Chapter 4

I relayed his words verbatim to the old woman.

"Karen, you heard him. Jason refuses to acknowledge the debt. A hundred snow-fox pelts' worth... you'll have to come up with it yourself."

Panic instantly gripped her face.

"Mia, you know I don't have a penny! If I had anything left, I wouldn't have ended up like this..."

I cut her off smoothly.

"Did you forget? When Thomas passed, he left behind that ancestral estate. You have a legal share in it."

She froze.

"The ancestral estate?"

"Yes. That property originally belonged to Sarah. After she was gone, Jason and his father each held half."

"When Thomas died, his half was split evenly between you and Jason. That gives you a quarter, while Jason holds three-quarters."

"Jason will definitely never recognize your share. After all, you took the valuables and ran back then, making your inheritance deed essentially worthless on paper. But if you transfer it to me, things change—I will continue covering your treatments, and your previous debts will be wiped clean."

The old woman fell silent.

Jason had kept that old estate all these years, not out of sentimental attachment, but because her long disappearance left the title tied up in legal limbo.

"Deal!"

She finally nodded.

"I agree. But you must swear by the Moon Goddess that you'll keep paying for my medicine and never leave me out on the streets."

"I swear it by the Moon Goddess."

The following morning, after sending my daughter to a safe location, the old woman pressed her thumbprint onto the Bloodline Gift Deed.

The entire process didn't require Jason's consent at all.

That one-quarter share was the very first asset I claimed.

It came from an old hag I once despised, but in that moment, I knew:

The enemy of my enemy is an ally.

Yet my existing debts were still legally classified as joint mate debts.

Afterward, I moved her into an isolated wooden cabin out on the fringes.

Her Moon Eclipse Curse meant she had to be quarantined away from my daughter.

This new wave of expenses, along with the previous herbal bills, was billed straight under Jason's name once again—as joint mate debt.

After all, I was just cleaning up his family mess.

Returning home, I began liquidating the house.

I traded away the valuables piece by piece.

The provisions I got in return went straight toward paying off the herbalist debts I owed.

Then, I rented the entire property out.

The monthly rent brought in just enough to cover the old woman's ongoing medicine.

My daughter was left safely in the care of my parents.

Look how ironic fate could be.

He thought he had set the rules of the game, leaving me hopelessly trapped inside.

He forgot that rules are a double-edged sword.

If he could build high walls, I could carve out an escape tunnel.

A few days later, seeing no noise from my end, he assumed I had finally accepted defeat.

Until his key failed to unlock his own front door, and a strange werewolf answered instead.

Every single trace belonging to me and my daughter had been wiped clean from the home.

Panic finally set in.

He pinged my Mind Link frantically, only to be met with absolute silence.

Soon after, a leather pouch was delivered to his hands.

Inside was the deed transferring the one-quarter share of the ancestral estate.

Attached to it was a note:

"No need to look for Karen's signature. The share has already been transferred. If you wish to sell or renovate the estate, please consult me first."

Right beneath it was a one-year lease agreement for the quarantine cabin, complete with an official isolation certificate signed by the healer.

Then came the caretaker employment contract, with a note clearly stamped: *Special Infectious Disease Care, High-Risk Compensation.*

Finally, a densely packed ledger of upfront expenses—herbs, room, board, and specialized nutrition... enough to make his eyes bleed.

He kicked the leather pouch across the floor, letting out a furious snarl:

"Mia! If I ever throw you another scrap of bone, I'm not fit to be this pack's Alpha!"

Yet this time, he didn't come hunting me down.

He knew Elder Watson was already giving him enough hell to deal with.

He merely severed all pack communications with cold finality.

And that was precisely what I had been waiting for.