Freya’s POV
“Caelum isn’t worthy of you, Freya! He wouldn’t evene to bring your parents‘ ashes back with you–how could he ever be your husband?” Aldred’s voice thundered, fury vibrating through the room.
Eleanor scoffed, venom dripping from every word. “Bah! Ashes, such unlucky things–do you expect my son to go fetch them? Dream on!” She spat the words as if they were poison. “That day Freya came with the urn, wanting to leave it at our home for a few days… I pped her and made her drop it. If she’d dared to leave it here. I would have smashed it myself. Trying to curse my Grafton family with bad luck? How malicious…”
Aldred’s hands clenched, his body trembling with rage. He finally understood just what kind of suffering I had endured.
Kade’s and Lana’s faces were tight with anger, Lana’s eyes wet with unshed tears. She was finally seeing the hiddenyers behind my divorce–the depths of injustice I had been forced to endure.
And Caelum… how could he treat me this way?
Eleanor’s malicious pride rose with each word until a cold,manding voice cut through the room. “Strike!”
The crack of a powerful p echoed. Eleanor’s mouth froze mid–sentence, her words strangled in her throat. Everyone in the room went silent, watching. The hand belonged to one of Ss Whitmor’s men–but the one who had given themand <b>was </b>none other than Ss Whitmor himself.
Eleanor staggered, stunned, before reality sank in. She screeched, “Fine, Freya! You collude with outsiders against me? Your parents gave birth to a daughter like you, that’s why they died early!”
“Continue!” Ss Whitmor’s voice, low and cold, issued the single word, and his men resumed, pping Eleanor again and again. Her face quickly swollen, reddened, the room reverberating with the relentless rhythm <b>of </b>punishment.
No one <b>dared </b>intervene<b>–</b>this was Ss Whitmor, Alpha of the Irond Coalition, a predator whose influence nketed half of The Capital.
Caelum tried to step forward, to protect Eleanor–but Ss‘ men blocked him. He couldn’t even shout without risk, and all his rage turned on me. “Freya, you won’t make them stop? This is what you want?!”
I pressed my lips together<b>, </b>saying nothing.
If Eleanor had been merely insulting me<b>, </b>I could have ignored it<b>. </b>But my parents<b>… </b>my parents‘ honor had been dragged through the mud. My <b>father</b>, Arthur Thorne<b>, </b>and my mother, Myra… they were warriors, sacrifices for their country. No one insulted their memory and walked away.
The cold, echoing <b>ps </b>continued, resonating through the <b>tense </b>air like wolf <b>ws </b>against the <b>pack’s </b><b>den</b>.
“If something happens <b>to </b>my mother <b>because </b><b>of </b><b>this</b><b>, </b><b>Freya</b><b>, </b><b>can </b>you <b>take </b>responsibility?” Caelum shouted.
“<b>I </b>will take responsibility!” Ss Whitmor <b>said</b>, his <b>voice </b><b>as </b>unflinching as <b>steel. </b>“Any injuries, any medical bills, any damages -Whitmore will pay!”
The room fell silent again.
Eleanor’s <b>eyes </b>widened in <b>fear</b><b>, </b>and she turned to her son for protection. “Freya, must you go this far? You just want money, right? Fine. <b>I’ll </b><b>give </b>you money<b>–</b>just stop them!”
<b>The </b>ps <b>ceased </b>temporarily. <b>Ss</b>‘ gaze shifted to me, waiting. If I spoke, if I demanded my rights, he would allow his men to continue,
met Caelum’s eyes, voice calmrand precise, my words cutting like a wolf’s teeth. “I want money, yes. But this <b>1.53 </b>million isn’t yours to give<b>–</b>it’s yours to return.
When you started your venture, you didn’t <b>have </b>the funds. That 1.53 million… it was the money I lent <b>you</b><b>, </b>Caelum, to start SilverTech Forgeworks.
+8 Pearls
My divorce from you isn’t about greed. I take nothing beyond what is rightfully mine. I simply want what was always mine, to end this marriage and stop being disgusted by your family’s behavior!”
The room went still. Everyone stared at Caelum differently now. They had known him as the tech magnate who rose from nothing–but no one realized the first capital he used to build SilverTech Forgeworks had been my contribution.
Giselle opened her mouth, lips twisted. “Oh please, Freya, it was money from my mother to my brother!”
Lana’s gaze sliced through Giselle. “Your Graftons, if you had that money, Caelum wouldn’t have been so poor that this wedding ring for Freya cost a measly 200 credits!”
Giselle sneered. “Freya’s just an orphan–how could she possibly have that kind of money?”
“That <b>was </b>the deathpensation from my parents, Giselle,” I said, my voice cold, unwavering. My wordsnded like a blow, silent but heavy, and the room fell into a stunned silence.
Caelum’s pupils contracted sharply. He stared at me, disbelief etched on every line of his face.
That first capital… it was deathpensation?
Impossible. And yet, if it hadn’t been that, where else could I have obtained such funds?
He remembered…. the grief I had carried after my parents‘ deaths. The quiet desperation I hid behind. And the moment he had been trapped by financial fear, trembling at his dreams, I had handed him that money.
“Take this, go realize your ambition,” I had told him then.
“Where did you <b>get </b><b>so </b>much money?? he had asked, stunned.
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