Chapter 33: The Truth

The purple-eyed Alpha let out a dark, low hiss, finally breaking the kiss. But instead of releasing me in pain, a slow, terrifyingly satisfied smirk spread across his blood-stained lips, his purple eyes flashing with pure predator delight.

"So, the noisemaker’s got not just a mouth but teeth," he whispered darkly, his thumb tracing the blood on his lip. "Now... are you going to stay quiet, or do I need to tame you properly?"

"Screw you!"

I whipped my free hand up, aiming a sharp palm-strike directly for his jaw, but he caught my wrist mid-air with casual, infuriating ease, his fingers wrapping around my joint like a pair of iron handcuffs.

"And a temper, too," he added, his purple eyes narrowing as he studied my furious face. "How did my uncle even come to the conclusion that you were the right match to send down here?"

"I have had it with you, you bastard!" I hissed, my teeth bared as I strained against his grip. "Who is your uncle?!"

He tilted his head, a faint, mocking crease appearing between his brows. "Why are you asking me? Don’t you already know? I mean, he’s the only one who could’ve given you the keys, right?"

My brain stalled for a split second as the realization hit me like a bucket of ice water.

Edgar.

Then, the warning before the elevator doors closed came back to me.

"If the pressure doesn’t kill you and the dust doesn’t either... then maybe a sharp claw might do the job."

That manipulative, golden-eyed bastard. He hadn’t just sent me down here to sort through dusty ledgers under heavy pressure—he had sent me straight into the private lair of his unhinged, dangerous nephew.

This whole ’two-hour audit’ wasn’t a job at all. It was a calculated test to see how I’d handle a sleeping predator. Or rather, he was just selling me out to sleep with his nephew.

It was no wonder he was willing to ’invest’ ten thousand credits on two hours down here. The realization made me sick. It seemed I had trusted his motives far too quickly, failing to see what he was truly playing at. I had been so naive to think it was that simple. A massive slip off from me.

"That bastard..." I muttered under my breath, my blood running cold with toxic rage directed straight toward the top floor.

Survive two hours reading, my ass. This is what he was truly after.

The brown-haired Alpha chuckled low in his chest, completely misinterpreting my reaction. His grip on my waist didn’t loosen, his thumb continuing to smear the droplet of blood across his lower lip.

"So he didn’t tell you," the Alpha said, his purple eyes gleaming lazily as he leaned in close again, his breath warm against my ear. "Typical uncle. Throwing a fragile little thing like you into my den to see if I’d snap your neck or keep you around."

He tightened his arm, pinning me flat against his chest so securely that escaping was completely off the table.

"Well," he whispered, and yawned. "Since you’re already here... you’re not leaving until my nap is finished."

Unhinged. All of them.

I had been used and manipulated plenty of times in my past life—it was part of the profession. But realizing it now made me upset, furious, and filled me with that weak little feeling I hated the most. Just because I was used to being used and manipulated didn’t mean I liked it. It didn’t mean I enjoyed a single second of it. It was sick, and it filled me with hate.

"Let me go," I said, my voice eerily calm, yet dropping heavy with an icy weight.

He looked down at me, reading my expression. It was blank. Devoid of any warmth, playfulness, or even the will to argue. But something in that dead, cold stare made his eyes flicker, and his grip on my waist slowly slacked until he released me entirely.

I got up without a word, smoothing down my hoodie with steady, mechanical movements. Turning my back on the purple-eyed Alpha, I started heading directly toward the heavy vault door.

I walked out into the cool corridor and found Oliver standing by the wall, waiting exactly as he had promised. I did not say a single word to him. I didn’t even look his way. I simply stepped past him and pressed the elevator button for the top floor.

Oliver followed silently behind, his sharp Gamma eyes catching the lethal, suffocating quiet radiating off my shoulders.

The elevator doors slid open at the executive suite. I marched straight down the marble hallway and shoved the double doors to Edgar’s office wide open.

BANG.

Edgar was sitting behind his mahogany desk, a glass of dark liquor halfway to his lips. He paused, glancing down at his gold wristwatch before looking up at me with an amused smirk.

"Back so soon, little cat?" Edgar asked, leaning back in his chair. "It hasn’t even been an hour. Did you give up already?"

I didn’t answer.

I walked straight toward him, my footfalls silent, my expression deadpan. My entire mood was completely different from the last two times he had met me—the dramatic act was gone, the fake modesty stripped away, replaced only by the hollow, terrifying aura of a former master assassin.

Edgar’s smirk slowly faltered, his golden eyes narrowing as he registered the change in the air. He started to open his mouth, rising slightly from his seat, and then—

SMACK!

I slapped him.

The sharp, brutal crack echoed through the massive room like a gunshot.

The force of the strike snapped Edgar’s head to the side. Oliver, who had stepped into the doorway behind me, froze in absolute, stunned silence, his professional mask shattering as he blinked in disbelief.

Edgar stood frozen, his hand slowly coming up to touch his burning, reddening cheek. The golden gleam in his eyes flickered with pure, disbelieving shock as he stared at me.

I stood right in front of his desk, looking up at him with dark, unforgiving eyes.

"I know I’m weaker than you right now," I said, my voice dropping into a deadly, thin whisper that cut through the silence. "I know I’m desperate and came to you on my own two feet. But that doesn’t give you a damn right to mess with me as you please."

I leaned in just half an inch, my jaw clenched so tight my teeth throbbed.

"Edgar... you disgust me."