Chapter 80: Freedom

The loan shark’s office was a cramped, foul-smelling den tucked away in a damp basement alley. The air reeked of cheap tobacco, stale booze, and the suffocating, unwashed stench of low-ranking wolves crammed together in a tight space.

Half-naked, heavily tattooed thugs slouched on worn leather sofas, trying their best to look like terrifying mobsters, but to my eyes, they were nothing more than a pathetic den of petty thieves.

Among them, two faces immediately stood out.

The Beta whose leg I had shattered during his last visit to our house was leaning heavily on a crutch, his face twisting into a hideous, vengeful scowl the second he recognized me. Beside him stood the human thug who had backed him up that day, his eyes widening in a sudden spike of residual fear.

I could not see the other fella. Maybe he was here but I couldn’t be bothered to recognize him.

"You..." the injured Beta hissed, his jaw clenching as he tried to regain his pride in front of his crew. "You’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face here, girl!"

"We’re here to repay all our debt," Bradford stated firmly, his voice shaking slightly as he held out the heavy envelope containing the cash.

The entire room went dead silent for two seconds before the thugs burst into roaring, obnoxious laughter.

"Pay off all your debt?!" the lead loan shark sneered, tossing his cigarette butt onto the stained carpet. "Up until now, you couldn’t even meet the monthly interest, old man, and now you claim you’re here to pay it all off? What kind of stupid trick are you trying to play?"

"Open your eyes," I said, my voice cutting through their laughter like a honed blade as I stepped out from behind Bradford. "Unless you’d rather we stay indebted to you just to give you a pathetic reason to use us as your punching bag?"

"How dare you?!" the lead thug barked, slamming his fist onto the wooden desk and rising to his feet, his cheap Alpha aura flaring in an attempt to crush us.

"I so dare," I snapped back, locking my gaze onto his.

I will say it again, an Alpha aura or spectral wolf—especially a low ranking Alpha—will not do any damage towards someone with a strong mental fortitude. It’s all psychology. And sometimes, it even works against high ranking Alphas like Edgar.

The moment his eyes met mine, the arrogant smirk melted off his face. With the subtle, lethal instinct of a veteran assassin radiating from my pupils, the atmosphere in the room plummeted. I only had a fraction of my power, but it was more than enough for jokes like them.

The thugs flinched as a primal, violent chill ran straight down their spines. Their inner wolves whimpered in silent, instinctive terror, screaming at them that the girl standing before them was an apex predator disguised as an Omega.

"We’re here to pay our debt," I stated coldly, stepping closer to the desk. "Confirm the amount, hand over the original contract, and strike our name off your list of debtors right now. I want to see it happen—or don’t blame me for making real trouble."

Bradford flinched violently, his hand tightening around my sleeve in pure panic. "Brianna, don’t provoke them!" he whispered frantically.

"It’s fine, Father," I murmured back without taking my eyes off the trembling lead thug. "They’re going to count the money, burn the paper, and let us walk out of here. Right?"

The lead loan shark swallowed hard, a drop of cold sweat rolling down his temple as he frantically gestured to his lieutenant. "G-Get the ledger... and the Bradford file. Now!"

In a matter of minutes, the original contract was brought out, verified down to the last signature, and burned over an ashtray right in front of us. The lead loan shark struck Bradford’s name off the ledger with a shaking hand, completely cowed.

Freedom.

As we stepped out of the basement den and back into the morning air, I caught the subtle sheen of tears in Bradford’s eyes. He stared down at his empty, trembling hands as if he couldn’t quite process that the heavy, suffocating weight he had carried for years was finally gone.

"Thank you, Brianna," he choked out, his voice thick with emotion.

I offered him a soft, quiet smile. "This is nothing, Father. Come on, we still have one more place to visit."

He blinked, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "What? Where?"

"I told Mother to wait for us in the town square," I said, eyeing his worn, frayed coat. "Let’s go get you both some new clothes."

"Oh, no, no," Bradford immediately protested, waving his hands. "I have plenty of clothes, Brianna. We shouldn’t waste money on—"

"You’re getting new clothes," I insisted, cutting him off with a firm tone.

The only decent thing he owned was the fresh janitor’s uniform I had bought him a few days ago. The rest of his wardrobe belonged in a rag pile, and I wasn’t going to let my parents walk around looking like beggars while I had money in my pocket.

However, as we approached the main plaza where we were supposed to meet Valerie, a dense, murmuring crowd had gathered near the edge of the market street. A sudden, cold knot of dread tightened in the pit of my stomach.

Cruel, condescending voices carried over the noise of the street:

"Look at her... a lowly human, married to a useless Omega. They really make a great pair, don’t they?"

"Gosh, why do we even have to walk the same road as these low-castes?"

"Doesn’t she have any shame? Parading around in broad daylight like she belongs here."

"It makes just stepping outside feel disgusting."

Before I could even react, Bradford lunged forward, pushing past me as if his instincts had already warned him who was at the center of the crowd’s scrutiny.

His wife.

He aggressively shoved his way through the circle of onlookers and froze. Valerie was kneeling on the cold cobblestones, her hands pressed against her forehead as a line of crimson blood trickled down her pale face and dripped onto her worn collar.

Someone in the crowd had thrown a rock.