Category: English

I returned early from an overseas business trip to surprise my wife, Lily Osborn. I quietly came to her gathering to find her, but instead I was framed for stealing a watch there. The man stormed up to me. “My wife is the president of Domino Group. Who the hell do you think you are, stealing from me?” He kept slapping me and even broke my hand. Only then did I find out that Lily had been cheating on me during the three years I was abroad. I was furious. I stared at Lily, who rushed over, and said, “I put you in the president position of Domino Group. How dare you cheat on me while I was abroad!” Jack swung a slap across my face. “You dare steal my watch? You’ve got some nerve!” I ignored the burning pain on my face and stared at him. “Who did you just say your wife is?” Jack thought I was scared and smiled smugly. “Listen carefully. The famous Domino Group belongs to my wife. Give my watch back right now, or I’ll send you straight to jail!” The people around us started pointing at me and whispering. “Stealing Ms. Osborn’s husband’s watch? He really got a death wish or something.” “Exactly. I heard the watch was a gift from Ms. Osborn. A limited-edition Patek Philippe worth five million. There’s only one in the world.” Shouldn’t that limited-edition Patek Philippe be sitting in my collection at home? Lily actually dared to spend my money on some kept man! What a joke. Just half an hour ago, she had texted me: [Chris, when are you coming back? I miss you so much. Love you.] I looked at Jack and gave a cold laugh. “What evidence do you have that I stole your watch?” Jack looked me up and down with contempt. “You went into the restroom with me. When we came out, my watch was gone. If it wasn’t you, who else could it be? You look like you can’t afford anything anyway!” I said coldly, “You make the claim, you prove it. Without evidence, you’re just accusing me.” Jack grabbed my collar, arrogant and domineering. “I say you stole it, you stole it. I don’t need evidence!” I frowned. “Where is Lily? Bring her to me.” The disdain in Jack’s eyes deepened. “Since you know my wife, you should know what happens when you cross me!” I pried his fingers off and took out my phone to call Lily. Before I could dial, Jack slapped the phone out of my hand. The phone fell to the floor. I bent down to pick it up, but Jack stepped on the back of my hand. He ground his foot down hard, his voice vicious. “Don’t even think about calling for help. I’m telling you right now, if you don’t hand over my watch today, you’re not walking out of this door!” The pain made me gasp. I grabbed his leg with my other hand and yanked hard. He fell to the ground. Jack glared at me in rage. “You dare knock me down? I have to teach you a proper lesson today!” He called over a group of bodyguards. “Beat him. Don’t stop until he hands over my watch!” If I remembered correctly, these were the bodyguards I had arranged for Lily before I left the country. They forced me to the ground and slapped me over and over again. Faced with so many bodyguards, I had no way to fight back. Soon my mouth filled with blood. In my whole life, no one had ever dared lay a finger on me. I stared at Jack in fury and said, “If you don’t tell them to stop right now, I swear you’ll regret it.” Jack spat down at me from above. “You piece of trash dared to steal my watch and still talk big? Crushing you is as easy as crushing an ant!” The rage in my chest surged wildly. I let out a cold snort and said, “That’s my watch. I don’t need to steal it!”

The whole place went silent for a moment. Then Jack burst out laughing. “You poor bastard, what did you just say? The watch is yours?” “You’re insane. Why don’t you just say the entire bank belongs to you?” The people around us joined in the mockery. “He must’ve lost his mind. He stole it, and he thinks it belongs to him now.” “Ms. Osborn’s husband is covered in designer brands. Everything he’s wearing looks cheap and low-end. Even looking at him makes me feel uncomfortable. How dare he claim that limited-edition Patek Philippe as his?” Although I was born into a wealthy family, I was used to keeping a low profile. I had loved Lily for many years. Because her family was poor, she always felt inferior. After we got married, she refused to rely on me and insisted on starting her own business. So I started a company for her, pulled every string I could to land deals, and step by step made her the president of Domino Group. She even said she didn’t want anyone to think she got where she was because of me. She wanted to keep our marriage a secret and asked me not to go to her company. I agreed, for the sake of her pride. I never imagined that the wife who was usually so gentle, considerate, and caring would cheat on me. I directly pulled out the receipt for the watch. “This is the invoice from when I bought the watch. It proves the watch is mine.” Everyone present froze. “Could the watch really be his?” “Did we misjudge him? Could he be some lowkey rich guy?” Jack snapped back to his senses and shouted, “Don’t listen to his nonsense! This watch was given to me by my wife. There’s no mistake!” “The receipt must be fake. He’s just a thief. How could he possibly be some rich guy!” The moment they heard Jack’s words, they believed him again. “The stamp on this invoice looks wrong. You can tell at a glance it’s fake.” “That’s right. He came in here to steal. He must have prepared this in advance. He’s just fooling us!” I let out a cold laugh. These people all worked in business, yet they were stupid enough to be fooled by a kept man. I looked at Jack. “Call Lily out right now. Everything will be clear then.” Jack kicked me. “Who do you think you are? Why should I listen to you?” I asked coldly, “You keep saying Lily is your wife. Are you married?” Jack raised his phone with a smug expression. “Open your damn eyes and look carefully. This is our marriage certificate!” Lily and I weren’t divorced yet. If this marriage certificate was real, then she had committed bigamy. Jack then showed several photos of himself and Lily to me. When I saw the background in those photos, it hit me instantly—my blood boiled. Lily had brought him back to my villa and slept in my bed. No wonder she had insisted on replacing all the housekeepers a few years ago. She did it so I wouldn’t find out. And I even felt guilty for leaving her alone in the country. I transferred money to her all the time. In the end, she spent it all on this kept guy. Jack’s phone suddenly rang. He answered excitedly. “Babe, why aren’t you here yet?” “There’s a fucking idiot. He stole my watch and even claims it’s his. I’m teaching him a lesson right now.” “Who the hell is he? I won’t let him off. Wait for me. I’m coming over right now to deal with him.” Jack had the call on speaker. Lily’s voice rang clearly in my ears. I was shaking with rage. Seeing that Lily was rushing over to back him up, Jack became even more arrogant. He stared at me viciously. “Hand over the watch, or I’ll break your arm!”

I glared at him. “Are you insane? Break my arm? It’s against the law!” Jack laughed. “A thief talking about the law? I am the law here!” He was completely deranged. I ground my teeth and said, “If you dare break my arm today, I guarantee you’ll pay the price. You won’t get away with this.” Jack showed no fear at all. He was still extremely arrogant. “Are you seriously threatening me? I’ll break your arm right now and see what you can do to me!” He then ordered the bodyguards to bring a baseball bat. I was held down tightly. Jack raised the bat and swung it down hard at my right arm. I screamed in pain. Cold sweat broke out all over my body. I stared at my blood-soaked arm and wished I could skin Jack alive. But I couldn’t move at all. I didn’t even have the strength to speak. Someone exclaimed, “He’s bleeding so much. Is he dying?” A trace of panic flashed through Jack’s eyes, but he quickly regained his composure. “He stole my watch, but I didn’t call the police. I’ve tried to be nice.” “Besides, it’s just a bit of blood. He won’t die.” He lifted his foot and stepped on my head. “Talk. Where did you hide my watch?” “If you don’t hand it over now, I’ll break your other arm too. Let’s see how you steal things in the future!” Someone nearby suggested, “Search him. Maybe the watch is on him.” Jack nodded and told the bodyguards to search me. They didn’t find the watch. They only found a USB drive. My eyes went red with fury. “Give it back!” The USB drive contained confidential data from my overseas company. If it was destroyed, the losses would be immeasurable. Jack toyed with the USB drive, then threw it on the ground and stomped on it hard. He laughed wildly. “It’s just a piece of junk. Seeing you so nervous makes me want to crush it even more!” I clenched my fists as I watched my USB drive being crushed. “That contains my company’s confidential files. It’s worth a billion. I wonder if you’ll still be laughing when the bill comes due.” Jack kicked me a few more times when he heard that. “You think you can extort me like that?” “A broken USB drive worth a billion? Who would believe that? Stop pretending. I’m not an idiot!” I was beaten until my whole body was covered in injuries. I said coldly, “Even if you kneel down and beg me now, I still won’t let you off.” Jack’s expression changed. “Still talking tough? Strip him. I want my watch back!” As his words fell, several bodyguards started pulling off my clothes. I struggled desperately. “Don’t touch me!” I only had one hand free. I clutched my collar tightly and refused to let go, but the buttons of my shirt were still torn open. They then reached for my pants. Looking at Jack’s arrogant face, humiliation and hatred surged together. If I had a knife in my hand, I would have stabbed him without hesitation. Jack still wasn’t satisfied. He humiliated me further. “You dare steal my watch? I’ll make sure you don’t survive this!” Just as my pants were about to be pulled down, a voice suddenly rang out. “Stop!” Lily pushed through the crowd and rushed over. When she saw me lying on the ground, disheveled and half-naked, her face turned deathly pale. Jack instantly changed his attitude. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and whined, “Babe, why did you take so long?” He pointed at me. “This shameless bastard stole the limited-edition watch you gave me and refuses to give it back to me.” “I broke his hand so he’ll never steal again.” “You have to help me teach him a good lesson!” Lily suddenly shoved Jack away. “Get lost!” Jack fell to the ground, completely stunned. “Babe, what’s wrong with you?” Lily said nothing and didn’t dare look at me. After getting up, Jack leaned over again and asked in confusion, “Did someone upset you?” “Just chill. Tonight, I’ll do whatever position you want in bed, okay?” He kept talking to himself and didn’t notice Lily’s trembling body at all. She turned to him and roared, “Shut up! Stop talking!” Jack looked shocked and aggrieved. “Babe, so many people are watching. At least save me some dignity.” I used all my strength to climb up from the ground. I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and looked at Lily with icy eyes. “Tell them who I am.”

