Chapter 257:

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

I looked down at her, my heart a stone. “From now on, you will stay in this estate. You will not take one step outside. And I don’t want to see your face again until this storm has passed.”

I turned my back on her, calling to the guards at the door. “Take her away. Confine her to her quarters. No visitors. No messages out.”

They dragged her out, her pleas and sobs fading down the hall. The office was quiet again, but the air still crackled with my rage.

I poured myself a glass of strong liquor and downed it in one go.

I didn’t care about Charly. I cared about my plan, my path to power. This mess had to be contained. Her stupidity had made me look weak, and that was unforgivable.

I needed to make a gesture. A public display that would show everyone my “unwavering justice.” I would distance myself from her completely, make it clear to the council and the public that I had no part in this fiasco.

Charly had been useful. Now she was a liability. And I had no use for liabilities.

𝗪𝖾 𝗎𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘵е 𝗲𝘷e𝘳𝗒 𝘸𝘦𝗲k o𝗇 𝗀𝗮l𝗻𝘰𝗏𝘦𝗹s.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Haven Kramer POV

I stood in the attic of the Linden Street property. Sonny, working with an efficiency that impressed me, had already directed a team of workers to convert the space into a simple but functional workshop.

Sunlight streamed through the skylight, glinting off the new glassware and copper distillation equipment. Everything felt clean, new, and full of promise.

Sonny stood beside me, respectfully reporting on the renovation progress and the procurement of raw materials. He had become my right hand, and he was proving to be exceptionally capable.

I nodded, pleased, and then got to my own work.

I put on a clean apron and protective gloves, beginning the first batch production of the healing salves and tinctures I had formulated.

The precise measurements, the strict temperature controls, the careful distillation process—it all felt as natural to me as breathing.

When I was focused like this, the chaos of the world outside faded away. This was my sanctuary, my kingdom.

As evening fell, Phoebe rushed in, her face flushed with excitement. “My Luna, there’s news!”

I paused my work, wiping my hands on a clean cloth. “What is it?”

“Alpha Darren,” she said, her voice breathless. “This afternoon, in front of his staff, he struck Charly Kramer! Hard! And then he had her confined to her quarters under guard!”

I set down the cloth, a slow, cold satisfaction settling over me.

Just as I predicted. The moment his reputation was threatened, he would turn on her. She was never his partner; she was a tool. And tools that malfunction get discarded.

Everything was going exactly as I had planned. The rumor had done its work. Darren had publicly humiliated Charly, severing their alliance in the eyes of everyone who mattered.

I turned back to my workbench, picking up a glass vial of amber liquid. The first batch was nearly complete.

“Good,” I said quietly. “Now let’s see how long it takes for the rest of her world to collapse around her.”

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