His Invisible Architects Revenge

CHAPTER NINE

Adrian's POV

I stood paralyzed behind Scarlett, the confident smile wiped from my face. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were locked onto the stage, waiting. "Well, Lady Scarlett?" Lord Silas pressed, leaning heavily on his cane."It is a simple question about your own strategy. How do we bypass the silver-tax embargo?"

Scarlett gripped the edges of the podium so hard her knuckles turned white, her chest heaved up and down in a panic. She looked back at me over her shoulder, her eyes silently begging for me to save her.

I stepped forward, forcing a calm, charming smile onto my face to mask the rising panic in my chest. "Lord Silas," I interrupted, "As you know, the details of the tax loopholes are highly sensitive. Lady Scarlett and I prefer to keep the mechanics of the border bypass strictly confidential until the contracts are signed. We would not want our competitors stealing her brilliant work before morning, would we?"

A few of the younger investors chuckled, nodding in agreement but Lord Silas did not even blink. "Alpha Adrian," he said, "I did not ask for the confidential codes. I asked a basic theoretical question about a model she claims to have spent six months building. If she truly wrote this, she should be able to explain the foundation of it."

He turned his piercing gaze back to Scarlett. "Speak, Lady Scarlett. Defend your work."

Scarlett swallowed hard, a bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face. She leaned into the microphone, her voice trembling so badly it sounded like a frightened child's. "The... the taxes are very complicated," she stammered, "But we will... we will just pay the council less money. Because of the... the tertiary brackets. That is how the loophole works."

A collective groan echoed through the ballroom, the explanation was not just wrong but was childish. I looked over at the VIP tables, the Crescent pack elders were staring at the stage with expressions of horror and insult. Their precious daughter, the prize of their bloodline, was standing in front of the most powerful wolves in the state looking incompetent.

Before I could grab the microphone and end the presentation, a sharp, high-pitched ding echoed through the ballroom.

Then another.

Then ten more.

Every single investor, elder, and pack leader was reaching into their suit jackets, pulling out their phones and tablets. Lord Silas pulled a tablet from his coat pocket. He tapped the screen, adjusting his glasses to read the incoming notification.

I watched the old man's face change. His eyes widened slightly, "Well, well, well," Lord Silas muttered and looked up, his gaze locking directly onto me, "It appears, Lady Scarlett, that the reason you cannot answer my question is not that the tax laws are complicated," Lord Silas announced, "It is because you are a thief."

"Excuse me?" Scarlett gasped, her face turning bright red. "How dare you speak to me that way!"

"I dare," Lord Silas snapped back, holding up his tablet for the room to see, "because the supernatural business council just sent an official patent notification to every investor in this room. The five-year expansion model you just read to us… every word, every number, and every loophole was officially registered and copyrighted an hour ago."

The ballroom erupted into a frenzy of whispers, my heart stopped beating in my chest. "No," I whispered under my breath. "That is impossible."

"The intellectual property does not belong to the Blackwood Group," Lord Silas continued, reading directly from his screen."And it certainly does not belong to Lady Scarlett Crescent. The legal owner of this strategy with digital timestamps proving its creation over the last six months, is registered to a single individual."

Silas looked up, his eyes burning into mine. "Natalia Ernest."

The investors began shouting at each other, some of my biggest financial backers were laughing in disbelief. The Crescent pack Alpha stood up from his table, his face twisted in rage.

"She set me up!" Scarlett shrieked, pointing her trembling finger at the microphone. "Adrian! Do something! That stupid girl set me up!"

My wolf violently tore its way to the surface. My vision tinted red, and a furious roar ripped from my chest, shaking the chandeliers above us. The force of my anger caused the weaker wolves in the front rows to stagger backward, clutching their throats as the air grew dangerously thin.

I turned my back and stormed off the stage. "Adrian!" Scarlett cried out, reaching for my arm. "Where are you going? Do not leave me here!"

I ignored her. I walked straight through the parted crowd, my fists clenched so tightly my claws bit into my own palms, drawing blood. Thomas rushed to my side as I reached the grand staircase."Alpha, what is happening?" He asked frantically, struggling to keep up with my long strides. "The board members are threatening to pull their funding! The Crescent Alpha is demanding an apology! What do we do?"

"Keep them downstairs, Thomas!" I snarled, "Do not let anyone leave this building until I say so."

"Where are you going?" Thomas demanded.

"I am going upstairs," I growled, punching the button for the executive elevator. "I am going to drag that ungrateful girl out of her chair by her hair."

The elevator doors slid open, and I stepped inside, slamming my fist against the button for the top floor. As the elevator shot upward, my mind raced with fury. How dare she? I thought, after everything I gave her? After I took her out of the shadows and let her work for the greatest empire in the state?

I will make her regret this, my wolf snarled in my mind. The elevator chimed, and the doors slid open. I stormed out into the hallway and marched straight toward Natalia's office,"Natalia!" I roared, grabbing the handle of her door.

It was locked.

I raised my foot and kicked the wood directly near the lock. The wood splintered with a loud crack, and the door flew open, crashing against the wall. I stormed inside, ready to grab her but the office was empty.

The only thing left in the room was the dark blue dress I had ordered her to wear."Where is she?" I whispered to myself.

I spun around and marched back out into the hallway, heading straight for my own office. If she was hiding, she was going to pay dearly.

I pushed my door open. I walked slowly toward my desk. Sitting right in the center of the pad, illuminated by the spotlight, was a white piece of paper. With curiosity I took the paper and opened it, there were only three sentences written.

My partnership with the Blackwood Group is officially terminated, effective immediately. All personal items have been removed. Do not attempt to contact me.

I stared at the words. I read them again and again. "She left," I muttered out loud,"The stupid girl actually walked away."

Suddenly, the door to my office flew open, slamming hard against the wall. Thomas burst into the room out of breath, his tuxedo jacket discarded, his bowtie hanging loosely around his neck."Alpha!" He gasped, bending over to catch his breath. His eyes were wide with terror.

"What is it, Thomas?" I snapped, crushing Natalia's resignation letter in my fist. "Did the investors leave?"

"Worse," Thomas choked out, taking a shaky step toward my desk. "The tech team just came to find me, the automated warning systems are going crazy. They checked the main servers upstairs."

"And?" I demanded, my patience gone. "What did she do? Did she lock us out? Get the hackers on the payroll to bypass her passwords right now!"

"We cannot bypass it!" Thomas yelled, his voice cracking with panic. "She took the file… everything!"

The air in my lungs vanished. "What do you mean she took everything?"

"Everything is gone, she left the basic surface files so the computers wouldn't crash immediately, but the brain of the network is completely gone!"

I stood frozen behind my desk, the reality of what she had done finally hit me. She had not just embarrassed me at the gala, not just stolen the five-year plan. She had reached into the chest of my empire and ripped its beating heart right out.

I looked down at the crushed paper in my hand. A sound ripped from my throat, I threw the letter aside, grabbed the edges of my desk, and pulled with all my strength.

The desk flipped backward, launching into the air before crashing onto the floor with a violent, shattering explosion of wood, computer monitors, and broken glass.