Alessia's POV:
I didn't move. I didn't need to.
I stood beside the shattered remains of my mother's necklace, my glowing silver eyes locked dead on Santino.
He froze—not pinned down by physical force, but completely suppressed by my overwhelming magical aura.
That aura filled the entire room, thick and suffocating. It was the aura of the Alpha King's daughter.
Compared to this, Santino's Alpha presence was a complete joke.
"Alessia, stop," Santino choked out, beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead. "You... you're hurting us."
"This is exactly what you asked for," I said.
Outside, the roar of engines became deafening. Not just one car, but dozens. Heavy-duty trucks, SUVs, motorcycles.
The front door exploded inward.
Wood splinters flew everywhere. Santino instinctively ducked, shielding his head. Valentina screamed and dove behind the couch.
Damian walked through the settling dust.
He wasn't alone. Behind him stood twenty men and women clad in black tactical gear. On their shoulders, they wore the crest of the Bianchi family.
The Royal Guard.
Damian's eyes flared with golden light. He saw the bruise forming on my cheek, and the blood on my lip.
A low, guttural snarl ripped from his throat, shattering the living room windows.
He began to shift. Bones cracked and skin rippled. He was about to turn right there in the hallway and slaughter everyone.
"Damian, stop," I commanded.
He froze. His massive frame trembled as he fought back the urge to kill. "He hit you."
"Yes," I said. "And he will pay for it. But not with a quick death. That's too easy."
I turned to look at Valentina. She was peeking out from behind the sofa, trembling violently.
"Get out," I said. My tone carried the absolute authority of an Alpha Command.
It wasn't a request; it was a compulsion.
Valentina's body moved against her will. She scrambled to her feet, crying, trying to control her own legs, but it was useless. She marched straight toward the door.
"Santino, save me!" she cried.
Santino tried to take a step forward. "You can't throw her out! She's carrying my Beta's pup!"
A Royal Guard stepped in his way. Without even drawing a weapon, the guard shoved Santino hard in the chest. Santino flew backward, crashing heavily into the coffee table.
"Watch your tone when speaking to Her Highness," the guard snapped.
"Her Highness?" Santino looked up, bewildered. "She's just Alessia of the Moretti pack..."
"I am Alessia Bianchi," I corrected him. "Daughter of the Alpha King. And you, Santino, have just declared war on the Crown."
His face drained of all color, turning pale as a corpse. "The King... The King? No, that's impossible."
"Damian," I said, turning my back on my ex-husband. "This house. The East Wing. The training grounds. The new medical center."
"Yes, Princess?"
"I paid for them," I said coldly. "They were built with my money."
I looked at the walls of the house—the home I had worked so hard to build.
"Take them back," I ordered. "Destroy it all."
"With pleasure," Damian growled.
He signaled his squad.
The destruction was terrifying to behold. The guards didn't just smash things; they tore them apart. Sledgehammers shattered the drywall of the East Wing. Cables were ripped from the ceiling.
"No! Stop! Those are our pack's defenses!" Santino yelled, scrambling to his feet. "I command you to stop!"
He tried to use his pathetic excuse for an Alpha Command.
The guards didn't even bat an eye.
"Your commands mean nothing to us," Damian said, grabbing Santino by the throat and lifting him off the ground.
A massive boom shook the earth.
The magical wards protecting the pack territory from rogues flickered, and then vanished.
The wards were tied to my bloodline. I was their anchor.
Now that I had renounced the pack in my heart, the protection disappeared with it.
"The wards..." Santino gasped, dangling mid-air in Damian's grip. "You've ruined our home."
"You like rogues so much," I said, pointing to Valentina crying on the front lawn. "Now you can live like one."
I walked up to Damian and placed a hand on his arm. Sparks flew between us, calming his rage just a fraction.
"Let him drop," I said.
Damian tossed Santino into the rubble of his own living room.
"We are leaving," I announced. "Santino? Check your bank account."
Santino scrambled for his phone, his trembling fingers tapping the screen.
"Zero?" His eyes went wide with horror. "Everything is... gone?"
"I withdrew my investments," I said. "You and your pack are bankrupt because of your sheer stupidity."
I turned and walked out through the gaping hole where the front door used to be. Damian walked beside me, his large hand resting protectively on my waist.
I stepped out into the sunlight.
For the first time in three years, I didn't feel heavy, and I didn't feel weak.
I felt like a Queen.
But as I reached Damian's SUV, I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. It wasn't from the slap; it was something else.
I looked back at the ruins. This was only the beginning.
"Damian," I whispered as he opened the door for me. "Prepare the legal team. I'm suing him to pay for that necklace. And I want a paternity test done on that rogue's child."
Damian smirked, his eyes fierce and predatory. "Whatever you command, my love."
