Chapter 69: How Dare You?

Dead in a ditch.

The words echoed in my mind and the grip on my mind shattered completely.

That was a direct threat against Bradford.

I thought of the quiet, hardworking man who had stood in the living room last night, his calloused hands trembling on my shoulders as he begged me to stay safe. He was a gentle soul. He knew he was not capable, but he would do anything to defend his family.

If these spoiled, influential rich kids decided to target him, he wouldn’t even fight back, terrified of bringing ruin to his family. That was the kind of man he was, and that was what would get him killed.

For the family that had opened their arms to me, offered me my first homemade stew, and given my hollow soul a warm place to rest in this new world... I was not going to let a single word slide.

My knuckles turned white as I clenched my right hand into a fist.

Before Jane could even finish her laugh, I moved.

BOOM!

I closed the distance instantly, my speed a blinding blur as my fist slammed straight into Jane’s jaw. The sheer force of the impact detonated through the room, lifting her completely off her feet and blasting her backward like a cannonball.

She crashed violently against the far wall, cracking the stone before slumping onto the floor, completely unconscious.

The remaining girls froze in absolute horror, their laughter dying instantly in their throats.

Cold, dense air rushed out of my lungs, a thin trail of ghostly white mist rising from my lips like smoke as my core temperature plunged.

I turned my murderous glare directly onto Valentina, my voice dropping into a deadly, horrifying whisper that froze the blood in her veins.

"Go on," I said, taking a slow, deliberate step forward. "Keep yapping. And let’s see if you walk out of here in one piece. Who did you say was going to die in a ditch on his way home?"

The air in the suite grew instantly thin as my killing intent bled into the room, thick and suffocating enough to make the air temperature drop another notch.

"You! How dare you?!" Valentina yelled, her voice trembling slightly despite her best attempt to sound commanding. "Do you even know who you’re messing with?! Where we are right now?! My brother is going to kill you if you touch even a strand of my hair!"

"Right, Edgar," I whispered, my voice chillingly calm as my eyes flicked toward the doors. "Then I guess I should inform him beforehand."

Standing at the threshold were Edgar and Benjamin.

Benjamin immediately winced, dropping his head into his hands as his fingers dug into his hair. "Ngh... which wolf is whimpering so loudly?" he growled through his teeth, his purple eyes flashing violently with sensory overload. "Shut up!"

His hyper-sensitive hearing was catching the frantic, pathetic cries of Jane’s inner wolf, sobbing in sheer agony beside her unconscious, battered body on the marble floor.

He took several steps back until he was away from the noise as far as possible. The whimpering was annoying, like a fly buzzing directly in his ear.

"Brother!" Valentina squealed the second she spotted him, practically throwing herself across the room to grab Edgar’s arm. "Look at what she did!"

Edgar stood unmoving, though his golden eyes were dark as they swept over the cracked wall, Jane’s crumpled form, and the terrified, trembling Stephanie slowly shrinking back into the corner.

"Tina, what’s going on here?" Edgar asked, his voice a low, heavy rumble.

"It’s that Omega! She’s completely crazy!" Valentina cried, her finger trembling as she pointed directly at me. "She sneaked up here to steal, and when we caught her, she attacked Jane! She was about to attack me, too!"

Edgar slowly turned his golden gaze onto me. He took in my rigid posture, my clenched knuckles, and the sheer, unadulterated rage burning behind my eyes.

"Brianna," Edgar said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "What’s going on here?"

"Brother!" Valentina gasped, tugging on his sleeve in outrage. "Do you know her? No, that doesn’t matter. Are you really going to listen to her?! Didn’t you see what she did to Jane? You should punish her immediately!"

Edgar didn’t even look down at his sister. He wasn’t about to blindly take her word. It wasn’t because he thought Valentina was incapable of lying—he had literally witnessed the tail-end of the brutal punch that sent Jane flying into his wall. What he wanted to know was the why.

To his own understanding, Brianna was cold, and demanding, but she wasn’t unreasonable. She didn’t waste energy on senseless violence. If she had snapped like this, something had crossed a very dangerous line.

"Brianna," he called again.

I didn’t offer an explanation. I didn’t defend myself, nor did I lower my stance.

I simply raised my right hand, my arm extending straight as my finger pointed directly at Valentina’s chest.

"That girl..." I said flatly, my voice dropping into a deadly, unyielding frequency that echoed through the quiet suite. "I’ll kill her."

The room fell dead silent.

My killing intent surged outward in a cold, suffocating wave—not the hot, territorial pressure of an Alpha, but the pure, focused aura of an assassin who had executed hundreds of targets without a second thought.

Edgar’s eyes widened a fraction before narrowing into sharp, dangerous slits. He knew right away—without a shadow of a doubt—that I wasn’t making a threat. I was making a promise.

"Tina," Edgar murmured, his voice dropping an octave into a low, terrifying command. "What did you say to her?"

"Me?!" Valentina gasped, her eyes widening in complete shock. She looked at her brother as if he had suddenly grown a second head. Why was he taking this trashy outsider’s side instead of protecting his own blood?

Panic quickly set in, and her expressions shifted. Her glossed lips trembled, and her eyes welled up with pathetic tears as she clung tighter to Edgar’s arm, trying her best to look terrified and helpless.

"Brother, why are you asking me?!" she sobbed, burying her face against his sleeve. "I didn’t say anything bad! We just came up here to relax, and we found her sneaking around, rummaging through your things! When we tried to stop her from stealing, she completely snapped! Look at what she did to Jane! I was so scared, brother... she tried to kill me!"