Seraphina POV:
My burner phone began to ring. It was a jarring, cheerful tune that cut through the thick tension in the room.
It was in my pocket, vibrating against my hip.
"Answer it," Lola stammered, trying to regain control. She gestured to Bella. "Get that phone away from her."
Bella reached out with shaking hands and pulled the phone from my pocket. She looked at the caller ID.
"It says... Papa," Bella scoffed, though her voice wavered. "Calling for daddy to save you?"
I didn't move. I just watched them. The air around me was shimmering with power. The guards by the door had already dropped to one knee, their heads bowed, their wolves forcing them into submission before they even understood why.
Lola snatched the phone from Bella and hit answer. She put it on speaker, holding it up like a weapon.
"Listen here, old man," Lola shouted into the receiver. "Your daughter is a psycho stalker. Come pick up her trash before I have security throw her out on the street."
Silence on the other end.
Then, a sound. *Crack.*
It sounded like solid oak being pulverized by a bare hand.
"Who is this?" The voice that came through the speaker was deep, rough, and cold as the grave. It was a voice that made Alphas across the continent wake up in a cold sweat.
"I am the future Luna of the Moretti Pack!" Lola shrieked, her bravado crumbling. "She attacked me! I had to destroy her stupid little necklace just to get her to stop!"
The temperature in the room seemed to drop another ten degrees.
"You destroyed the seal?" Don Salvatore Vitiello asked. His voice was dangerously quiet. "You broke the containment?"
"It was just a piece of junk!" Lola yelled.
"Good," Salvatore said. "Put her on."
Lola hesitated. The authority in the man's voice was undeniable. Her hand shook as she held the phone out to me.
I took it. My fingers brushed hers, and she flinched as if I were made of fire.
"Papa," I said.
"Seraphina," his voice softened, but the rage underneath was palpable. "The contract?"
"Void," I said. My voice was steady, heavy with the Alpha timber. "He betrayed the blood. He chose a whore over the crown."
"And the Omertà?" he asked. The code of silence.
"Finished," I replied. I looked at Lola, who was now backing away, pale as a sheet. "Burn them. Burn them all to ash."
"With pleasure, *figlia mia*," he growled. "Look outside."
A low thrumming sound began to vibrate the glass walls of the lobby. It grew louder, a rhythmic *thwup-thwup-thwup* that shook the chandeliers.
Shadows fell over the building.
I looked through the glass doors. The sky above 5th Avenue was swarming. Five black military-grade helicopters hovered in formation. On the side of each one was painted a crest in gold: A Griffin and a Wolf.
The Royal Crest of House Vitiello.
"You said you wanted a ceremony, Lola?" I asked, dropping the phone and letting it shatter on the floor next to my mother's locket. "My father brought the fireworks."
Lola looked at the helicopters, then back at me. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish.
"You... you're human," she whispered, tears of terror welling in her eyes. "You're just a secretary."
I stepped closer, my silver eyes boring into her soul.
"I am the White Wolf," I said. "And you are standing on my territory."
