Agnes' Awakening: From Zero to His Whole World novel Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Brian’s POV

I couldn’t bring Ashley back.

What a humiliating failure!

Hebert had the audacity to shield my Luna right in front of everyone! His eyes, his stance–it was as if he was declaring to the whole world that Ashley belonged to him.

And Ashley… that ungrateful, infuriating woman! She accepted it! She actually stood behind another Alpha, giving me this cold, detached look I’d never seen before–like I was some intruder, some clown in her eyes.

Has she forgotten where she came from? Forgotten who took her in when she was nothing more than a stray, desperate for a place to belong? I gave her a home, gave her the honor of being Luna! Without me, she wouldn’t even be able to set foot in those high–society circles.

It was then that Kael, my Beta, rushed over to me, his face tense. “Alpha,” he said quietly, “Silvia has woken up.”

I nodded, taking a deep breath to force down the raging beast inside me. Silvia–because of her, the pack’s reputation had hit rock bottom recently, with complaints from the elders piling up on my desk like a mountain. I had to talk to her. I needed her to give me an explanation, something–anything that could put out the fire boiling inside me.

I pushed open the door to the hospital room.

There was no confrontation waiting for me, no excuses–just the sound of muffled, heart–wrenching sobs.

Silvia lay on the stark–white hospital bed, her face pale as a sheet. When she saw me, those stunning eyes of hers instantly welled up, almost shimmering like violets caught in the rain. “Brian…” Her voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper. “I’m sorry… it’s all my fault…”

She struggled to sit up, and I shot forward, pressing her shoulder back down before she could move further. “Don’t move.” My voice came out rougher than I’d planned.

“No, I need to say this…” She grabbed my hand–her fingers felt so cold, like ice–and held on tightly. “I… I just wanted to do something for the pack. After what happened at the banquet… People think the worst of us now. I thought this art exhibit, the auction, the donations could help restore our reputation… I didn’t expect–didn’t realize it would blow up like this…”

Her tears fell fast, like scattered pearls breaking loose from a necklace, each drop hitting me like molten lava burning through the armor of my anger, exposing the raw, aching tenderness underneath. “If it can restore the pack’s honor,” she choked out, her voice trembling as if she might break apart at any second, “I’m willing to do anything, Brian…I’ll take ail the blame. ”

Seeing her like this, so full of guilt, the anger I’d been directing at her quietly faded away. She was just too kind, too eager to shoulder the burden for me. She wasn’t like Ashley–that spiteful woman who only knew how to hurt me with her sharp edges.

“I just didn’t expect… Ashley, she… she’s so capable,” Silvia said carefully, watching my expression with a mix of amazement and uncertainty in her tone. “She’s the owner of the gallery, and… and that mysterious genius painter, Rebecca… I never imagined…”

She paused, as if digging through her memory, then added hesitantly, almost innocently, “But… we sent all the files to the gallery before submitting the work for the exhibition. Could it be that Ashley was just too busy to notice how similar my painting was to hers…?”

Boom!

Her words hit me like lightning, cutting through the fog in my head.

Of course! They had to review every piece before the exhibition! As the gallery’s owner, there’s no way Ashley wouldn’t have noticed that Silvia’s painting was identical to hers!

Chapter

+15 Bonus

So she didn’t “miss” it. She did it on purpose!

That vicious woman! From the very beginning, she set up a perfectly calculated trap! She deliberately let Silvia’s works be displayed, only to publicly expose everything in front of all the media and high society, ruining Silvia’s reputation and turning the Blackwood Pack into a laughingstock once again!

“That damned bitch!” I growled through clenched teeth, my fists tightening to the point where my knuckles cracked audibly.

“No, Brian, don’t say that!” Silvia immediately grabbed my arm in a panic, desperately trying to defend her. “Ashley… she couldn’t have done it on purpose! She’s just… just upset because of the divorce. She wasn’t like this before, she-”

The more “kind–hearted” she sounded as she tried to excuse Ashley, the more the fire in my chest raged.

I, Brian Winter, Alpha of the Blackwood Pack, being toyed with by an Omega I personally pulled out of the gutter? I gave her everything she has, and this is how she pays me back–using the dirtiest, most cruel way possible! If it weren’t for me, she’d still be suffering under her greedy excuse of an uncle, rotting in some back alley A useless wretch with no wolf spirit–who the hell gave her the guts to humiliate me like this?

Just then, Kael knocked and stepped into the room, his expression darker than before.

“Alpha,” he handed me a tablet, “Things online have spiraled out of control. Every media outlet is running stories about the plagiarism scandal‘ from the art exhibit. On top of that, the food poisoning incident from the banquet is being dragged up too. Our stock prices have already started to fall. The Elders just held an emergency meeting. They think immediate action is

necessary.”

“What’s their solution?” My voice was so cold it could freeze the air around us.

“The Elders are unanimous. They believe Luna needs to hold a press conference to clear everything up.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify