Chapter 445\u00a0<\/p>\n
Riley\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment the blade touched Scarlett\u2019s scalp, I saw her whole body jolt like she\u2019d been struck by lightning. It was as if the cold steel wasn\u2019t just shaving away her precious hair-it was scraping straight down into her soul.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease! No! Don\u2019t-!\u201d she screamed, thrashing in pure deperation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her cries echoed off the stone walls of the grand banquet hall, sharp and raw like a wounded animal. The sound might\u2019ve made others flinch, but I stood firm, unmoved. I had been silent too long. Too many days, too many years. And tonight, I wasn\u2019t going to look away\u00a0<\/p>\n
One lock at a time, her long, glossy black hair fell to the floor-those perfect strands she used to toss with pride every time she humiliated me. She treated them like a crown, a symbol of her status and superiority. But now, scattered at her feet, they looked more like the ashes of a fallen empire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlett writhed and fought against the guards holding er, but their grips were iron-clad. Her wild movements earned her a nasty scrape on the scalp, and blood trickled down the side of her face. It trailed over her pale skin in a crimson arc, as if marking her defeat for all to see.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her scream-high-pitched and broken-split through the air. But I didn\u2019t flinch. I didn\u2019t blink. I didn\u2019t feel sorry. Not for a single second.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The room had gone deathly still. Those who once laughed at my humiliation now looked like ghosts, pale and shaking. Especially the women who had struck me alongside her. They stood frozen, unable to look away from the brutal scene, terror etched deep into every line of their faces.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlett\u2019s beauty was her power. And I had just taken it from her with a single nod.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t enjoy cruelty for cruelty\u2019s sake-but in this world wolves only understood power. And if I didn\u2019t make an example of her now, they\u2019d do it to me again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Across the room, I saw Lady Lee-once smug, now hollow-collapse to the floor. Her legs gave out beneath her, eyes wide and vacant like her soul had fled the room. It probably had..\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, chaos erupted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ronan Duskcliff-Scarlett\u2019s supposed \u201cprotector\u201d-charged through the crowd like a rogue without a leash.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStop! Stop it now!\u201d he roared, eyes wild.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He only made it halfway before Duke slammed a foot into his chest, sending him flying backward. He crashed to the floor with a thud that made the chandeliers rattle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a blink, two of Lucien\u2019s men had him pinned down, face to the cold marble. He shouted and thrashed like a madman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLucien Duskgrave, how dare you treat Scarlett like this I won\u2019t forget this!\u201d he bellowed, rage clouding every word.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucien didn\u2019t even glance his way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
14:57 Wed, Jan 14\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 445\u00a0<\/p>\n
I did.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And when he realized his words hadn\u2019t rattled Lucien, be turned them on me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
69%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRiley! She\u2019s your sister! Your own blood! How can you just stand there and let them do this to her?! What kind of person are you?!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I tilted my head slightly, looking down at him with a calmness that must\u2019ve driven him insane. \u201cIt\u2019s been over a month, hasn\u2019t it?\u201d I said softly. \u201cYour sister, Tessa. she should be able to speak by now. Did she not tell you who hurt her? Or did you never give her the chance\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His eyes went blank.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The truth hit him harder than any punch ever could.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He had exiled his own sister, shipped her off to another country-just so he wouldn\u2019t have to hear the truth. Just so he could keep believing that what he did to me was justified.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Coward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want answers, Ronan. You want comfort,\u201d I whispered. \u201cBut you don\u2019t deserve it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He snapped again. \u201cI once considered making you my fianc\u00e9e. A union between Ebonclaw and Blackmaw was meant to be. How foolish of me to ever think you were the one I\u2019d choose!, Riley! And you-you\u2019re flaunting yourself with another man like some shameless whore!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I almost laughed. \u201cFianc\u00e9?\u201d I echoed. \u201cIs that what you call yourself now?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His words couldn\u2019t touch me anymore. I looked at him and saw nothing. Not even hatred. Just a pathetic, powerless man who thought he could shame me back into submission.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want me to stop?\u201d I asked coldly. \u201cYou want me to protect her? After what she did to me?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His expression twisted in disbelief, but I didn\u2019t wait for a reply.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucien\u2019s voice broke the tension. \u201cToo loud.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Duke didn\u2019t hesitate. He ripped off one of his socks and shoved it into Ronan\u2019s mouth without so much as a blink.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sight was almost comical-this once-proud heir gagging on the stench of his own desperation, restrained like the beast he truly was.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He gurgled and thrashed, but the guards held him down like he weighed nothing. He couldn\u2019t spit it out. Couldn\u2019t scream. All he could do was watch-watch as Scarlett\u2019s hair was stripped away strand by strand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She collapsed when it was done, nothing left in her expression but hollow shame. Blood dried on her scalp, and the air grew colder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then, silence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned my gaze slowly toward the four wealthy women who\u2019d helped Seraphina beat me. They shrank back, huddled behind their mates like cubs behind a de wall. I could smell the fear pouring off them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of them stammered forward, her voice cracking, \u201cAlpha Duskgrave-we didn\u2019t know she was your woman. If we had known, we never would\u2019ve-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
14:57 Wed, Jan 14 D G D\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 445\u00a0<\/p>\n
69%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stepped forward before she could finish. \u201cSo if I weren his, it would\u2019ve been okay?\u201d My voice was calm. Even. But cach word sliced like a claw.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She flinched, eyes wide. \u201cN-no, I mean\u2026 we just-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think rank makes abuse acceptable?\u201d I said. \u201cYou think I was less deserving of respect because I had no pack? No title?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They had nothing to say.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And that was the worst part. Because it was true.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They wouldn\u2019t have cared if Lucien hadn\u2019t claimed me. f Matriarch Duskgrave hadn\u2019t wrapped me in that ceremonial cloak. In their eyes, power was the only shield worth recognizing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that was over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t hiding anymore. I wasn\u2019t weak. And tonight, the Stormridge Pack learned what happened when you strike a white wolf and leave her breathing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t get forgiveness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You get fire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Send Gifts\u00a0<\/p>\n
992\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u76ee 2\u00a0<\/p>\n
3\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wed,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joseph King is an editor and storyteller who ensures every chapter is clear, polished, and engaging for readers.<\/p>\n
Midnight Letters by Daniel Crowe 445 Chapter 445\u00a0 Riley\u2019s POV\u00a0 Finished\u00a0 The moment the blade touched Scarlett\u2019s scalp, I saw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pack-princess"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}