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The text came ten minutes before the wedding. My fiancé sent it. “Daisy’s in the ER. I have to go. Can we push the ceremony back?” The makeup artist was still tracing my lip line with a brush. Behind me, my maid of honor was adjusting the folds of my veil. Outside the dressing room door, the wedding coordinator was already running through the timeline. The officiant’s mic checks bled through the walls. The terrace at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden hummed with champagne-bright energy. I looked down at my phone. And then I laughed. Maya caught it first. She grabbed the phone from my hand and read the screen. Her face went pale. “Has Caleb lost his damn mind?” She kept her voice low, but the fury still cut through. “It’s your wedding. He’s running off to play hero for Daisy Reed?” The room went dead quiet. The makeup artist froze. The bridesmaid stopped moving. Everyone was staring at me. I was calm. So calm it almost made me want to laugh at myself. I’d been up since six that morning getting hair and makeup done. At seven, my mom made blueberry muffins. She said it was the big day. Couldn’t do it on an empty stomach. At eight, Caleb called. He said he was on his way. Told me not to be nervous. At nine, he sent a text. “You’re going to look insanely beautiful today.” At nine-fifty, he told me he was going to be with another woman. Unbelievable. The coordinator knocked. “Amelia? Almost time to go in.” Maya’s hands were shaking. “Mia. Say something. What do we do? I’m calling Caleb right now. I’ll rip him apart so hard he’ll question his entire existence.” I reached over and took my phone back. I looked down at the text one more time. Short. No explanation. No guilt. Not even a decent apology. He was informing me. Like a wedding could be paused. Like a bride could just wait. Like two hundred guests and both sets of parents could step aside for Daisy’s emergency. Like that was the natural order of things. I twisted the ring off my finger. Slowly. It was tight. It left a red mark on my knuckle. The second it came off, something inside me let go. “We’re not starting,” I said. Maya froze. “Mia?” I looked up at myself in the mirror. Flawless makeup. The Vera Wang gown was stunning. The veil draped over my shoulders. It was just like my hopes for this wedding. Light as air. Pull one thread and it all unravels. “The wedding’s off.” *** Ten minutes later, I walked onto the terrace in my wedding dress and heels. The string quartet hadn’t even finished their piece. The guests had been smiling. When they saw me walk out alone, those smiles stiffened and died. My mom rose from her seat. Her face went white. Caleb’s parents sat in the front row. They looked panicked. The officiant tried to smooth things over. He held his mic and forced a laugh. “Looks like our groom might be preparing a very special surprise for the bride…” I reached out and took the mic from his hand. The terrace fell silent. “No surprise,” I said. “Just an announcement.” My voice carried through the speakers. Clear. Every single person heard it. “The wedding is canceled.” The crowd detonated. Gasps. Whispering. Phones coming out to record video. I looked at all those stunned faces and felt something absurd settle in my chest. I’d spent four years in high-end event planning. I’d built contingency plans for countless couples. What to do when the lighting failed. When the flower wall collapsed. When the groom was stuck on the Long Island Expressway. When the bride got cold feet. I’d prepared for every disaster. I just never thought the first wedding to go off the rails would be my own. I held the mic and kept going. “We’ll handle all gift returns shortly. The reception and dinner will proceed as planned. Please enjoy yourselves. Consider it my treat for a less-than-perfect hosting.” The silence was so absolute you could hear ice cubes hitting glass. Someone whispered, “Where’s the groom?” I looked down and smiled. “He went to be with someone more important than his own wedding.” The atmosphere imploded. Caleb’s mother shot up. Her face twisted. She started toward me. “Amelia, don’t you dare. Caleb had an urgent situation, that’s all—” “Mrs. Hayes.” I looked at her. My voice was quiet. “I’ve already been more than gracious today.” She choked on her next words. My mom stood below the stage. Her eyes were red. Her lips trembled. But she still looked up at me. I knew she was aching for me. She also knew I wasn’t the kind of woman who cried in front of a crowd. I handed the mic back to the officiant. I gathered my skirt and stepped down. Halfway to the exit, my phone started buzzing. Frantic. Caleb. Call after call. I didn’t answer. He texted. “Mia, don’t make a scene.” “Daisy’s in bad shape. I can’t just leave her.” “Hold things together at the venue. I’m coming back now.” I stared at those words. Seven years together. And it all looked like a joke. I didn’t reply. I pulled up his contact. Hit “Block This Caller.” Then I dropped the phone in my bag.

Back in the dressing room, Maya was furious. Her eyes were bloodshot. “He actually had the nerve to tell you to hold things together?” I sat down and took off my veil. “He’s always been like this.” Maya went still. She knew about Caleb and Daisy. Everyone in our circle knew. I used to cover for him. I always did. They were just childhood friends who grew up together. They just happened to leave their small Ohio town for the city together. Daisy had a complicated family background. She was all alone in New York. It was hard for her. She got conned by some guy when she was struggling. He ran off and left her drowning in debt. Caleb just wanted to help. That’s all. Just that. Too many times. Too many justifications. They piled up into a blade. By the time it finally sank into my chest, even I thought the pain was what I deserved. Seven years with Caleb. The year we graduated college, he had nothing. I lived with him in the cheapest basement apartment in Bushwick. I helped him push his dead used car through a thunderstorm. When his startup needed cash, I emptied my savings for the bridge round before his angel investment came through. His mother was distant. She never remembered my name. Every time we met, she called me “that girl.” Caleb always just shrugged. “That’s how she is.” He never fought for me. Not once. We were supposed to get married. I picked the dress myself. I pulled two all-nighters designing the venue layout myself. I dragged him to three jewelry stores to pick the ring myself. I tried so hard to marry him. If it weren’t for that text today, I might still be lying to myself. This wasn’t the first time. The night I had a 102-degree fever, he went out to get me medicine. On the way, Daisy called. Her pipe had burst. He stood outside CVS for three seconds. Then he turned around and went to her place. I took an Uber to the ER alone. I sat there on an IV drip until dawn. And the night he proposed. He booked the Michelin restaurant. He bought the flowers. I even knew the exact second he was going to pull out the ring. Then Daisy got drunk. She called from Brooklyn Bridge Park, sobbing about ending her life. He left me alone in that candlelit private room. Ran out. The waiter came over awkwardly. “Ma’am, do you still need the flowers?” I sat by the window. That was the first time I tasted what it felt like to smile while your hands shook under the table. Seven years. So many moments like that. Every time, he told me it was the last time. Every time, I believed him. Because I loved him. Because I thought if we just got married, the boundaries would finally be clear. Once that certificate was signed, I’d become his priority. Legally. Officially. Irrevocably. Now I understood. A man who puts you second on your wedding day will keep you second for the rest of your life. The dressing room door swung open. Caleb was back. His jacket was draped over his arm. His tie was crooked. Sweat soaked his forehead. He looked like he’d sprinted the whole way. The moment he saw me, relief flickered across his face. Then his expression hardened. “Amelia. What the hell is this?” I looked up at him. There was a stain on his shirt cuff. Something dark. I didn’t know whose it was. He walked up to me. Kept his voice low. “I told you to hold things together. Why did you cancel the whole wedding?” I stared at him. I almost laughed. “You’re asking me why?” “Daisy was showing signs of a miscarriage. She’s pregnant. She had no one. Who else was supposed to go?” “Where’s the father?” I asked. Caleb frowned. “You know that bastard ran off.” “So you stepped in?” His breath caught. Like he finally heard how insane that sounded. “Mia. It’s not what you think with Daisy.” “Then what is it?” I stood up. The layers of my gown pooled around me like a cloud pressing down on my chest. “Ten minutes before our wedding. You left your bride to rush another woman to the ER. Tell me, Caleb. What exactly would qualify as ‘something’?” His jaw tightened. “Can you stop being unreasonable at a time like this?” Unreasonable. I looked at the man I’d loved for seven years. He felt like a stranger. “Caleb.” My voice was soft. “Did you really believe I would always forgive you?” He flinched. “Was it because I forgave you every single time before? Did that make you certain? That today I’d stand on that stage like a good girl and clean up your mess? Wait for you to come back? Listen to you say sorry? Pretend nothing happened?” His throat moved. But his voice stayed hard. “I didn’t think that.” “That’s exactly what you thought.” I picked up the ring from the vanity and placed it in his palm. “The wedding’s off. We’re done.” His face crumpled. “Mia. Don’t be impulsive.” “I’m not being impulsive.” I met his eyes. “I’m finally seeing clearly.” He grabbed my wrist. His grip was tight. “Do you have any idea how many people came today? Do you know what you made me look like in front of two hundred guests?” That sentence. It hit me like a bucket of ice water. Even now. He was thinking about his image. Not about me. Standing alone on that stage with every pair of eyes on me. Not about my mother. Sitting in the crowd listening to people whisper. Not about the wedding I’d spent a year planning. Crushed under someone’s heel. He was worried about how he looked.

