Page 174 of Knot For A Moment

My jaw dropped. “What?”

Whispers raced around the room, and Ian looked pale. Frightened. That was all I needed to know that Gabriel was telling the truth.

“And he’s done it before. At each company. And each company begged him to push the rehearsals back and give them more time, and like themagnanimousleader he was, he said yes. ‘Generous,’ I think, was the word some people used. But Slate City Ballet came together and pushed through. Not only, but pushed through spectacularly.”

Gabriel smiled at everyone but Ian. “I’m sorry for what you went through to put up the show, but I’m incredibly proud that you were able to do it under the worst of circumstances.Createdcircumstances.”

That was why he hated us. We hadn’t bent to his manipulation, and he was trying to break us down. Because once we broke and surrendered, he’d treat us the way we should have been treated all along, subtly reinforcing that giving him what he wanted was the way to receive kindness and respect.

Gabe was right. If he’d let it roll off and treated us well regardless, we might have chalked it up to the stress of a bad situation, and he could have kept going forever.

But I—and all the rest of us putting our heads down and overcoming what he threw at us—got under his skin.

Brette came back with the ice packs, and Jace removed my right foot from my shoe. He’d waited for the ice. My toes were bleeding. Not unexpected, given I hadn’t built up proper stamina—yet—for that sequence. But it still hurt.

His low growl had me reaching out to him. “I’m all right.”

“The fuck you are.”

In my chest, I felt Roman and Ash paying attention to all of us. Because we all radiated anger that was difficult to ignore.

“This is nothing but speculation,” Ian said with a shrug, carefully watching me. “I know all of you are pissed aboutGiselle, but shit happens. We got through it. End of story.”

“It will be the end of your story,” Gabriel said. “The board is meeting tomorrow, and I will have you removed as creative director.”

Ian scoffed. “With what proof? Some complaints and hearsay? This is ridiculous. I signed a contract.”

“With an ironclad removal clause if the board finds you negligent. Or because you’ve violated your morality clause. We don’t police people’s lives much, Chambers, but I don’t think the board will be happy to find out that you’ve endangered the health and wellness of every dancer in this company because you were attempting to build up your reputation. That’s both negligentandshitty. You’re done.”

“Withwhat proof?”

“Come to the meeting, you’ll find out.”

He turned, grabbing his notebook like he would leave. “Yeah. Sure. Show up just for you to make up lies about me? No thanks. The board will side with me. As for the rest of you assholes, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You curated your reputation with the dancers. Maybe even the admin,” Jace said, standing away from me now that he had ice placed on my foot. “But not the support staff. We’ve seen the damage you could have done anddiddo. There’s plenty willing to speak to it.”

Ian looked at me. “What, did she say she was hurt during those rehearsals? Because I call bullshit. Can’t dance through a fuckingheatwhen you’re injured.”

He moved toward me, like he would prove I wasn’t hurt, and Gabriel snarled. “You take another step towards her and I can’t promise what I’ll do, Ian. But I will tell you that my pack was endangered last night, so my instincts are off the charts. As Sloane’s Alpha and the exec of this company, I’m telling you to back thefuck off.”

All Ian did was smirk. Like he’d won. “You can’t do shit to me, Gabriel. If you touch me, you’ll never get the board on your side.”

Stepping to the side, Jace blocked Ian from getting to me in a different direction. “You really want to test that theory?”

“No.” His face twisted into a smirk. “I’d love to see you try to get me fired after attacking me unprovoked. But a subpar dancer who can’t even keep her legs closed for an afternoon isn’t worth it.”

Gabriel moved so fast I barely saw it, fist smashing into Ian’s jaw with a sickening thud that sent him flying back into the mirror hard enough that it cracked. He was on him in a second, punching him again. Again and again.

Jace took his damn time stepping forward to touch Gabriel on the shoulder, and Gabe shook him off, pushing away from Ian and shaking out his hand. “I’m done.”

What Ian said was on purpose, provoking Gabriel, and it worked. But fuck, seeing his face bloodied was so fucking satisfying, even if the maniac was grinning. “Good luck getting rid of me now.”

“Yeah,” Dion snorted. “Don’t think that’ll be a problem. You verbally attacked the man’s Omega after he told you to back off. If it had been my Alphas, your intestines would be on the floor, so consider yourself lucky.”

Ian looked around, searching for any kind of support in the room, and found none. His gaze finally landed on me. “You started this. Have anything to say?”

I lifted my middle finger to him, the rest of the company finally collapsing into laughter.

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