my dress, a simple dove gray day dress, understated and modest, but undeniably fine. I saw the familiar flicker of covetous resentment in her gaze, the same look she had worn since childhood whenever I received something she wanted. She was already calculating how to make it hers. The couturier who designed it was, after all, a Lara Consortium asset. In her mind, that meant it was rightfully hers.

Belia's sharp eyes raked over me, her lips curling in disgust when she saw my cold expression. Her eyes flashed with the yellow hue of her wolf for a brief second. "Such a gloomy face on a day of joy. It is truly bad luck. We have been waiting for you to join the celebration, but it seems you are too selfish to be happy for your own cousin. Still spending your mother's money on frivolities, I see," she sneered, conveniently forgetting that she herself was wearing Lara silk and drinking Lara wine. "Some of us have actual responsibilities to the Pack."

I ignored her, sweeping past them and into the main house.

The drawing room was heavy with a festive yet tense atmosphere. My grandmother, the Matriarch Cydney Rowe, a cruel woman who despised my mother's weak, human-like merchant blood but happily drained her wealth, sat enthroned in her high backed chair, her gnarled hand gripping her ebony cane. My mother, Adriene Lara, sat in a smaller chair to the side, looking anxious and small.

Cydney's cane thumped hard against the marble floor the moment I entered. Her oppressive Matriarch aura rolled over me, a heavy pressure designed to make weaker wolves submit. "So, you deign to return with that sour look. Keeping the entire family waiting. What kind of behavior is that?"

My mother stood, her expression fraught with worry. "Mother Rowe, she was..."

"Silence, Adriene," Cydney snapped, and my mother flinched, sinking back into her seat.

Carson and Belia swept in behind me. Carson immediately rushed to Cydney's side, fussing over her and massaging her shoulders like a devoted servant.

Cydney's harsh expression softened as she looked at Carson. She patted her hand affectionately. "Carson is always so thoughtful."

Then, her cold eyes fixed on me. "We have been informed of the Alpha heir's decision," she said, her voice dripping with condescension. "Carson becoming the heir's Luna brings tremendous glory to the entire Rowe family. You should be thrilled. A merchant's daughter like you, elevated to the status of secondary mate to the future Alpha King? It is far more than your dirty blood deserves."

"Indeed," Belia chimed in, a smug smirk on her face. "You are too selfish, Elois. Even if a merchant's daughter like you managed to become Luna, you would only be a laughingstock among the nobles. Carson, on the other hand, has pure blood. She will make a proper Luna. You should be grateful that Alston is willing to keep you at all."

My mother's face went white. She stared at me, her eyes wide with shock and pain. They had not even bothered to tell her. She was hearing this for the first time, just like I had.

My mother had always compromised, believing we were one family. She felt inferior because of her merchant background, constantly yielding to their demands. But seeing them gleefully steal my future finally shattered my last illusion. If they were going to despise us anyway, why should I suffer in silence? They were nothing but parasites.

A cold, bitter laugh threatened to bubble up from my chest. They were all in on it. A conspiracy of vipers.

They expected tears. They expected a breakdown. I gave them neither.

Instead, I met the Matriarch's gaze, my voice calm and sharp as a blade. I stood my ground, my own amber eyes flashing, refusing to bare my throat to her. "Then I assume the two thousand gold marks for Carson's title will be paid by the second house? Since you despise my dirty merchant blood so much, surely you will not stoop so low as to use my dirty money to buy her a crown?"

The room fell silent. They stared at me as if I had sprouted a second head.

Belia was the first to find her voice, her tone a shrill shriek. "What nonsense are you talking about? That money was a donation from your mother to the Pack!"

My gaze shifted to my mother. Her lips trembled, but no words came out. She could not deny it. My heart sank. She had compromised again, sacrificing her own wealth for a moment of peace in this wretched family.

Cydney's voice was like cracking ice. "Insolence! The Lara fortune belongs to the Rowe Pack through marriage! I, as Matriarch, will decide how it is used!"

