The Rejected Envoy of the Moon Chapter 08

The Rejected Envoy of the Moon Chapter 08

If I hadn’t seen the look on her face that night, peeling shrimp for Grace while I knelt in the rain outside, I

might have almost believed her.

Guests murmured among themselves.

“The Virethorn Pack is practically bankrupt. Those shares are worth less than toilet paper.”

“Trading a sinking ship for forgiveness. The audacity.”

“These parents are disgusting.”

I walked over with my glass.

Edward saw me approaching and hope flickered to life in his eyes.

“Claire…”

I poured every drop of red wine onto the crown of his head.

It ran down through his hair and dripped onto his borrowed suit.

The entire room drew a sharp breath.

I handed the empty glass to a server.

“Edward. Feeling clearheaded now?”

Edward didn’t move.

Patricia screamed. “How could you do that to your father?”

I turned to her.

“Want some clarity too?”

She shut her mouth instantly.

“I don’t want the Virethorn Pack’s scraps.”

“And I don’t want your apology.”

“Love that shows up this late is worth less than wilted lettuce.”

Scattered laughter broke out across the room.

Zephyr stepped onto the stage and looked at Edward.

“Since you enjoy making public announcements.”

“Let me make one of my own.”

“The Nocturne Pack and the Silvermist Pack are jointly launching a formal acquisition of the Virethorn

Pack.”

“Purchase price: one dollar.”

The room erupted.

Edward’s face went ashen.

“You’re trying to kill the Virethorn Pack!”

Zephyr’s tone didn’t waver.

“I’m just putting the trash back where it belongs.”

Security moved in and dragged the Virethorn Pack members toward the exit.

Patricia thrashed and screamed at me.

“Claire, Mama is truly sorry!”

After the Virethorn Pack was removed from the gala, they became a punchline.

Their accounts were frozen.

Employees picketed outside the office demanding back pay.

Creditors showed up daily to throw paint on the doors.

Edward was buried in investigations. Patricia cried nonstop. Thorne spent every waking hour trying to reach

As for Grace.

The day after the Virethorn Pack disowned her, she emptied their last remaining funds and disappeared.

When Patricia found out, she nearly lost her mind.

My Beta sent me a recording.

Inside a run-down rental, Patricia had Grace by the hair.

“How could you steal the family’s last lifeline?”

Grace clawed back, raking her nails across Patricia’s face.

“Lifeline?”

“Are your lives even worth saving?”

“If you people hadn’t been so useless, do you think I’d be in this position?”

Patricia screamed that she was an ungrateful monster.

“Ungrateful monster? You’re the one who raised me.”

“Back then, I said Claire pushed me, and you didn’t even check.”

“I said she stole something, and you hit her on the spot.”

“I said she was evil, and you threw her out.”

“Don’t you dare play victim now.”

Patricia was struck speechless.

By the time Thorne arrived, the two of them were already tearing each other apart.

He reached in to separate them, and Grace grabbed a shard of broken glass and slashed his wrist.

His piano hand.

Word was the nerve damage was permanent. He would never play the way he used to.

Thorne sat in the hospital corridor that night, staring at his bandaged hand, and didn’t say a single word until

morning.

Grace took the money and tried to run.

But she had spent lavishly for years and owed debts everywhere.

Loan sharks caught up with her and dragged her to an underground gambling den to work off what she

owed.

She thought her looks could still get her out.

One night at the tables cleaned her out, and her debt doubled.

Edward fared even worse.

Tax evasion. Commercial fraud. The evidence piled up piece by piece

The day they took him away, reporters swarmed the entrance

The Alpha who once stood so tall in his tailored suits couldn’t even lift his face as they loaded him into the

car.

The Virethorn Pack was officially bankrupt.

I finished scrolling through the photos my Beta sent and hit delete.

My son came running over and hung off my knee.

“Mommy, what are you looking at?”

I closed the tablet.

*Just clearing out some junk.”

He nodded with absolute seriousness.

“Make sure you get all of it.”

Zephyr wrapped his arms around me from behind.

“We will,”

I leaned back against his chest and looked out at the greenhouse through the window.

The new bluebells I had planted were blooming.

My son watered them every single day, far more enthusiastically than necessary.

The gardener said one more week of this and they would drown.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

Zephyr dipped his head near my ear. “Happy?”

I thought about it.

“Not exactly happy.”

“More like… I finally don’t have to keep looking over my shoulder.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

“Then look forward.”

I murmured a quiet mm.

But right then, my phone lit up.