Gianna’s POV

The office door swung open.

The guard jerked his head toward it like he was tired of me already. “Go in.”

I didn’t move right away. My knees felt stiff. My palms were sweating. And for the first time since I’d been locked up, I didn’t feel brave. I felt exposed.

But I stepped forward anyway.

Because Louisa was worth every bit of fear clawing at my chest.

The door shut behind me with a soft but final thud. No turning back now.

Alpha Callum sat at a heavy desk near the far side of the room, his attention buried in a stack of papers. He didn’t look up.

I swallowed hard and kept my head down.

I’d never been in his office before. I didn’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t… this.

The space didn’t look like the lair of a monster. It looked like the inside of a war story.

The scent of old parchment and pine mixed with the dry heat of the unlit fireplace. The walls were paneled with dark wood, and the bookshelves that towered around the room were filled with leather-bound tomes, some so ancient they looked like they’d crumble at a touch. Maps, framed relics, and swords decorated the walls, all laid out with cold precision.

But it wasn’t the weapons or maps that stopped me.

It was the photograph.

A simple black frame, almost too small to be noticed. But I noticed.

The picture rested near the edge of his desk, two younger men standing shoulder to shoulder.

One of them was Alpha Callum.

The other was… my father.

They looked like brothers. Laughing. Their arms slung over each other’s shoulders.

I stepped forward before I could stop myself, staring at the photo like it held answers the world refused to give me.

“You both were this close, huh?” I said, not realizing the words had escaped my mouth.

Alpha Callum finally looked up.

His eyes met mine. Cold. Calculated. But there was something else too.

Something that flickered the moment he followed my gaze.

Without a word, he reached out, picked up the photo, and turned it facedown on the desk.

“We were,” he said.

His voice wasn’t angry. Just… hollow.

I felt the lump in my throat rise again, pressing against the back of my teeth.

“Then why—” I started, but stopped myself before I said too much.

I wasn’t here for answers. Not yet.

“I didn’t come to stir trouble,” I said instead, drawing a slow breath. “I just want to see Louisa. One last time. I’ll accept whatever punishment you give afterward.”

He didn’t respond right away.

He just looked at me.

It wasn’t the kind of look that pierced.

It was the kind that stripped you bare.

“Do you think I’m cruel, Gianna?” he asked suddenly.

His voice was low, roughened like gravel underfoot.

The question knocked the air from my lungs.

I hesitated. “I think you’re hurting,” I said quietly. “Just like I am.”

Something shifted in his expression. A twitch of the jaw. A flicker in his eyes.

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“No,” I admitted. “But I know what that picture meant. You wouldn’t still keep it if it meant nothing.”

His gaze darkened. “You’re bold,” he said. “Just like your father.”

But this time, his voice was colder. More cutting.

“But boldness doesn’t erase betrayal,” he added.

I stiffened. “I didn’t betray anyone.”

“No,” he said. “But you carry his name. His blood. That alone is enough to divide this Pack.”

I clenched my fists. “So punish me if you have to. Just don’t make Louisa pay for it.”

The moment hung between us like the breath before a storm.

Then, he stood. Slowly. Deliberately.

He didn’t raise his voice.

He didn’t need to.

“Do you know what he did?” he asked.

Before I could answer, he looked over my shoulder.

I turned slightly, catching the sound of the door opening behind me.

The guard stepped out.

Leaving me alone with him.

The air felt heavier now. Thicker.

“Your father—my trusted friend and Beta, shared letters with someone from the Black Claw Pack,” he said. “Spilling sensitive military information.”

I froze.

The words didn’t make sense.

“Information,” he continued, his voice colder now, “that ended up in the hands of Alpha Rapha.”

That name sent a chill straight through me.

Even as a child, I’d heard the stories. Alpha Rapha didn’t need to be seen to be feared. His reputation bled across territories like wildfire. Ruthless. Strategic. Unstoppable.

My voice came out quiet. “Why would my father…?”

No. I knew him. My father wasn’t that man. He couldn’t have been.

Someone must have lied.

Or framed him.

Because whatever Alpha Callum believed, I couldn’t accept that version of my father. Not without proof.

Callum’s stare didn’t waver.

“Because of your father’s betrayal, our borders were breached. Our soldiers slaughtered. And Louisa… your sweet sister? She nearly died in one of the raids that followed.”

I blinked rapidly, trying to keep the burning in my eyes from spilling over.

“What do you want me to do?” I said, my voice hoarse.

He said nothing.

I dropped to my knees.

“I’ll do anything,” I said. “Anything to make it right. I’ll leave school. I’ll work wherever you want. I’ll serve this Pack until I collapse if that’s what it takes.”

The silence that followed was excruciating.

Then, I heard his boots move across the marble floor.

He stopped in front of me. I didn’t dare look up until I felt his fingers under my chin, lifting my face to his.

His eyes bore into mine.

“Anything?” he asked.

There was something unreadable in his expression. Something I didn’t trust. But I nodded anyway.

“Yes.”

Because this wasn’t about submission.

This was survival.

This was about Louisa.

And about finding out the truth.

He held my gaze for a moment longer.

Then he straightened and walked back to his desk.

He picked up a pen. Clicked it once. Then set it down again.

“You want to fix your father’s mistake?” he asked.

I stood, slowly, wiping my hands against my dress.

“Yes.”

He gave a short nod.

“Then you’ll go to the Black Claw Pack.”

I blinked. “What?”

He looked at me—calm, unreadable, resolute.

“You’ll go to them,” he repeated, lips curling into a faint, cruel smile.

He leaned forward, palms resting on the desk.

“As a gift to Alpha Rapha.”