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No wonder he was pissed. And his anger at Sloane in particular, made sense. She was the one he was focused on, because he’d tried to put her down. She’d offended him by being late to their meeting, so he placed her in the first cohort on purpose to give her the hardest task. And instead of failing, she thrived.
“Is there anything you can do?” Jace asked.
“The board meeting is tomorrow, so I’ll get everything together and try. Now that there’s something tangible, it might work. Anything you can give me from your digging, I need it.”
“It’s already in your inbox.”
The door burst open, revealing a heaving, breathless Dion and Anna trying to stop him from barging in.
All my instincts went on high alert. “Dion?”
“Studio. Now. Ian is making an example out of Sloane.”
Ohfuckno.
I was out of the chair and moving before he finished speaking.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
________
SLOANE
“Again.”
I grit my teeth and started the sequence over for the ninth time. My leg ached, shin giving off sparkles of sharp pain, toes feeling bruised. I was dizzy.
Don’t get me wrong, I was a damn good spotter, but even the best would be a little buzzed after two-hundred and fiftyfouettés.
Everyone in the studio watched, tension simmering as Ian made me dance. No one wanted this, but no one wanted to lose their jobs, and like hell would I let anyone sacrifice themselves for me. The only reason I let Dion go was because he would do it anyway.
The studio doorslammedopen, hitting the wall with abang. Gabriel strode in, followed by Jace and Dion. The distraction nearly made me fall, but Jace pulled me out of the turn, keeping me steady and taking my weight. “I’ve got you, baby girl.”
The strength I’d kept up for the rest of them faded, and I leaned into him with a whimper.
Gabriel placed himself between me and Ian. The rage pouring off him was more than just through our bond. It filled the room to bursting.
Ian rolled his eyes. “Of course you come fucking running to saveyour Omega. No hard work for your precious pack, huh? West skipping rehearsal, and now this.”
The growl ripping out of Gabriel’s chest had the Betas and Omegas cowering. “Yes. Of course I came to protect my Omega. Because that’s my fucking job as her Alpha. But if you think I wouldn’t come in here to protect any member of this company you were making an example of, you don’t know me very well, Ian.”
“Making an exam— oh, for fuck’s sake. Is that what he told you?”
Claire snarled. “Why don’t you ask Sloane how many times in a row, without rest, he just made her do Odile’sfouettés?”
Jace looked down at me. “How many?”
“That was the ninth,” I whispered.
He swore, sweeping me off my feet and putting me on the floor. “Brette, go to my office and get two ice packs from the freezer. Quickly, please.”
She ran off, and Jace quickly started undoing the ribbons on my shoes while Gabriel stared Ian down.
“I will give it to you, Ian,” Gabe finally said, his stance easing a little when he looked back at me and found me safe with Jace. “It was a good plan. And if you hadn’t let your anger and resentment get the best of you, it probably still would have worked. Maybe you could have kept going forever.”
Ian rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No, because you’ve hidden your tracks well. Made an excellent reputation for yourself. By fixing problems you created to make you look like the good guy and a hero.” Gabriel looked around the room, gaze finally landing on me. “Ian was the one who scheduled the floor repair, forcing our hand in the schedule. Because he was given authority early out of convenience. Since it fell between the seasons and in transition, it was easy to miss in all the chaos and crossover.”