I pulled my hand free. One finger at a time. “And what did I look like in front of those two hundred people?” I stared at him. “Like a pitiful abandoned woman? Or like an accomplice covering up your lies?” Something flickered in his eyes. He opened his mouth. I didn’t let him speak. “Forget it. Don’t bother thinking about it. From now on, my life has nothing to do with you.” I gathered my skirt and walked around him. He called after me. “Amelia!” I didn’t look back. I didn’t go back to our apartment that night. Maya took me to her place. She spent the entire forty-minute drive cursing Caleb out. She didn’t repeat a single insult. I listened. I felt almost nothing. When we got inside, she kicked a pair of slippers toward my feet. Then she went to boil water. Halfway through, she ran back and threw her arms around me. “Cry if you need to. Don’t hold it in.” When she held me, my nose finally stung. But the tears didn’t come. “Maya.” I said. “I don’t think I can cry anymore.” Her eyes went red. “That’s worse.” Yeah. It was worse. The deepest pain doesn’t come with tears. It comes with numbness. Like getting punched in the chest so hard your lungs forget how to expand. I sat on her couch. My phone screen kept lighting up. Caleb. His mother. Even Daisy called. I didn’t answer any of them. Then Daisy sent a voice message. “Mia, I’m so heartbroken it came to this… Caleb was just worried about me. You know how he is. He’s too soft-hearted. You must be so strong. Not like me. I honestly don’t know what to do right now…” Her voice was light. Soft. With just the right amount of tearful quiver. A year ago I might’ve replied. Told her to take care of herself. Now it just made me sick. I transcribed the audio. Read it. Then I blocked her number. Maya came back with hot water. She saw what I’d done and froze. “You finally cut her off?” I stared at the steam rising from the mug. Gave a quiet hum of acknowledgment. “Took you long enough,” she said. I smiled. “Yeah. Way too long.” The next morning I went back to our apartment. Caleb wasn’t there. Probably at the office. Or the hospital. I didn’t ask. The apartment was in Williamsburg. Two bedrooms. Thirteen hundred square feet. I’d supervised every inch of the renovation. I picked the couch in the living room. I built the plant shelf on the balcony. The white dinnerware set in the kitchen took me weekends of browsing home stores. I used to imagine our whole future there. Marriage. Kids. Growing old. Now it just felt like a cruel joke. I dragged out a suitcase and started packing my things. Clothes. Skincare. Laptop. Documents. Photo albums. Inside the bottom drawer of the nightstand, I found a bank transfer slip. Sender: Caleb Hayes. Recipient: Daisy Reed. Amount: $5,000. Date: Two weeks ago. The memo line was blank. I held that slip for a long time. My fingers went cold. Two weeks ago. That was when we were paying the final deposit for the wedding venue and the honeymoon hotel. I’d asked Caleb why our joint account was short. He said the company needed temporary cash flow. He’d replace it in two days. He did replace it. I didn’t think twice. Now I knew. That five thousand dollars didn’t go to the company. It went to Daisy’s account. I sat down on the edge of the bed and let out a low laugh. I’d been played. Completely. Every layer of it. I took a photo of the slip. Saved it. Then I tore the apartment apart. I found every piece of paperwork connected to money I’d put in. The down payment transfer record. Renovation material receipts. Appliance invoices. Wedding deposit contracts. A huge stack. Maya stood in the doorway watching me sort everything across the coffee table. “Mia. You don’t look like you’re going through a breakup. You look like you’re preparing for court.” “I am preparing for court,” I said. Her eyes lit up. “You finally came to your senses?” I slid the last receipt into a file folder and zipped it shut. “I’m not here to talk things out with him. I’m here to settle accounts.”

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My phone buzzed incessantly on the bedside table. Message after message rolled in. I glanced down and saw my screen filled with photos and videos—Alpha Xavier and his mistress,Camille Hurlbutt, wrapped in each other’s arms. While I was still in the operating room, fighting for my life, Alpha Xavier was throwing Camille a lavish birthday party at a five-star hotel. Her body was covered in love bites, and she didn’t even bother to hide them. In another video, she wore nothing but a barely-there nightgown, leaning against Xavier’s chest with a smug grin as if said, I’ve won. My wolf roared furiously in my mind. I forced her to calm down, but she refused. “How could our mate be such a disgrace?” she snarled, her voice echoing through my head. “He’s a serial cheater—he should be suffer!” “This might be my punishment for being too greedy,” I let out a bitter laugh and murmured. The door to my hospital room creaked open, and Alpha Duncan, Xavier’s grandfather, entered with a forced optimism expression. Alpha Duncan, unaware of the full extent of his grandson’s cruelty, still held on to a sliver of hope. He placed a stack of documents in front of me—ownership papers granting me shares in the Blue Moon Pack House. “Emma,” Duncan began, his tone heavy with desperation, “Xavier is not a bad man at heart. You are fated mates—you’ve loved him for so many years. Can’t you give him one more chance?” His weathered face softened as he added, “As long as I’m here, no one can take your place as the Luna of Blue Moon Pack.” I didn’t respond. Instead, I pulled out my phone and played the latest video Camille had just sent me. The sounds of their intimacy immediately filled the hospital room. “Alpha Xavier, aren’t you worried about leaving Luna Emma on the street like that? She’s carrying your pup, you know,” Camille cooed, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. Xavier’s lips grazed her neck as he chuckled. “Why would I? You’re the only one I love. Even if she gives birth to my pup, she could never compare to you.” The ruthless betrayal drained the color from Alpha Duncan’s face. His body trembled, veins bulging as he clenched his fists. After what felt like an eternity, he exhaled a long, weary sigh. “We have wronged you,” he admitted, his voice thick with regret. “I will arrange for the Werewolf Council to handle your divorce immediately. In seven days, you’ll be free.” His tone softened as he continued, “As for your mother and the pup’s burial arrangements…” The door opened again, and a nurse entered, cradling a small, lifeless bundle in her arms. My heart clenched painfully at the sight. My pup. My tiny, precious baby who had never even taken a breath. I turned my head away, forcing myself to breathe evenly as tears burned behind my eyes. “Bury the child in the Blue Moon Pack’s Alpha cemetery,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “As for my mother’s ashes… I’ll take them with me.”

