The werewolf people in the castle all started to back away when Sophie reentered the castle. None of them had any idea as to where she went… but they could see her ferocious aura.

Duncan, who met her in the hallway was even stunned. Seeing her looking this way, filled with anger and determination, he suddenly thought about Sophie's mother's side of the family.

King Malachi was the greatest Alpha the lycans had ever known and their people still sang songs of praises of him.

Now, the late king's ferocious aura seemed to have surrounded Sophie in such a way that the lycans found themselves instinctively avoiding her to not to incur her wrath.

Somehow, this actually made them think that their Alpha and Sophie were a match made in heaven.

Their anger and wrath were all-consuming and prevented anyone from even saying another word. Sophie's return shocked Leland who was sitting still within the study room and couldn't find the motivation to do anything after her refusal.

Now Sophie was back and with a look of determination on her face.

"Duke Romanov, I have changed my mind!" Sophie announced and then she bowed in front of the duke. She was struggling to maintain the fire that was burning within her. "I will agree to your request for marriage and even sleep once with you as long as you fulfill my wish."

Leland's eyes widened and the man's heart pounded hard as he stood up from his chair and pushed it aside to approach Sophie. He gently touched her shoulder and said with a deep voice. "What… what is it that your heart desires, Miss Hansley?"

Sophie raised her head and looked him in the eye. The woman's eyes were blazing as she said to him. "Please punish my aunt and cousins. The Limberg family does not deserve to live their lives in splendor and galor… the gall of them to do so makes me sick, my lord."

"Speak no further." Leland quickly said and felt his own blood burn in anger. "I will do as you wish. I assure you that they will not live by the end of tonight."

"No," Sophie said.

Leland blinked and thought that he may have overstepped by saying that he would kill them, but then suddenly, Sophie's next words surprised him. She shook her head furiously and frowned at the Alpha.

"Death would be too swift for them, my lord," Sophie darkly said. "I wish to see them suffer, to regret, and to wish that they didn't oppose me or tried to take what wasn't theirs. All of them spent their years living a good life so to end it all so quickly is an act of mercy."

Surprised by that way of thinking from Sophie, Leland couldn't help but still be pleased. He would have done and agreed with anything at this point just to ensure that she would stick by his side and marry him. "You are right. Do not worry, it shall be done."

The resources that the lycans have accumulated from robbing Duke Romanov of his wealth and also pretending to be him, now started to have more purpose for Leland. While he originally crafted a wicked tale to make Duke Romanov appear dark and intimidating…

It was now the time to actually do just so.

***

Sophie had signed herself away to a marriage with the dark and mysterious duke but the results that she wanted from Duke Romanov finally came into fruit at just the same day and finally dealt the debilitating blow the next.

A scandal soon arrived about Stefan Limberg who Sophie may have had assumed was a man who turned a blind eye to his daughters's behavior. Her uncle did not outwardly hurt Sophie or even berate her like Aunt Helga because he was focused on bringing wealth to his family…

But now, everything that he accumulated through the capital of the Hansley family, through the inheritance that was meant for Sophie's father and in actuality, Sophie's? Well, Stefan was soon brought into the city's square.

Public humiliation for sins that the man didn't even know he committed.

Fraud.

Before the townspeople of Hastings could even contemplate what was happening, a higher body of order finally came from outside of the city and measured out an order and judgment for the Limberg family.

Duke Romanov's visits to the capital and intermingling with the nobles and elites of the humans were finally put to use. He had struck gold by getting along with one of the provincial judges of the kingdom of Riga.

And so before they knew it, everything the Limberg family knew and love was gone.

They were stripped of their wealth and the honor in their name, Aunt Helga and her daughters were dragged out of their manor and thrown into the streets with nothing but the clothes on their back.

Everything was confiscated and the family didn't even know what had hit them to experience such ill fortune. Unaware that it was their own hateful, greedy, and prideful actions that had finally caught up to them at last.

Sophie watched it all in the comforts of a carriage that Duke Romanov had offered her so she could watch it all happen while sitting down in luxury. She watched the family in the center of the town with nothing but shame and humiliation on their faces.

"...I'm satisfied," Sophie said at last and turned to the masked duke sitting in front of her. "Let us proceed with the marriage."

.

.

___________________

From Missrealitybites:

Thank you so much for all your support of this book. I love reading the comments and will start replying again tomorrow. I've been working on back-to-back webinars for the past few days. They are super interesting but super tiring. That's why I am not too responsive recently.

Today I assisted a renowned cybersecurity company in a workshop. They wanted to sell their services to the government.

It's VERY interesting to learn from them about the cyber security threats landscape and how there are so many experts fighting criminals in the cyber world, while we go by our day-to-day life not knowing what happened in the background... It's like listening to a sci-fi story with superhero characters fighting the bad guys.

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