Chapter 3

Araminta POV:

As soon as I stepped out of the lounge into the hallway with Eulalie in my arms, I ran straight into a crowd of core England Pack members who had gathered to watch the commotion.

They parted to make way for me, their eyes filled with open contempt and schadenfreude.

"Defying the Alpha's direct command at an Elder's funeral—she really is a disgrace to our Pack," an older Beta executive scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

I ignored him, pressing Eulalie's face gently into the crook of my neck as I hurried down the carpeted hallway toward the elevators.

Just as I reached out to press the down button, thunderous applause and cheering erupted from the main hall below.

I paused, turning my head toward the massive one-way glass wall at the end of the corridor that overlooked the ground floor below.

Down in the hall, the service had been hastily wrapped up. Carlo stood high on the central platform holding a glass of red wine, with Dallas smiling brightly right beside him.

Carlo's deep voice echoed through the sound system across the entire building.

"For the future prosperity of our Pack, I hereby announce that the England Group has formed a strategic medical alliance with the Bauer family!"

The crowd below cheered wildly. Countless executives raised their glasses to toast Dallas, treating her like the true Luna of this corporate empire.

I stood by the glass and watched coldly as the medical network I had spent five grueling years building from scratch was handed over to his first love as a welcome gift.

The marking scar on my neck throbbed again, yet I didn't even blink. It felt as though the lingering bond were peeling away from my soul layer by layer.

Instead of grief, a strange sense of relief washed over me, as if I were finally waking up from a five-year nightmare.

The elevator chimed behind me, and the steel doors quietly slid open.

I pulled my gaze back, stepped into the elevator with Eulalie, and pressed the button for the underground parking garage.

As the metal doors closed, Carlo's triumphant face and Dallas's smug smile were shut out completely.

The drop of the elevator made Eulalie whimper softly. I lowered my head and kissed her forehead.

"Don't be afraid, baby. Mommy is taking you home."

When we reached the quiet underground garage, I walked to my black sedan, opened the back door, and buckled Eulalie securely into her child safety seat.

Climbing into the driver's seat, I didn't start the engine right away. Instead, I opened the glove compartment and pulled out a pack of sanitizing wipes.

I tore the seal open and scrubbed my wrist where Gael had touched me and where the cocoa had splashed, rubbing hard until my pale skin turned raw and red.

I tossed the used wipes into the trash bin outside the window, disgusted by every trace of this Pack.

Starting the engine, I pressed the gas pedal and drove the sedan out of the garage into the pouring rain.

Cold raindrops hammered against the windshield as the wipers swung back and forth. Holding the steering wheel with one hand, I tapped the dashboard screen with the other and dialed my personal assistant's encrypted line.

"Ms. Wright, what are your orders?" my assistant's crisp voice came through the speakers.

"Initiate the extraction protocol," I ordered calmly. "Package all core research data inside the Miracle Bio-Pharma lab and sever the physical connection to the external servers."

"Understood. However, Alpha Carlo just signed an executive directive ordering us to hand all administrative clearances over to Ms. Bauer," my assistant hesitated.

"Then we will," I said, a cold sneer curling my lips. "Without my underlying Sacred Healers' algorithms, that entire neural system is nothing but scrap metal—a shiny, empty shell."

"Got it. I'll handle it immediately."

The call disconnected just as the traffic light ahead turned red. I stepped on the brake, looking into the rearview mirror at my pale, determined eyes as I steered the car toward the hillside villa to draft the final document that would end my marriage.