Chapter 55

VALERIA’S POV I sat in the center of the room, my fingers tapping idly on the polished wood of the long conference table. For someone who claimed to be clever and calculating, Alpha Dimitri had been stupid enough to leave me here unattended. Or so it seemed. The room was cold, sterile, with an air of detachment that made my skin crawl. This wasn’t a place for strategy; it was a place for intimidation. Everything about it screamed control—the long, imposing table, the rows of identical chairs that lined it, and the faint scent of leather and cigar smoke lingering in the air. I tilted my head slightly, pretending to adjust my hair as I focused my hearing. I strained, listening for the telltale shuffle of feet or the hushed whispers of guards posted outside the door. But there was nothing. The silence beyond the walls was deafening, and that told me one thing: Dimitri didn’t need guards. He was either supremely arrogant, or he thought the surveillance he relied on was enough to keep me in