Alpha Duncan nodded, his face weighed down by regret. “I was wrong to tie you so closely to the Blue Moon Pack. Go, Emma. See the world beyond our borders. You deserve more than this.” With that, he bent down, cradling the lifeless pup in his arms as if it were made of fragile glass, and left the room. The moment the door clicked shut, the dam inside me broke. Hot, relentless tears streamed down my face, and years of resentment, regret, and heartbreak tumbled out like an avalanche. Alpha Xavier’s marriage to me had been arranged by his grandfather.He needed someone strong enough to rein in his unruly grandson. I needed someone with deep enough pockets to cover my mother’s medical bills. It seemed like a fair exchange at the time. I still remember the first time I stepped into Alpha Duncan’s estate. The scent hit me like a freight train—rich chocolate and cool mint, wrapping around me in a way that made my knees weak. The moment I laid eyes on Alpha Xavier, My wolf had practically howled in my head. “Mate! It’s him!” I quit my job that same week, packed my bags, and walked straight into the role of Luna Emma Greenwood. At first, I thought I’d never get a chance to love my fated mate. But the Moon Goddess blessed me. Over time, I learned more about the Xavier… he was so much more than the cold, distant Alpha people whispered about. Behind his icy exterior was a man broken by his past. His parents had been killed in a rogue attack on his fifth birthday. He’d been just a pup, helpless as he watched the massacre unfold. That scene became the nightmare that haunted his nights, the reason he would wake up screaming, calling for his mother and father. As we spent time together, our two broken souls seemed to resonate with each other. I fell in love with him. I wanted to heal his heart. I wanted to build a happy family with him. So, I poured myself into becoming the perfect Luna. I learned recipes to recreate his mother’s cooking, the warmest memory of his childhood. I dug through family photos to rebuild the little cabin he loved as a pup. I even mastered every trick in bed I could find, hoping that maybe—just maybe—he’d stay in my bed. For a while, I believed we could have a happy future. Then came the first betrayal. Our first wedding anniversary. I’d spent the whole day preparing—candlelit dinner, his favorite roast, everything meticulously planned down to the last detail. He didn’t even bother coming home. Instead, I found him at a five-star hotel. With my best friend. Like a lunatic, I stormed into the hotel, pounding on their door until he finally opened it. I was shaking, crying, screaming for answers. He didn’t flinch. Instead, he shoved the contract I’d signed with Alpha Duncan in my face. “Emma Greenwood,” he sneered, “don’t act so pitiful. You’re nothing but a gold-digging mutt. Did you honestly think that being my Luna meant you could control me?” His words were acid, each one burning as it hit. “You’re just a dog my grandfather bought. What right do you have to question me? Cause a scene, and I’ll pull your mother’s treatment funding in a heartbeat.” I stood there, stunned, the weight of his betrayal suffocating me. And that was just the beginning. Over time, Xavier grew more brazen. When he tired of my friends, he turned his attention to the female staff at the packhouse. I was trapped—caught between my mother’s medical bills and a mate who was determined to grind my soul into dust. One day, lost in thought, I missed a step on the stairs and tumbled down. That’s when I discovered I was pregnant. Alpha Duncan was the first to know. He almost begging. “Emma, please. Keep the pup. Maybe this baby will change Xavier’s heart. If he doesn’t… I swear, I won’t make you stay any longer.” Even Overwhelmed by everything,But I was still greedy enough to crave my fated mate’s love. I agreed. I gave it everything I had. I fought harder than I ever thought possible. For my pup. For my marriage. For a sliver of hope. But in the end, I lost it all—my mother, my child, my marriage, and any shred of dignity I’d tried to hold onto.

I wiped away my tears and gazed at the gray sky outside the window. Perhaps the only solace was that Alpha Xavier and I were finally free. Perhaps our mate bond was a mistake from the very beginning—just a cruel joke played by the Moon Goddess. Just as I was lost in thought, my phone rang. It was him-Alpha Xavier. “Emma,” his voice spat venom. “Did you go crying to Grandpa again? You ruined my night with Camille! I’m warning you—if you pull this stunt again, I’ll freeze your credit cards!” I used to crumble at his threats, begging and apologizing, desperately trying to smooth over the cracks in our broken bond. But today? Today, I didn’t have the energy. “Do whatever you want.”I merely responded with an indifferent tone. There was a brief silence on the other end—clearly, he hadn’t expected that. But he recovered quickly, his sneer practically oozing through the phone. “I heard you gave birth at the hospital. Having a pup really gave you confidence, huh? But don’t forget—I’m the Alpha of the Blue Moon Pack. As long as you’re part of this pack, I can make your life a living hell.” I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath to steady myself. He didn’t need to remind me. I already knew exactly how far he was willing to go. The first time I caught him in bed with another woman, I naively sought justice from his grandfather. All I received in return was his twisted revenge. That same night, Xavier dragged me out onto the freezing balcony and forced me to kneel. My mother’s medical bills were dangled over my head as he ordered me to slap myself repeatedly. The memory burned as vividly as if it had happened yesterday. My wolf, whimpered at the recollection. She had wanted to lunge at him, but I’d held her back. We couldn’t afford to lose control. That night, as I shivered in agony from my mate’s betrayal, their moans echoed through the house. I trembled until I passed out. By morning, my face was swollen, my body frostbitten. I was taken to the hospital. From that day on, whatever love I had left for him disappeared into the snow. After that, no matter how cruel he became, I pretended not to see it. I endured every humiliation, every insult. I forced myself to play the role of the perfect Luna of the Blue Moon Pack. But now, my mother was gone. So was my pup. And this marriage? It wasn’t just dead—it was buried six feet under and rotting. I hung up the phone without another word. Then, I stood up and contacted a friend at the funeral home to arrange the cremation. When I returned to my hospital room, Alpha Xavier was standing at the door. “Emma,” he drawled, his arms crossed and a smirk plastered on his face. “No more playing the victim?” I stepped past him without a word, but he wasn’t done. “Running around so soon after giving birth?” He leaned against the doorframe, his tone mocking. “You must be in great health. Guess you don’t need any time to rest or recover.” He stepped closer, his voice dripping with malice. “I’ve decided to move Camille into the villa. She’s young, delicate, and doesn’t know how to do chores. You’ll resign from your duties as Luna of the packhouse and come home to be our maid instead.” Leaning in, he flashed a cruel smile. “Seeing you in pain is the greatest aphrodisiac.” He stared at me, expecting to see anguish, devastation. But there was nothing. I met his gaze with an expression so blank it could have been carved from stone. When he realized there was nothing left of me to break, the amusement vanished from his face. He turned to the nurse. “The pup—where is it? Boy or girl? Bring it here. I want to see my child.”

I sighed and my arms leaned against the hospital bed for support. “Grandfather took the child away.” Alpha Xavier looked like he wanted to say something, but his phone rang. The moment he picked up, his face twisted in rage. “WHAT?!” He bellowed, the volume loud enough to rattle the water glass on my nightstand. Without warning, he spun toward me, his eyes blazing with fury. “What did you do to Camille?” he roared. “If anything happens to her, I swear you’ll regret it!” The slap came out of nowhere, the force sending me reeling into the cold metal of the bed’s railing. Pain shot through my body, already fragile from giving birth, and the impact left me gasping. The nurse rushed forward, her hands trembling as she helped steady me. “Alpha Xavier! She just gave birth! Do you want to kill her?” But Xavier didn’t care. His focus was solely on Camille’s voice still squawking through the phone. With one last withering look in my direction, he stormed out, leaving me to crumple back onto the bed. The nurse stayed by my side, her warm hands clasping mine. Her eyes glistened with sympathy, but I couldn’t muster a single tear. The emptiness in my chest stretched so wide, I wondered if it had swallowed my soul. Eight years of this. Eight years of love twisted into something unrecognizable. After an examination, the doctor ordered me to rest. It was then that I finally understood why Xavier had lost his temper. The child had died. Grandfather, devastated, used his influence to exile Camille from Blue Moon Pack in a fit of vengeful grief. Desperate, she had assumed I was behind it. Sobbing, she ran to Xavier, exaggerating and fanning the flames of his fury—leading to the slap. But it didn’t end there. Xavier stripped me of my Luna title during the next pack meeting, proclaiming Camille as the new “acting Luna.” As if that wasn’t enough, he launched a twelve-day public love campaign to “To honor their love.” Alpha Xavier plastered across every screen in the pack lands, grinning like a lovesick fool while presenting Camille with jewelry, flowers, and cringe-worthy poems. During an interview, Camille smiled sweetly, flaunting her new diamond ring. “I don’t consider myself a mistress. If a woman can’t hold onto her husband’s heart, she has no one to blame but herself.” She stroked the ring with her fingers, her voice laced with mockery. “Besides, Luna Emma married for money. But me? I love Alpha Xavier with all my heart.” The internet exploded. Her fans showered her with praise, while others condemned her shamelessness. Some even flooded my account with insults, demanding that I step aside for her. I stared at my phone, but what I felt wasn’t anger—it was… irony. After all these years, Xavier’s tactics for wooing women hadn’t changed a bit. Thinking back, he had done the same for me. When he learned that I had grown up poor and had never celebrated a birthday, For my twentieth birthday, he showered me with twenty extravagant gifts—everything from a gold necklace to a villa overlooking the Blue Moon Pack. “Emma,” he had said, holding my hand beneath the starry sky, “I lost my parents when I was young. But from now on, I’ll treat your mother as my own. Together, we’ll build the happiest family.” I had melted in the warmth of his gaze. I had foolishly believed I had finally found the one I could spend my life with. After all, we were fated mates. Our bond was supposed to be unbreakable. But love has an expiration date. The moment the novelty wore off, he turned to someone else. I still remember the night he abandoned me in the mountains during what was supposed to be our date. He claimed “urgent pack business” and left me to hike back alone. Hours later, I discovered he’d gone to deliver flowers to his latest mistress. That night, I shifted into my wolf form, thinking it would ease the trek. Instead, I tore my paws on jagged rocks until they bled, limping home in the dark. The scars on my legs serve as a permanent reminder of how low I stooped for his affection. Looking back, I should have known. A selfish, sentimental man like him was never meant to love just one woman. Our marriage had never been anything more than an excuse for his infidelity.

