His Invisible Architects Revenge

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Adrian POV

My desk lay upside down on the carpet shattered. The computer monitors were smashed into pieces, wires were sparking and twisted, and glass from my broken whiskey decanter covered the floor.

I stood in the center of the destruction, my chest heaving up and down with heavy, jagged breaths. My hands were shaking claws had extended from my fingertips, shredding the cuffs of my suit. Blood dripped from my palms where my own claws had dug too deeply into my skin, but I did not feel the pain. All I felt was rage.

"Alpha," Thomas whispered, taking a cautious step into the ruined office. He kept his eyes lowered, terrified of the violent energy rolling off my body. "Alpha, the tech department needs your authorization. They want to initiate an emergency lockdown on the remaining servers before the system completely bleeds out."

I slowly turned my head to look at him."Forget about the server, Thomas," I snarled, "Do you think a bunch of tech geeks are going to fix what she did? The only person who can fix this network is the person who built it!"

I stepped back, pacing the office. My mind was spinning. "She is throwing a tantrum," I muttered, running my bloodstained hands through my hair. "That is all this is. She is an emotional, jealous Omega throwing a desperate fit because I gave her work to Scarlett. She wants my attention, she wants me to beg her to come back. Well, I am not going to beg."

I turned back to Thomas, my eyes narrowing. "Send the pack guards out into the city immediately," I commanded. "I want every street, every alley, and everywhere searched. She is wolf-less and on foot in the rain! She could not have run far, find her and drag her back to this building right now!"

Thomas swallowed hard, nodding quickly. "Yes, Alpha. I will deploy the guards right away. We will find her."

"And when you do, put her in the holding room downstairs," I added coldly. "Do not let her speak to anyone, I will deal with her myself."

Thomas rushed out of the office to gather the security team. I stood alone in the room, trying to force my heart rate to slow down. Before I could think, the door opened again.

Scarlett walked into the office.

Her curls were a messy tangle, the mascara she wore was smeared under her eyes, running down her cheeks in dark, ugly streaks. Her eyes were wide with panic, and her chest was heaving with dramatic sobs.

"Adrian!" Scarlett cried out, she rushed toward me, her high heels crunching over the broken glass on the floor.

She reached out to grab my arms, but I stiffened, refusing to pull her into a comforting embrace.

"Adrian, you have to do something!" Scarlett sobbed, looking up at me with hysteria. "My father is furious! The elders are screaming at the event organizers downstairs. Lord Silas looked at me like I was a common thief! I have never been so humiliated in my entire life!"

She gripped my suit jacket, shaking me slightly as if I were not paying attention. "You promised me this would make me look brilliant!" Scarlett wailed, her tears dripping onto my ruined cuffs. "You told me nobody would know you had that stupid girl write the speech! Now the whole council thinks I am a fraud! You need to go down there and tell them she lied! Tell them she forged the patent!"

I stared down at her beautifully ruined face. "Stop crying, Scarlett," I snapped.

Scarlett blinked, taking a step back in shock. "What? Adrian, they laughed at me!"

"Because you froze!" I yelled, my temper flaring back up. I pointed a finger toward the door leading to the ballroom. "I handed you a masterpiece, Scarlett! I handed you the keys to the entire supernatural economy! All you had to do was stand on that stage and read the words on the paper! You did not even have to write it! You just had to read it and smile!"

"I did read it!" she screamed back, her face flushing bright red. "But that old man asked me a question! I do not know anything about taxes or silver embargoes! You know I do not know those things!"

"Then you should have deflected the question!" I roared, stepping into her space. "You are going to be my Luna, Scarlett! We are building an empire together, and the one thing you can never, ever do is make me look like a fool in front of the council!"

Scarlett pressed her hand to her chest, looking at me with wide, tear-filled eyes."I gave you everything you needed to look like a genius," I continued,"And you choked. If you want to sit on the throne beside me, you need to learn how to defend yourself when the knives come out."

"I... I am sorry," Scarlett stammered, her bottom lip trembling. "I just... I did not know what to do."

I stared at her for a long second, my jaw clenched so tightly my teeth ached. "Go home, Scarlett," I ordered coldly, stepping away from her.

"What?" She sniffled, wiping her ruined makeup. "But my father…"

"I will deal with your father tomorrow," I interrupted, walking past her toward the door. "Go down the back staircase. Have your driver take you straight to the estate, do not speak to the investors or Lord Silas. Let me handle this mess."

Scarlett opened her mouth to argue, but she saw the dangerous, glowing gold in my eyes and quickly snapped her mouth shut. She gave a small nod, turned around, and hurried out of the office.

I let out a heavy sigh, rubbing my temples. I needed to go to my private penthouse, pour a drink, and wait for my guards to drag Natalia to me. Once I had her, I would force her to restore the servers, sign over the patent, and fix everything she had broken.

I stepped out of my office and walked down the opposite end of the hallway, bypassing the main elevators. I swiped my keycard and stepped into the private executive elevator that led directly to the VIP underground parking garage.

The doors slid shut, sealing me inside the metal box. As the elevator descended, I adjusted my suit jacket and wiped the dried blood off my hands with a handkerchief. I took a deep breath, the elevator chimed softly. The digital screen flashed: Level G … Street Access , VIP Parking.

The doors slowly slid open. Instantly, a blinding, piercing flash exploded in my eyes. "Alpha Adrian!" a voice screamed over a chaotic roar of noise.

I stumbled backward, throwing my arm up to shield my sensitive eyes, the VIP exit was not empty it was swarmed. Dozens of reporters, financial journalists, and ruthless paparazzi were crammed against the security barricades just outside the elevator doors. The moment they saw me, a relentless storm of camera flashes went off, turning the dark parking garage into a blinding strobe light of white and blue.

"Alpha Adrian! Is it true Blackwood Group is claiming bankruptcy?" a reporter yelled, shoving a microphone over the shoulder of my security guard.

"Did you steal intellectual property from a wolf-less Omega?" a female journalist screamed, her voice cutting through the chaos p. "Did you force your wolfless employee to write the Luna's speech?"

"Alpha! Lord Silas claims your five-year expansion plan is fraudulent! How do you respond?"

"Is your new Luna under investigation for corporate theft, Adrian?"

"Where is Natalia Ernest? Did she resign?"

The questions rained down on me, the camera flashes fired relentlessly, capturing the shock, the panic, and the sudden, naked vulnerability on my face. My guards were struggling to hold the barricades, pushing back against the desperate journalists who were hungry for the blood of a fallen king.

I opened my mouth to speak. I wanted to command them to step back, to use my Alpha voice to silence them but my throat closed up.

I looked at the sea of flashing cameras and shouting reporters. I had spent three years crafting the image of a flawless, untouchable visionary. And in the span of a single hour, the invisible girl I had kept hidden in the shadows had shattered my illusion.

I had no idea what to do.