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Jack suppressed his anger and headed to the HR department.

When Jack arrived, Tyler buried his head in his notebook, avoiding eye contact.

Jack let out a soft snort and walked straight into Elara’s office.

"Elara, why would you do this? Wade is my nephew. Couldn’t you have shown your uncle some respect?"

Elara smiled coolly. "Uncle, I’ve already shown you plenty of respect. I had someone notify Wade a week in advance. Besides, after that incident with Zack that embarrassed us, it became clear that our hotel’s security had serious deficiencies."

"I’ve already found a replacement. He starts tomorrow and will completely reform our security procedures and systems. Once we establish standard operating procedures, all our branches will implement them."

"Of course, we’ll arrange proper training before implementation."

Jack’s jaw tightened. "Ha, Elara, are you deliberately making things difficult for me?"

Her smile remained in place. "Uncle, would you prefer to watch the company collapse? I believe we need to thoroughly eliminate nepotism from the company, just as you once removed my father’s elderly staff. Don’t you agree?"

Jack was speechless.

He left the office with a cold smirk. They both knew Wade was just the beginning.

Jack worried there would be bigger changes coming. He needed to rally the other minor shareholders. It was time to call a shareholders’ meeting.

--

Alpha Enzo had berated his son harshly, demanding that Anthony apologize to Elara.

Whatever small amount of guilt Anthony might have felt completely vanished after that scolding.

"I refuse to apologize! Why don’t you just break my legs instead? That way I won’t have to attend school this semester either!" he shouted, his teenage wolf responding with typical rebellion.

Alpha Enzo typically showed extreme indulgence toward his daughter Selina, but was much stricter with his son.

He pulled out his belt, preparing to strike his son, but Nadia stopped him.

She gave Anthony a warning look. "Anthony, if you’ve got nothing else to do here, just go to school."

"Enzo," she said soothingly, "our son is sixteen, not three. You can’t treat him like this. He needs to maintain his dignity."

"He’s worried about dignity?" Alpha Enzo’s chest heaved with anger. "What about your daughter? What do we do about that situation?"

Alpha Dominic had demanded accountability, and Alpha Enzo couldn’t simply ignore it.

Nadia’s brief feelings of guilt dissipated amid this chaos, replaced by renewed resentment.

This daughter of hers was nothing but trouble!

"Enzo, I’ll talk to her myself, alright?" she conceded.

Nadia clutched her phone and dialed Elara’s number again. This time, Elara finally answered.

"Hello, Elara. Where are you? Have you eaten?" she asked with forced pleasantry.

Elara cut straight through the fake concern. "Skip the act, mom. What do you want?"

The use of her mother’s first name made Nadia’s voice turn sharp immediately. "Elara, Dominic told us about you being locked in the storage room. I think it must have been some servant playing a nasty trick. It had nothing to do with your brother."

"Dominic came and questioned us, and your stepfather thought Anthony had done it. He was about to punish your brother. Elara, couldn’t you talk to Dominic about this?"

Elara let out a cold laugh. "Oh, so now you need me to clean up Anthony’s mess? How interesting."

"Mom, what if I don’t want to intervene?" she asked, her tone turning dangerously sweet.

The woman who had just been speaking so kindly immediately turned cold.

"Elara," Nadia said sharply, "as his sister, you should be more understanding of your brother, and of me. I’ve already overlooked how you disrespected your Uncle Enzo in front of me yesterday. Are you now going to disrespect me too?"

Elara’s smile turned razor-sharp, though Nadia couldn’t see it through the phone.

"Disrespect? That’s rich coming from someone whose son tried to trigger my claustrophobia for kicks."

"Let me make something crystal clear, Nadia. I know it was Anthony who locked that door. And frankly, I hope Dominic makes his life hell over it."

"You want to talk about family? Fine. Let’s discuss how you’ve treated your ’family’ over the years. You’ve made it abundantly clear that Selina and Anthony matter more than I ever will."

"Here’s the thing though - I’m done pretending that’s okay. I’m done being the family doormat who takes abuse with a smile."

"So here’s what’s going to happen. You can tell Uncle Enzo that Anthony can apologize to an empty room for all I care. I wouldn’t forgive him if he groveled at my feet."

"And congratulations, Nadia. You finally got what you always wanted - a family without me in it."

Elara’s wolf practically purred with satisfaction as she delivered the final blow. "Oh, and don’t bother calling again. You’re all blocked."

She hung up and immediately blocked every member of the Vance family, feeling lighter than she had in years.