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On the F1 racetrack, Grayson, the man who is my girlfriend could never have in her youth, cut my brake line. I was about to floor the accelerator when the brakes suddenly gave out completely. His arrogant laughter crackled through the intercom. “This idiot — just like I figured, he hasn’t noticed we’ve sabotaged the brakes!” My girlfriend, Natalie, laughed along from somewhere beside him. Rage tore through me. “Natalie! Weren’t you the one who inspected my car?! Someone could die out here!” Her voice drifted through the intercom, dripping with disdain. “Grayson has depression. He doesn’t get to feel what you feel behind the wheel — the speed, the rush. Cutting the brake line was the only way I could think of to cheer him up.” “Aren’t you supposed to be the God of the Track? Consider this a test of your skills. Don’t be so selfish — I know what I’m doing.” I knew then that no one was coming to save me. I had to save myself. With everything I had left, I slammed the emergency distress button on my waist. “Now — activate the emergency protocol!” When she heard me calling for help, Natalie’s voice curled with contempt. “Seriously? I’ve never seen you care this much about your own skin before. You’re the God of the Track — scared of a little brake failure? You’ve been through this before. Why are you being so dramatic now?” That last time the brakes failed, I’d nearly died saving her. Three months flat on my back in a hospital. I almost lost my career entirely. If I hadn’t had nerves of steel, I might never have gotten behind the wheel again. And she’d glossed over it like it was nothing — then weaponized it against me. Now she wanted to put me through the same nightmare. Worse, even. I ground my teeth together. “Natalie, do you have any idea what you’ve done? My life matters too. Last time, I nearly died for you! And we’re on a race circuit right now — if the brakes are gone, I’m dead!” She sounded angrier than I was. “You’re not dead yet, are you? Ethan, stop being so dramatic. Do you have to throw that rescue in my face every single time? For your information, if you hadn’t jumped in, Grayson would have saved me anyway.” “You think you’re so impressive? Then prove it. How could someone like you possibly let himself die?” She had no idea — back then, Grayson had been too busy running to save himself. If I hadn’t been there, she’d already be a corpse. Her words hit like a slap. The car lurched; I nearly lost control. There was no time to dwell on it. I stopped wasting breath on her and tried to reach my teammates — but no matter how many times I hit the intercom, Natalie’s voice was the only thing that came through. She noticed and spoke flatly. “I modified the system so they can’t reach you. You’ve got me. That’s enough.” Another blow. Ice flooded my chest. “You know this is a team race, right? No one survives this alone. Have you lost your mind? You’re using me as a lab rat? Natalie, as team captain, I’m ordering you — fix this now. No brakes, no backup — that’s a death sentence. Do you actually want me dead?” “Stop whining. I told you, I know what I’m doing. You’re only thinking about yourself. If you’ve got nothing useful to say, don’t say anything.” And then Natalie cut the line. I clenched my fist and forced my voice steady. I had no choice but to beg. “Natalie, you can see what’s happening to me right now. Please — alert the teammates behind me. Tell them to force my car to stop. I’m begging you.” Then Grayson’s voice came through from the other side. “Babe, don’t stop. Keep going. I’m actually starting to feel it — the thrill of racing. I wish it were even more intense.” Natalie’s voice instantly transformed — bright, breathless, sweeter than I’d ever heard it with me. “Really? You don’t want to die anymore? Oh, thank God. I’ll speed things up right now.” The moment she finished speaking, my car surged completely out of control, accelerating wildly, swerving and lurching — and then it rocketed straight toward the cliff edge.

With a split second to spare, years of experience took over and I wrenched the wheel straight. But I was drenched in cold sweat, my heart monitor screaming. One lapse in focus and I’d have gone over the edge. Then I found a problem far more critical — my right hand was broken. The fractured bone had torn through skin and muscle. Blood poured freely, and still the car thundered on. With my left hand trembling, I reached for the full-body safety system — and stopped cold. Every protective mechanism had been gutted and replaced with cosmetic features. My car had become the flashiest, most eye-catching vehicle on the track. In racing, that was a death wish. Grayson kept cycling through the car’s color displays, pausing now and then to debate with Natalie about which shade looked better. They were laughing and joking around. Meanwhile, I was the lamb waiting to be slaughtered. Helpless and pathetic. The equipment that should have kept me alive had been stripped out and repurposed as a toy for Natalie to impress Grayson. My life meant nothing to her. Their excited chatter felt like a death knell — mocking my helplessness with every word. My knuckles went white. I bit down so hard I tasted blood. “Natalie, stop this. I genuinely don’t have this under control — people die when brakes fail. My right hand is broken. I can’t move it. Get me backup. Now.” A dull thud — Grayson threw down the controller, his voice sullen. “Babe, I’m done. This worthless life of mine isn’t going to last much longer anyway. I shouldn’t have upset him.” Natalie immediately turned on me, screaming. “Ethan, that’s enough! Could you show some compassion? Grayson is sick. He’s a patient. Why do you have to be so petty? You want out? Not until Grayson has had enough fun.” People around them chimed in. “Grayson, you’ve really hit the jackpot with Natalie — not every girl would bet her boyfriend’s career and his life just to keep her first love happy. Respect.” “Still — Ethan’s situation looks like it’s getting pretty serious. Aren’t you worried about him at all?” Natalie answered without missing a beat, her voice rock-solid. “He’s faking it. He’s pulling a stunt to get my attention. He tried the same trick last time — does he really think I’ll fall for it twice?” “You all know Ethan. Arrogant, self-centered. This is just my way of keeping him in line.” She was putting my life on the line as a “method of keeping him in line”? Did she actually think I was a god? What was I to her? The “last time” she referenced — her little crew had staged a fake kidnapping, claiming Natalie had been taken. They gave me one hour to abandon the race and drive over a thousand kilometers to “save” her. I’d sacrificed the ranking I’d bled for, wrecked my car, and gotten injured in the process. When she found out, she’d seemed genuinely torn up about it. Now I was learning she’d thought I was running a con on her the whole time. “Ha, that’s right — Natalie always knows how to handle men.” That finally pulled Grayson out of his sulk. He went right back to his little performance with the controls. The constant visual changes made my competitor, Drake, think I was deliberately provoking him. He came at me without hesitation. Three thunderous impacts — Drake’s reinforced bumper slammed into my rear. A shrill warning alarm pierced the air. Drake’s furious curses followed. The collision knocked the air out of me. I coughed up a mouthful of blood. Every organ in my body felt like it was being wrung out. Each breath scraped through what was left of my lungs like sandpaper. My head pounded. My car was beyond my control. My life was in someone else’s hands. That realization nearly sent me over the edge. If this kept up, I had one way out: a coffin. I made a decision — a desperate one.

