Elena Moretti POV:
A week later, a sleek, black Maybach rolled silently down the tree-lined avenue of Columbia University. The tires crushed the dry, golden autumn leaves scattered across the asphalt.
I sat in the back seat, staring out the window at the familiar red-brick buildings. My stomach gave a slight, involuntary twitch.
Ten years ago, I had stood in the center of that main plaza. I had been a naive, desperate girl. Luca and Matteo had humiliated me in front of hundreds of laughing students, dumping freezing water over my head and ruining the cheap clothes I had saved up to buy.
The car glided to a stop. The driver opened the door.
I stepped out onto the plaza. I wore a tailored, charcoal-gray blazer draped over my shoulders. The wind blew through my hair. I looked at the exact spot where I had once cried. There was nothing there now but dead leaves. The wound was completely healed. I didn't feel pain; I only felt the cold, hard armor I had built over it.
The University Chancellor and the entire Board of Trustees were waiting for me at the bottom of the auditorium steps. They rushed forward, their postures hunched in subservience. They were greeting a woman whose company was now worth over a hundred billion dollars.
"Mrs. Moretti, it is our highest honor to welcome you back," the Chancellor said, his voice trembling slightly.
I gave him a slow, measured nod. I didn't smile. I didn't offer my hand. The sheer, crushing weight of my presence made the board members hold their breath.
I walked past them and pushed open the double doors of the grand auditorium.
The massive hall was packed with thousands of students. The noise was deafening, but the moment my heels clicked against the wooden stage, absolute silence fell over the room.
I walked to the podium. I glanced down at the front row. Several young women were clutching copies of the *Forbes* magazine with my face on the cover. Their eyes were wide, filled with hero worship.
I looked at the prepared speech the university had placed on the podium. It was full of boring, safe platitudes about hard work and dreaming big. I grabbed the papers, crumpled them into a ball, and tossed them onto the floor.
I placed both hands flat on the edges of the podium and leaned forward, staring directly into the crowd.
"The world does not reward obedient princesses," I said. My voice was low, dark, and amplified by the microphone. It echoed like thunder.
I didn't sugarcoat anything. I told them about being sold as a pawn. I told them about the fire, the betrayals, and the blood I had to step over to survive. I stripped away the glamorous illusion of wealth and exposed the brutal, carnivorous logic of capital and power.
Suddenly, a male student in the third row stood up. He grabbed a microphone from the aisle stand. He had a smug, challenging smirk on his face.
"With all due respect, Mrs. Moretti," he sneered. "Isn't your success just a byproduct of your marriage? You are married to Dante Moretti. Didn't he just hand you this empire?"
The entire auditorium gasped. The Chancellor sitting on the stage turned pale as a sheet. He frantically waved his hands, signaling the campus security to drag the boy out before I ordered a hit on the entire school.
I raised my hand. The security guards froze in their tracks.
I looked down at the boy. I didn't feel angry. I looked at him with the cold, high-dimensional pity of a predator looking at a clueless sheep.
"If I were a canary waiting for a man to feed me," I said, my voice dropping to a lethal whisper, "I would have burned to death in a basement in Chicago ten years ago. I wouldn't be standing here breathing the same air as you."
I gripped the podium harder. "Dante Moretti didn't build my throne. I built it. We are equal wolves hunting in the same forest. I am not a parasite clinging to a tree."
I swept my gaze over the young women in the front row. "Do not wait for a knight in shining armor to hack through the thorns for you. Pick up the sword yourself. Bleed. Fight. And become the queen who writes the rules."
The silence held for one second. Then, the auditorium exploded.
The applause was a physical shockwave. The girls in the front row jumped to their feet, tears streaming down their faces, screaming my name. The boy who asked the question sank back into his chair, his face burning red with deep, crushing shame.
High above the stage, hidden in the pitch-black VIP box on the second floor, Dante stood in the shadows. His eyes were locked on me. When I said the words *equal wolves*, his throat bobbed violently. His chest heaved with a mixture of overwhelming pride and a dark, consuming lust.
The speech ended. My bodyguards formed a wedge, pushing through the frantic crowd of students to escort me backstage.
Within thirty minutes, the clip of my response hit Twitter. It racked up ten million views and shot straight to the number one trending spot worldwide.
I walked into the private green room and picked up a bottle of water to soothe my throat.
The door suddenly slammed shut. The lock clicked.
Dante strode across the room. His eyes were pitch black. He grabbed my hips and slammed my back against the vanity mirror. The water bottle fell from my hand, rolling across the floor.
"Watching you on that stage," Dante rasped, his voice rough and breathless, "it nearly killed me."
I laughed softly. I reached up, grabbed the knot of his silk tie, and yanked his face down to mine. Our mouths crashed together. It was a vicious, consuming kiss, fueled by the adrenaline of the crowd and the intoxicating high of absolute power.
Outside the heavy door, my assistant stood like a statue, ruthlessly blocking out the Chancellor and the screaming students, keeping our war zone completely private.
Half an hour later, I smoothed down the lapels of my blazer. I linked my arm through Dante's, and we walked out the VIP exit.
We got into the Maybach. As the car pulled away, I watched the campus disappear in the rearview mirror. I had finally buried the weak, helpless girl I used to be.
Dante held her hand in the car, his gaze deep: "Our ten-year anniversary is in a few days. Are you ready to cash in my promise?"
