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.