“Ethan, have you lost your mind?! You wouldn’t dare—” Natalie seemed to figure out what I was about to do. But it was too late to stop me. She’d been too caught up playing house with Grayson — and that had given me my only window. I surrendered. Officially conceded. Threw away over a decade of dreams in one move. My body had hit its limit. If I kept going, there’d be nothing left of me — and Natalie didn’t care if I lived or died. No one gets to threaten my life. I will not be anyone’s punching bag. The moment Drake saw the white flag go up, he finally backed off his assault. “Well, I’ll be damned. Never thought I’d live to see the great Ethan throw in the towel.” “This isn’t some trick, right? You’re not playing me to drop my guard? I’m warning you — try to double-cross me, and I will end you.” “No trick. I surrender. Drake, please — help me.” I screamed as loud as I could, praying he’d hear me. He was the only one close enough. Two hundred meters ahead sat the track’s most notorious killing curve — a bend that had claimed more lives than anyone cared to count. At this speed, with no brakes, hitting that turn meant certain death. Before I could finish, Grayson cut off my lifeline again — sealing every window in the car so no sound could escape. Then, as punishment, he “accidentally” activated the electric shock system. A violent surge of electricity tore straight through my chest. I couldn’t breathe. The burning was unbearable. My entire body convulsed uncontrollably. Worse than the pain was the humiliation — the shock made me lose control of my bladder. In that moment, my hatred peaked. “Oops — I think I bumped something. Hope that’s okay. It sounded like Ethan was trying to talk to someone out there. I hope I didn’t upset him by accident.” I stared at the intercom with bloodshot eyes. I knew Natalie could see me. “Natalie — do you know what he just did to me? He wants me dead!” “Are you about to tell me he shocked you? I watched every modification on that car myself. The shock function is a gentle warning — it won’t kill you. Stop performing.” “And while we’re at it — I’ll give you a warning too. Stop playing games with me. Acting pathetic won’t help you.” She slammed the switch. Then she turned to Grayson and laughed, heaping praise on him. “Grayson, you did so well. Once we make it past this curve, I know you’ll find your confidence again.” The pain and helplessness boiled into something behind my eyes. My breathing went ragged; I nearly blacked out. Then a searing pain exploded in my abdomen. I pressed my hand against it and pulled it away soaked in red. The wound was a mess of blood and torn flesh. I pressed my fingers in. They came back out with fragments of gravel embedded in them. Grayson had deliberately sabotaged me at the worst possible moment. Debris from the car ahead had shredded straight into me. I was past the point of holding back. “Natalie, can you not see that Grayson is doing this on purpose?! He has been screwing with my controls this whole time. I’m injured and bleeding out right now! Are you both happy? Give me back control of my car — I just want to survive!” “Uh — Ethan seems really upset. Is he mad at me? Babe, I’m scared. I’m such a burden to everyone. Maybe it’d be better if I was gone.” Grayson’s voice was perfectly pitched — a grown man whimpering like a wounded child on cue, and Natalie swallowed it whole every single time. Natalie’s disgust for me hardened into something uglier. “Ethan, stop performing. All you do is threaten to die. It’s pathetic. Grayson has a real illness. He has depression.” “Is the only way you feel good about yourself making sure he suffers? Do you need everyone else to lose so you can win?” Natalie turned her back on me completely and spoke directly to Grayson. “Grayson, I’m handing you full control of the car. Let’s ignore him. If he actually dies — that’s on him. He’s choosing this.” The moment she finished, they locked everything down. The car went into sealed, impenetrable mode. From the outside, it looked like I’d gone back on my surrender — like I was recklessly charging back into the race and looking for a fight. Racers are young, hot-blooded, and proud. They don’t take kindly to that kind of provocation. “That rat Ethan — he played us! Everyone go, take him out!” Even some of my own teammates didn’t understand what was happening. A few of them tried to speed up and check on me — and Natalie shut them down instantly. “Hold your positions! Nobody passes Ethan’s car. That’s an order.” “But this doesn’t match the strategy Ethan briefed us on — we’re supposed to be racing as a unit. His car is a target right now. If this keeps up, first place—” “Shut up. I speak for Ethan. I’m his girlfriend.” “Ethan! Ethan, say something!” I beat my fists against the sealed window until they bled. No one heard a thing. The car held. I was an animal trapped in a cage, thrashing until I’d torn myself apart — and it changed nothing. Then the air inside the car began to thin. Grayson’s voice slid into my ear, low and cold. “Ethan. Go ahead and die. Once you’re gone, I’m done pretending to be sick, done playing the victim. I’ll tell your parents exactly how heroically you went out. Your team, your car, your girlfriend — I’ll take good care of all of it for you. Rest easy.” Grayson had never had good intentions. He’d been waiting for the right moment. Now he steered my car deliberately into Drake — trying to ignite a fresh wave of fury from Drake’s crew. Ahead, the most treacherous curve on the circuit appeared. With Drake’s team bearing down on me, I had ten seconds left. Maybe less. My body went cold as the blood poured out of me. Consciousness began slipping, dragging me toward darkness. Grayson’s triumphant laughter detonated in my ears, savoring every second of my helpless struggle. I wasn’t ready to give up. God, I wasn’t ready. Was this really how it ended? “Ethan! We’re coming for you!”

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Four years after my death, my husband tried to force me to donate a kidney to his mistress. He showed up at my workplace clutching a consent form. But every single coworker he asked told him the same thing. They’d never seen me. Frustrated, he finally went to my HR Director. “Erin? Didn’t she pass away four years ago?” “Complications from the last surgery. Coagulation disorder. The wound never healed. She bled out.” My husband didn’t believe it. He turned it around and accused them of taking bribes from me. Of conspiring against him. He jabbed a finger in the HR Director’s face. “Don’t think I don’t know she paid you off to lie to me.” “You tell Erin Hayes she has until tomorrow afternoon. If she doesn’t show, I will use my authority as Emily’s legal guardian to dump her right back into the foster system.” What he didn’t know. His mistress had already taken my little sister. Dragged her away for a live organ harvest. Emily died on that operating table. *** Footsteps pounded down the hallway. I drifted above it all, watching Derek Walker storm into my company. The address he’d dug out of his phone’s email trash folder. Three years old. The last trace of me he had. He clutched a document. ORGAN DONATION was printed across the top. “Erin Hayes. Where is she? Get her out here.” He shoved the office door open. Several coworkers looked up. Exchanged glances. Finally, someone answered in a small voice. “Erin? She hasn’t been to work in a long time…” “How long?” Derek’s lip curled. His gaze swept across every face. “Don’t play dumb with me. Is she hiding?” No one dared speak. The office went so quiet you could hear your own heartbeat. Derek clicked his tongue in disgust and turned toward the private office. He didn’t knock. Breezed right in and slapped the document onto the desk. “Hey. Where’s Erin? I’ve got urgent business with her. Don’t tell me you don’t know.” Mr. Wilson looked up. His brow creased so hard it could trap a fly. “Who are you? This is a workplace. Show some respect.” “Respect?” Derek snorted. “I’ve got every right to find my own wife. What the hell do I need respect for?” “It’s you people acting all shifty. Did she pay you off? Are you helping her lie to me?” Mr. Wilson was Operations Director. Hearing someone sling that kind of accusation made his face go dark. “Erin Hayes passed away four years ago. You’re her husband, and you didn’t know?” His hand was already hovering over the security call button. Two tall guards appeared in the doorway. “Sir, you are illegally trespassing—” The guards seized Derek’s arms. He thrashed against them. “Bullshit! Stop putting on this little show for me!” “You think I don’t know her? She chickened out over donating a piece of her liver. That kind of coward doesn’t just die!” Mr. Wilson gave up trying to reason with him. He pulled up a file on his computer. “Her termination date is four years ago. Marked as deceased.” At Wilson’s signal, the guards released Derek. The instant he was free, he spun the monitor around. Scanned it. Laughed. “Pretty convincing forgery. How much did she pay you to cover for her like this?” “Sir, respect the facts. Erin Hayes developed a coagulation disorder after surgery. Massive hemorrhaging. She did not survive resuscitation. This is a legal hospital document. What do you mean, ‘cover for her’?” “A liver donation surgery?” Derek’s brow furrowed. Then he roared. “That makes even less sense!” “Olivia told me it was a minor procedure. How the hell could anyone die from that?” “Enough. You pass this message to Erin. If she doesn’t show by tomorrow afternoon, I will personally throw her sister back into the foster system to rot.” Even I thought that was insane. And I was the dead woman he was talking about. Mr. Wilson clearly agreed. He shot to his feet. His voice came out tight with suppressed fury. “Sir, Emily Hayes has been missing for a long time. You intend to threaten a dead woman with someone who has already vanished?” Derek froze. For half a second. Then he rolled his eyes. “Keep it up. All of you. Really committed to the act.” “Forget it. Play your games. When the deadline hits and she’s not there, don’t blame me for what happens.” He snatched the document and stalked out. The door slammed so hard the glass panels hummed. I was dragged along behind him, staring at his stiff, self-righteous back. Bitterness filled my chest. Right. In his eyes, me donating part of my liver was nothing. Now he wanted my kidney. Still nothing. But when Olivia had nothing more than a fever, he panicked like the world was ending. Never left her side. I guess love versus indifference really is that obvious. Outside, Derek pulled out his phone and called Olivia. His voice softened instantly. “Liv, that bitch Erin is hiding again. Don’t worry. I’ve got plenty of ways to smoke her out…” I looked down at my translucent body. I thought of my sister Emily’s desperate eyes in her final moments. A dull ache spread through what was left of my soul. Derek, you don’t know. I’m already dead. You definitely don’t know what your precious love did to my little sister.

