My gaze, however, fell upon the plane tickets to Orlando and the Disney World passes lying on the table.
Noticing my gaze, Richard immediately swept the passes away, his expression unreadable.
When he looked up and saw the tears glistening at the corners of my eyes, he was stunned.
His heart softened, and he reached out a hand, intending to wipe away my tears.
"I have a business meeting tomorrow. I’ll throw Nina a proper birthday party this weekend to make it up to her, okay?"
But I turned my face away, my tone lethal.
"Richard Blackwood, don't you forget what the Council of Elders declared: the primary right of inheritance for the Blackwood pack belongs to Nina. Should any harm befall her, that right passes directly to me."
He had once forced me to take suppressant injections to delay my labor, all so Mike could be the nominal heir. The ordeal nearly killed me.
As it turned out, Nina was born first anyway, and it was only out of guilt that the Council of Elders promised me her inheritance rights.
And for all these years, I've been aware that Richard has been secretly transferring assets from the Blackwood Group to Monica, though I've never exposed him.
At the mention of the inheritance, Richard's face instantly darkened.
"What harm could come to Nina? The Council adores her, and she's my pup. I would never harm her, no matter what!"
"I've told you already, it was just a doll. Irene, can't you get it through your head?"
Richard was about to say something else, but a phone call cut him off.
The moment the call connected, Richard's face turned completely grim.
Without another word, he violently dragged me and threw me into the car.
"The thugs you hired ruptured Mike's kidney! You're going to go over there right now and give him one of yours to atone for it!"
When we arrived at the pack's private hospital, the instant Richard saw Monica, his focus shifted entirely to her.
"Richard, Mike's right kidney is gone! He can never be a powerful Alpha again. What are we going to do?"
"Don't worry. I'll find the best kidney to transplant for him. He'll make a full recovery."
As the words left his lips, his gaze slid to my right side—right where my kidney was.
"I've already found you a more powerful replacement."
Before I could even process what was happening, I was thrown into an operating room.
"I'm begging you. I'm a designer, I need to be healthy, my kidney is..."
I clung desperately to Richard's hand, casting aside every last shred of my dignity.
"Richard Blackwood, don't make me hate you even more."
But Richard remained utterly unmoved, his expression blank as he pried my fingers off, one by one. "It's just one kidney. You still have another one."
"I will protect you for the rest of your life."
"Don't worry, the surgery will be quick. You won't feel any pain."