For the first time in my life, I did not shrink from her glare. I looked directly into her sharp, cruel eyes. "Oh? I was unaware that federal law had changed. A wife's personal assets are her own, are they not?"

I raised a delicate eyebrow, a smirk playing on my lips. "Or has the Rowe Pack's authority grown to surpass that of the Alpha King's laws?"

Cydney was speechless. Her face turned a mottled, ugly purple, the veins in her neck bulging against her wrinkled skin. Her inner wolf, a mangy and ill tempered creature I had only glimpsed once as a child, flashed behind her eyes, a snarl of pure, possessive greed. She wanted to shift. She wanted to tear me apart with her claws. But she could not. Not here. Not without proving me right. Her hand trembled so violently on her cane that the ebony wood rattled against the marble floor. Belia and Carson gaped at me, stunned by my audacity. They had never seen this Elois before. The compliant, quiet girl was gone.

I saw a flicker of something in my mother's eyes, surprise, fear, but also a tiny spark of pride.

I had said enough. I turned to my mother, my voice softening. "Mother, I am tired. Let us go to our rooms."

For the first time, I walked out of a family meeting before being dismissed. I would let them see exactly what kind of life they were about to live without me. But before that, there was one even more important thing I had to do.

Elois POV:

To make those despicable robbers get their retribution, the very first thing I had to do was get my mother on my side.

"Elois, you were too reckless," my mother, Adriene, whispered, her hands fluttering nervously as she clutched my arm. Her fingers were like ice. "You shouldn't have provoked the Matriarch."

I turned and took her hands in mine, forcing her to meet my gaze. Her beautiful face was etched with years of worry, lines of sadness I had never truly seen until now. "Mother," I said, my voice low and intense, "how much longer can we endure this? How much more will we let them take?"

I repeated Alston's words to her, every honeyed, poisonous syllable. I told her how he planned to use her money to buy my cousin a title so she could take my place as his Luna, while I was to be relegated to the shadows as a secondary mate.

With each word, the color drained from her face. When I finished, she swayed on her feet, a soft, wounded sound escaping her lips. Tears, the tears I had refused to shed, streamed down her cheeks. "How could he... after everything... how could he do this to you?"

I held her steady, my own heart aching at her pain. "Because they see us as a vault to be plundered, not as family. That ends today."

A sharp knock on the door made us both jump. A maid's voice, muffled by the wood, announced, "The Alpha has returned. He requests everyone's presence in the dining hall."

My mother stiffened instantly. Her hands flew to her hair, a subconscious gesture of a wife preparing to meet her husband. A flicker of hope, of foolish, desperate hope, crossed her face. She still believed my father, Alpha Craig Rowe, would protect us.

I sighed internally. That last illusion was about to be shattered.

The atmosphere in the dining hall was glacial. My father, Craig Rowe, the Alpha of the Rowe Pack and a man who cared more about his fragile ego than his own family, sat at the head of the table. His handsome face was grim, his military uniform immaculate. He looked every bit the powerful Alpha, but his eyes were filled with a familiar impatience.

Cydney, Belia, and Carson were clustered around him, their voices a venomous symphony as they painted me as a jealous, disrespectful shrew who had lost her mind.

Craig's jaw tightened with every word. He slammed his metal fork down onto his plate, the clang echoing in the tense silence. He loved the wealth my mother provided, but he hated being reminded of where it came from.

That was the moment my mother and I entered.

His furious gaze landed on me. "I return home to hear of this spectacle!" he boomed, his voice laced with the authority of an Alpha. "You dare to disrespect your grandmother? To question a decision that benefits this Pack? Who gave you the audacity!"

"Craig, it is not what you think," my mother began, rushing to my defense. "Elois is..."

"You be silent!" he snarled, cutting her off without a second thought. "This is your fault! You raised her to be this willful!"

