?Chapter 340:

    I didn’t need to understand. All I needed was to watch her bleed.

    I lunged at her, my ws out, but she was faster than I anticipated. She dodged, shing at me with the dagger. The de nicked my arm, the silver burning my skin, but I barely felt it. The pain was nothingpared to the rage boiling inside me.

    Ace roared in my head. Enough games. End her!

    I grabbed her wrist, twisting it until the dagger fell to the floor with a tter. She let out a sharp cry, but I didn’t let go. I mmed her against the wall, pinning her there with one hand around her throat.

    “Did you really think you could win this?” I growled, my voice low and dangerous.

    Her eyes burned with defiance, even as she struggled against my grip. “I knew I couldn’t win,” she spat, gasping for breath. “But it wasn’t about winning, Ryder. It was about making you suffer. You think it was easy seeing my son die right in front of me?”

    Damn this bitch.

    “Same way it wasn’t easy making Jasmine live her entire life in lies… to fucking capture her, feed her with Veilroot. And had her idiot son capture her?” I snarled. “Tell me more about this devil, calling herself a fucking saint.”

    I squeezed tighter, cutting off her air. Her face turned red, her eyes wide with panic. But just as she was about to pass out, I loosened my grip.

    “Not so fast,” I said, my voice cold. “You don’t get to die that easily.”

    I threw her to the ground, her body hitting the marble floor with a sickening thud. She gasped for air, clutching her throat as she tried to crawl away.

    “Kade,” I barked.

    He appeared instantly, dragging a heavy chain behind him. Without a word, he secured it around her wrists and ankles, chaining her to the floor.

    “Please,” she gasped, her voice trembling now. “Ryder, you don’t have to do this.”

    I crouched down in front of her, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at me.

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    “Oh, Anna,” I said, my voice soft, almost gentle. “I absolutely do.”

    Over the next hour, I made her feel every ounce of pain she had caused Jasmine. Every cut, every bruise, every scream. I didn’t stop until her once-proud face was unrecognizable, her body broken and bleeding. But I didn’t kill her. Not yet.

    “You think you’ve won,” she croaked, blood dripping from her lips. “But you don’t even know who the real viin is.”

    Her smirk was devilish, even at death’s door. Was she still being wicked?

    I narrowed my eyes, my grip tightening on her jaw. “What are you talking about?”

    She let out a weak, bitterugh. “You’ll see,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “You think I’m the one pulling the strings? You’re a fool, Ryder. The real threat is out there. Watching. Waiting.”

    I wanted to demand answers, to shake the truth out of her, but it was toote.

    Her eyes rolled back, her body going limp.

    Herst breath escaped her lips, and then she was gone.

    The silence that followed her death was deafening. For a moment, I just stood there, staring at her lifeless body. The room reeked of blood and death, the aftermath of my fury.

    “Ryder,” Enzo said, his voice pulling me from my thoughts.

    I turned to him, my eyes hard. “What?”

    “The rest of the pack has surrendered,” he said. “Silverw is yours.”

    I nodded, the weight of his words settling on my shoulders. Silverw was mine now.

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