On the phone, Derek kept cooing at her. “Liv, relax. Erin wouldn’t dare disobey… We still have her sister.” He floored the gas pedal. The city blurred past the window. And my mind was dragged backward. Three years ago. Olivia claimed her condition had suddenly worsened. She needed a second kidney transplant. Matching donors were nearly impossible to find. I was dead. She couldn’t find me. So she turned her sights on my sister. Emily. I remember that night. Emily had just finished her night shift at Dunkin’. She was walking home with a stack of thick review books in her arms. A black van screeched to a halt in front of her. The door slid open. Two men jumped out and dragged her inside. She kicked and clawed. Her review books scattered everywhere. Her SAT score report—top percentile—fluttered into the gutter. I screamed and lunged at them. My hands passed right through her body. I couldn’t grab anything. I howled as the van peeled away. The only things left behind were her ruined textbooks and one lonely canvas sneaker. They took her to a hospital. The operating room lights were blinding white. Cruel. Emily was strapped to the table. A gag stuffed in her mouth. Tears streaked down her face. Her thin body shook with terror. The restraints cut bloody welts into her wrists and ankles. Olivia stood off to the side. Mask on. Eyes cold as a butcher sizing up meat. That was when I understood. Olivia was never sick. Her “illness” was a front for an organ trafficking operation on the dark web. She wanted Erin’s kidney because a buyer had offered a fortune. “Don’t worry. It’ll be over soon.” She patted Emily’s cheek. Her tone was light. “Blame your sister for disappearing. Otherwise, we wouldn’t need you.” Emily shook her head desperately. Muffled sobs choked from her throat. Tears fell in huge drops. I knelt beside the operating table. Screaming. Trying to untie the restraints on her wrists. My hands passed through. Again and again. Nothing. “Emily… Emily!” My soul felt like it was being ripped apart. I watched the anesthetic push into her vein. Her struggle faded. Slower. Weaker. Until only her lashes still trembled. The moment the scalpel broke her skin, I shattered. A shriek tore out of me no one could hear. Ghosts don’t get heard when they cry. *** “Liv, Emily’s tuition is due. Remind her to register for classes on time.” Derek’s voice yanked me back. I spun around. Stared hard at his phone screen. Olivia’s reply popped up fast. “Already handled it. The girl’s been very well-behaved lately.” Well-behaved? My Emily was ash. Discarded in the Arizona desert badlands. And this fool Derek was still wiring money to Olivia every month. Calling it “supporting my sister’s education.” Every cent went straight into Olivia’s accounts. Fuel for her spending sprees. I watched him live inside a three-year-old lie. Sending money to a dead girl. “Right,” Derek said, as if just remembering. His voice dropped low. “If Erin still doesn’t show, get ready to send Emily to the border. Let’s see if she dares keep hiding then.” Olivia sent back a hesitant emoji. “Is that really okay?” “Why wouldn’t it be? If we don’t scare her, she’ll think we’re bluffing.” I hovered above the car roof. My soul trembled with rage. Derek, you keep saying you have Emily. You don’t even know she’s been dead for three years. You’ll never know the money you sent for “your sister” every month bought Birkin bags and club tabs for your mistress. You’ll never know the hostage you used against me was already a cold corpse. The car stopped at a red light. Derek adjusted his hair in the rearview mirror. Humming. All I could see was Emily. The look in her eyes as she searched the empty air in those last moments. Looking for me. She died waiting for a sister who never came.

Derek rushed to the hospital. Olivia was propped against her pillows. Face pale as paper. IV tubes ran into her arm. The heart monitor beeped its steady rhythm. I sneered inside. If anyone deserved an Oscar, it was Olivia. Where was all that arrogance she’d had while texting? Derek didn’t see it. The moment he saw her like this, his voice crumbled. He cupped her face, aching. “Why do you look so terrible? Is the pain back?” Olivia gave him a weak smile. She held his hand. “I’m okay. Seeing you makes it better… Did you find Erin?” Her eyes held his, expectant. Derek’s expression stiffened. He shook his head. “Not yet… But she can’t hide much longer.” Olivia dropped her gaze. A long, slow sigh. “Forget it. Stop looking… Maybe this illness is just God’s plan for me.” “No.” Derek cut her off. His voice shot up. “I am not giving up. You can still be treated. We just need a compatible donor…” “But Erin is still missing.” “So what?” He was nearly shouting. His eyes glistened, like he was terrified she’d vanish any second. “She’s just hiding. Her sister is still in our hands. She wouldn’t dare stay away.” Olivia didn’t argue. Her expression flickered, unreadable. She closed her eyes. Her fingers traced lightly over the back of his hand. “It’s okay, Derek. Having you with me all these years… I’m already content.” Derek’s tears fell. He bent over and held her. His voice cracked. “Don’t say things like that. I will save you.” I hovered in the corner of the room. Watching. A dull ache spread through my soul. How long had it been? How long since Derek had looked at me like that? From the moment Olivia moved back from Paris, I vanished from his eyes. Even when I agreed to give her part of my liver. Right before they wheeled me into surgery. He stayed planted at Olivia’s bedside. Not a single tear for me. Even now. The only one who could make his eyes go red was Olivia. What a joke. Derek cared for her with painstaking devotion. He didn’t leave until she had fallen asleep. He slipped out of the room quietly. He went straight to the doctor’s office. “Dr. Rodriguez. Olivia’s condition… How much time does she have?” The doctor pushed up his glasses. His face was grim. “At this rate of deterioration… It’s hard to say. Without a matching donor, she might not last a week.” “A week?” Derek’s lips trembled. “And… if we find one?” “Then surgery should happen as soon as possible.” The doctor sighed. “But a suitable living donor is rare enough. A second transplant makes it even harder.” Derek didn’t say anything else. He nodded. Turned and left. The hallway lights stretched his shadow long and lonely. He stood at the window. Dialed a number. “Send more people. Tear the whole city apart looking for Erin Hayes. I want proof. Dead or alive.” “Also. Book me a flight to San Francisco. Soonest available.” San Francisco. Where Emily was supposed to be “at school.” My soul jolted. He was going after Emily himself?