Just then, Carson rose from her seat. She glided towards me, her face a mask of sorrowful apology, but I could see the greedy ambition dancing in her eyes. I could smell the lack of genuine sorrow in her scent, it was entirely masked by deceit. She loved Alston's power and status, and she loved the feeling of using this opportunity to trample me completely under her feet even more.

"Sister, please do not be angry," she said, her voice trembling as she reached out to gently touch my sleeve. "It is all my fault. If you really want the title so badly, if you want to be with the Alpha heir... I will go beg Alston. I will give it all back to you. Even if he only wants to marry me, I will force him to accept you. I just want our family to be happy."

Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She looked like a heartbroken angel, a martyr sacrificing her own happiness for the sake of peace.

"Carson, you are too kind!" Belia cried, rushing to comfort her daughter. "The heir chose you! You cannot refuse such an honor for the sake of a jealous sister!"

Cydney nodded in approval, her gaze on Carson full of warmth before turning to me with icy contempt. "Look at your cousin's grace. And then look at yourself."

All eyes were on me, waiting for me to be shamed into submission by Carson's flawless performance.

But I did not feel shame. I felt a profound, almost comical sense of absurdity. Carson, the snake who had spent years dripping poison into our grandmother's ear, was performing the role of the selfless martyr. And they were all applauding.

A laugh, low and bitter, escaped my lips.

My father's face contorted with rage. He slammed his palm on the table, making the fine china jump. "What are you laughing at? Apologize to your cousin! Now!"

I stopped laughing. I lifted my head and met his furious gaze directly, the air around me turning frigid. "Apologize? For what? For refusing to celebrate a robbery?"

I pointed at Carson, who was still dabbing at her crocodile tears. "You want me to apologize to her? She pretends to be so filial and obedient, yet she has been wearing gowns paid for by the Lara Consortium since she was a toddler. The jewels in her ears, the roof over her head, the very food on this table, all of it came from my mother's coffers. You all look down on us, yet you gorge yourselves on our wealth with absolute shamelessness! And now she wants to take my place as Luna, funded by the very gold she and her mother have been bleeding from us for eighteen years. And you expect me to be grateful? You are all pathetic."

Carson's tears stopped. For one brief, unguarded moment, her mask slipped, and I saw the cold, calculating creature beneath.

I turned to my mother, my voice laced with a sorrow that was all for her. "Do you see now, Mother? In this house, your sacrifices, your children... we are worthless."

Adriene looked at her husband's cold, unforgiving face, at the smug triumph on the faces of her in laws. The last flicker of hope in her eyes died, leaving behind only desolate ashes.

My father, cornered by a truth he could not deny, resorted to pure rage. "Enough!" he roared, his voice cracking with the Alpha's Command. A wave of oppressive energy rolled from him, the weight of his Alpha authority pressing down on the room. My wolf stirred restlessly inside me, instinctively wanting to submit, to bare my throat. But I clenched my jaw and held my ground. "The matter is settled! The Lara money is the Pack's money! You will accept this arrangement, or you will get out of Rowe Manor!"

Get out.

The words sliced through the air, a final, fatal blow. They struck my mother with the force of a physical assault, shattering the last fragile remnants of her eighteen year marriage.

I took a deep breath. The moment had come.

"Fine," I said, my voice eerily calm, my eyes locking onto my father's wide gaze. "If our property is so unwelcome here, we will take it all back."

Ignoring their stunned faces, I pulled out my communication device. I dialed a number from memory, my hand perfectly steady.

"Marcus, it is me." I paused, letting the silence in the room stretch. "Initiate the Liquidation protocol. I am formally requesting the return of all assets loaned by the Lara Consortium to Rowe Manor over the past eighteen years. Yes. All of them."

I ended the call and slipped the device back into my pocket.

The dining hall was utterly, deathly silent. Every single person was staring at me, their faces a mixture of shock, disbelief, and for the first time, a glimmer of fear. Belia's jaw had gone slack. Cydney looked as if she had swallowed acid. And Carson, Carson had stopped pretending to cry. She was staring at me with an expression I had never seen before. It looked almost like terror.