The evening had descended upon the Grefo estate like a heavy, velvet shroud, but for Dorrent, the atmosphere was anything but peaceful. The moment the pressurized glass doors of the foyer slid open, his sensitive Alpha nostrils were assaulted.

It was a scent that defied the pristine, sterilized luxury of the house—a thick, pungent, and utterly revolting aroma of boiled swamp-root, bitter musk, and something that smelled like fermented iron. It was cloying, sticking to the back of his throat and making his stomach churn.

"Filth," he hissed, his jaw tightening.

He didn’t need to ask who was responsible. He stalked toward the kitchen, his polished shoes clicking sharply against the marble. Inside, the massive industrial stove was hissingly alive. A single, blackened ceramic pot sat atop a flame, bubbling with a dark, viscous sludge that released a fresh wave of the nauseating steam. No one was there. The kitchen staff had clearly been dismissed or had fled the olfactory assault.

Dorrent didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the handle with a protective cloth and, in one violent motion, carried the pot to the sink and doused the flame. He watched the dark liquid swirl down the drain, his lip curling in disgust. He knew this was for him. He knew Jannah was trying to "heal" him with her gutter-magic, and the thought of consuming anything that smelled like death made his skin crawl.

He dried his hands, but the irritation didn’t leave him. It fermented into a cold, jagged rage. He remembered the kitchen that morning—the threat, the humiliation, and the way she had dared to suggest he touch her "foul" junction with a blade.

He didn’t go to his room to rest. He turned toward the East Wing, his movements silent and predatory.

He reached Jannah’s suite and bypassed the formality of a knock. He pushed the double doors open, and for a moment, he stopped in his tracks.

The room was bathed in the soft, blue glow of the moonlight. Jannah was asleep, but she wasn’t the "shrouded" girl from before. She lay sprawled across the charcoal silk sheets, her body a pale, ethereal contrast to the dark fabric. She was wearing tiny, frayed cotton shorts that rode high up her hips, leaving her long, slender, and impossibly pale legs exposed to the cool air. Her shirt had ridden up during her slumber, revealing the narrow, fragile curve of her tiny waist, her ribs faintly visible with every rise and fall of her chest.

"Pervert," Dorrent whispered, his voice a low, vibrating growl.

He stepped closer, his eyes raking over her. She looked so small, so deceptively innocent in her sleep. But behind that pale brow lived a mind that was plotting his ruin, a mind that held his deepest secret like a knife to his throat.

The anger that had been simmering in him all day suddenly boiled over. He was an S-tier Alpha. He was the CEO of Gammer Tech Company. Why was he allowing a girl from the slums to hold him hostage? Why was he waiting for a "cure" that felt like a humiliation?

If she died tonight, the secret died with her.

He stood over her, his silhouette casting a long, dark shadow over her body. He began to manifest his Alpha energy, the raw, psychic pressure that could crush the lungs of a lesser being. He channeled it into a focused, invisible stream of aggression, aiming it directly at her throat and chest. He would choke her slowly, making it look like a tragic respiratory failure—a side effect of her own foul herbs.

The air in the room grew heavy, vibrating with a lethal, static charge. Jannah’s breathing became labored, her chest hitching as the invisible weight began to squeeze the oxygen from her lungs.

Then, her eyes snapped open.

They weren’t filled with the glazed terror of a dying woman. They were sharp, lucid, and filled with a chilling, knowing calm. She stared directly up at him through the darkness, her pale face ghost-like in the moon’s reflection.

"I knew it," she rasped, her voice thin but steady despite the crushing pressure. "I knew you wouldn’t fulfill your promise. An Alpha like you... you’d rather be a murderer than a man who keeps his word."

Dorrent’s pupils dilated, his energy spiking in shock. "How are you speaking? You should be unconscious."

Jannah let out a small, jagged breath, a ghost of a smirk touching her lips. "You’ve forgotten what I am, Dorrent. I’m a herbalist. I’ve lived in the dirt my whole life. I’ve spent every day of the last week drinking a tincture of Shield-root and Night-shade. My nervous system is wrapped in iron. My body knows how to defend itself from people like you before you even enter the room."

The psychic pressure snapped. The energy ceased, leaving a ringing silence in the air. Dorrent, driven by a primal instinct of failure and rage, lunged forward. He abandoned his powers and went for the physical reality, his large, powerful hand clamping around her throat, pinning her into the mattress.

"You think you’re so smart?" he hissed, his face inches from hers, his eyes burning with a murderous light. "I could snap you in half right now. I could end this game in a second."

Jannah stared back at him, her pulse thudding against his palm, her long legs tangled in the sheets. She didn’t struggle. She didn’t plead. She looked at him with a gaze that stripped him bare.

"Then do it," she whispered, her voice a lethal, quiet challenge. "Kill the only person who can make you whole again. If you don’t want to be treated, if you’d rather be a broken statue for the rest of your life, then kill me. Finish it, Mr. Grefo. Joanne needs a complete man."

Dorrent’s fingers tightened, his knuckles white, his breath hitching as he stood on the precipice of a decision that would change everything.

The silence was a blade between them, waiting to fall.