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They used to say I was the most spoiled woman in the Rockclaw Pack.Kane made sure of that. He chased me for ten years—ten relentless years—transforming from an eager young heir into the Alpha every wolf respected…and feared.And yet,when I so much as frowned,that terrifying man would soften like melting snow. Everyone thought I’d be his Luna.Hell,so did I. But love—real love—should never feel like a knife twisting between your ribs. And Kane?He betrayed me.Three times. The first time was at the annual Tribal Alliance dinner. They said it was a setup—that Kane had been drugged,caught in a tangle with Omega Lilian.But when I found out,I still packed up our engagement with shaking hands.He exiled her the very next night. Then he stood outside my wooden house for three straight days and nights,shivering in the cold. “Julia,I was wrong,”he rasped through cracked lips.”Just…believe in me one more time.Just this once.” I looked at him and saw the boy who once hiked through a blizzard to find snow lotuses for me,nearly freezing to death just to see me smile. So,I forgave him. God help me—I believed him. The second time?Worse. I walked into the healing room,expecting a routine report.Instead,I found him sitting beside Lilian again—this time for a pup checkup. When our eyes met,he jumped to his feet,gripping my shoulders like he could hold me still through sheer will. “A few weeks ago,I got into a car accident,”he explained quickly.”She threw herself in front of me—saved my life.” His voice dropped.”She got pregnant…and when Grandma Jennifer announced to the entire council that the pack never abandons its bloodline…I knew I had no choice.” He rested his chin on my head,like he always did when he was desperate. “Don’t leave me.Once the pup is born,I’ll send her away—to the Ice Plains.She’ll never come near you again.” I wanted to scream.I wanted to hate him. But all I could think was:He promised me once,“My word is law.” So again,I stayed. The third time was the one that shattered me. We were both bidding at the pack’s charity auction—for the old pocket watch that had belonged to my mother. It was her only keepsake,worn smooth with her fingerprints.But Kane kept bidding,raising the price higher and higher…until he used his Alpha privilege to claim it outright. And then? He turned around and gave it…to Lilian. I stormed into his tent,fury burning hotter than the sun. But he just rubbed the bridge of his nose,the scent of her still clinging to his clothes. “She’s been anxious lately,”he muttered,like it justified everything.”Holding the watch helps her relax.Julia,just…let her have it.” Something in me snapped. I laughed—sharp,bitter,broken. “Why should I’let her’?”I asked,my voice shaking with rage. His brows pulled together in frustration.”Don’t be childish.Lilian’s due soon.After the pup is born,everything will go back to normal.” Normal?Did he actually believe we could just pretend?That I could forget every blade he buried in my back? “Kane…”I started,but I didn’t even finish before her voice pierced the air. “Kane…it hurts…” Lilian stood just outside the tent,one hand clutching her belly,the other bracing against the pole.”I slipped…the baby…” Kane didn’t hesitate.He pushed me aside—literally shoved me—and ran to her. “KANE!”I screamed after him. But he never looked back. He carried her away like I had never mattered. And as I stood there,laughing and crying at the same time,one thing became painfully clear:He’d never let her go. Not after she saved his life.Not with their pup on the way.So what did that make me?A placeholder?A fool? Blood trickled from the wound on my temple as I leaned against the stone table. The Gamma approached quietly. “Returning to camp,Julia?” I didn’t hesitate.”No,”I said.”I’m going to the altar.To break the bond.” Two hours later,I stood outside the healing ward with the severance contract in hand. Kane had stationed guards outside Lilian’s door like she was the Moon Goddess herself.Healers came and went under his personal inspection. He even arranged three security layers—one for her,one for the unborn child,and one for his guilt. “I want warm blueberry muffins,”Lilian said inside,in that soft,pathetic voice of hers. Kane stood immediately.”Wait here.I’ll have the chef make them fresh.” He brushed past me in the hallway without even meeting my eyes. I stepped inside the ward.Lilian blinked up at me with teary eyes. “Julia…I didn’t mean to take your pocket watch.Kane gave it to me,but…his heart’s still with you.I swear.” I sighed.”There’s no need to perform.It’s just us here.” Her fake tears froze. “You came back with a pregnancy,knowing Kane’s loyalty would trap him.You knew exactly what you were doing.” I dropped the document onto her lap. “This is our bond dissolution agreement.If I hand this to Kane,he won’t sign it.But you…you’ll find a way.Get him to sign it without realizing it.You’ve got one shot.Don’t screw it up.” She stared at the contract for a long while before slowly lifting it,a victorious gleam in her eyes. “Thank you,Julia,”she whispered.”For giving us a complete family.” I forced a smile.”Then I hope you stay happy…forever.” — Back at camp,I dug out a small wooden box.Everything Kane ever gave me—every lie,every illusion—was inside. The first thing I pulled out was a tiger tooth pendant.He gave it to me when he was ten,after his first successful hunt. “I’ll protect you from now on,”he’d promised,eyes wide with pride. The second item—a dried snow lotus petal.On my fifteenth birthday,every girl in the pack got gifts. But mine?Mine came with a note that said,“Only accept what’s mine.” He had already started warding off any male who looked at me. The third?A bone ring set with wolf fur and a moonstone. He placed it on my finger under a full moon and whispered,“In this life,Julia,I belong only to you.” I believed him.I really did.But Lilian changed everything. I closed the box.Tossed it into the incinerator without a second thought. — The next morning,I was woken by the sound of voices outside. I stepped out to see servants unloading crates—boxes of Omega nutrient tonics,limited-edition shoes and gowns,rare accessories…Lilian stood in the center of it all,her hands wringing together in mock modesty. “Kane,this is all too much…” He just smiled and ruffled her hair.”You deserve the best.When you’re happy,the pup’s happy.” Then he saw me.His expression faltered. “Julia,”he said,like nothing had happened.”I didn’t get anything for you this time.But next time—name it.I’ll bring it for you.” I didn’t respond. Before I could speak,Lilian walked over with a soft smile.”Actually,Kane…I prepared something for Julia.” She handed me a folder. Inside was the bond dissolution agreement—signed.His signature matched the one from our original bond. Just like that,it was over. No words.No goodbye.No apology. Just a name on paper.And a woman who’d finally had enough.

Lilian actually did it.She got him to sign it. Good. They could finally play house now—Alpha,Omega,and their precious pup.And me?I was no one’s Luna anymore.No one’s anything. I was just Julia.And that was enough. Kane’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “What was in that paper bag you just hid?”he asked,his tone sharper than usual.”Some surprise I wasn’t supposed to know about?” I instinctively tucked the bag behind my back. His eyes narrowed,his voice low and disapproving.”Since when did you start keeping secrets from me?What else don’t I know,Julia?” I met his gaze,calm and unflinching. “Oh please,”I scoffed.”You’ve never lied to me?If I hadn’t walked in on you that day,would you have ever told me Lilian was pregnant?” He didn’t deny it.Just turned his head slightly,eyes drifting toward the woman curled up on the sofa. Then he said it—his voice casual,like we were talking about the weather. “I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d never leave me.We love each other too much,right?” I stared at him.Speechless. So that’s what I was to him—a guarantee.Not a partner.Not a choice.Just someone who’d never walk away,no matter how deep the betrayal. Behind him,Lilian dabbed at her eyes,her shoulders trembling delicately. “I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to stay.But when Kane looks at me like that…how could I walk away?” I didn’t respond.I just watched. She kept going,her voice quivering just right. “I was scared too…but Kane’s grandmother,Jennifer,she insisted I keep the baby once she found out.If it weren’t for her…” “That’s enough,”Kane said quietly,placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.”None of this is your fault.” I didn’t want to hear any more.I turned toward the door. “Where are you going?”he asked,catching up to block my path. “Out,”I said simply.”To the snow plain.I need some air.” He looked at the rain pelting the windows.”Don’t go far.I’ll drive you.” Then,as if on autopilot,he turned to the servants. “Lilian’s sensitive to the cold—raise the heat.Make sure she gets her medicine on time.No spicy food,the therapist said it could trigger complications…” He kept going,listing every instruction like a man who’d already assumed his role as husband and father. Once he finally slid into the car,I got in beside him. For a while,neither of us spoke. Then I turned to him with a faint smile.”You’ll make a great father,Kane.” He stiffened,clearly not expecting that. He reached for my wrist,his touch warm,familiar. “Don’t say things like that,”he murmured.”You know I’ll only ever acknowledge a pup born from you.” I didn’t respond. His hand was steady and strong—but I felt nothing.No comfort.No security.No warmth. Just silence,and the sound of rain against the glass,trickling like the tears I refused to shed. “What exactly are you doing on the snow plain in this weather?”he asked finally,breaking the quiet. I opened my mouth to answer—But then his communicator lit up. Lilian.”Kane…my stomach…it hurts so bad…” Her voice was thin,panicked,breaking. I watched the color drain from Kane’s face,panic tightening every line. “Don’t worry,I’m coming,”he said,then turned to me. “I can’t take you there.Go alone.” He didn’t wait for my reply.Just stepped on the gas and vanished into the rain. Didn’t even look back. I stood there for a while,the cold biting through my coat.Then I laughed,quietly. “If you’d waited just a few more minutes,Kane,you would’ve known.But that’s the problem,isn’t it?You never wanted to know.” — The walk to the snow plain was long and quiet.Not a single car passed me. My boots crunched through the snow.Rain blurred my vision.I couldn’t tell if the wet streaks on my cheeks were tears or just the storm. When I finally reached the Moon Goddess’s Altar,I was soaked to the bone. But I didn’t hesitate. I handed the elder the parchment. He studied it for a long time before asking gently,”Is this an official request to dissolve the mate bond?” I nodded. A heavy pause stretched between us. “You understand,”he said slowly,”there’s a mandatory twenty-day waiting period.If it’s not withdrawn in that time,the bond will be permanently severed.Have you truly made peace with this?” I smiled.My fingers were stiff as I retrieved the faded copy of our mating vow—the one I used to sleep with under my pillow. I’d made peace the moment he chose her over me for the third time. — When I stepped out of the altar valley,the rain had stopped. Sunlight pierced through the heavy clouds,glinting off the snow like diamonds.It was blinding…and strangely beautiful. So maybe life without a mate wasn’t endless storm and shadow after all. Maybe…I’d be okay. By the time I returned to the villa,night had fallen.Not a single light was on.Then I heard it. A voice drifting softly from upstairs. “And finally,Winnie the Bear hid the honey pot inside the tree hollow and whispered,’It’s my secret now…’” Kane.Reading Lilian a story.A pre-birth story.I didn’t move.Didn’t breathe. Then I turned and walked to my room. Changed.Laid down.Closed my eyes. My throat burned.My skin was flushed.Fever had started creeping in.”Water…” I whispered into the empty dark.No one came. From next door,Lilian’s sweet voice rang out again.”I hope the baby looks like you—kind and smart.” Kane chuckled.”I’d be happy either way.Your heart…your goodness…that’s what matters.” I stared at the ceiling,motionless.Two people…behind one wall…planning a future that had nothing to do with me. I forced myself to get up. Reached for the glass on my nightstand.My hand trembled.The glass slipped and shattered on the floor. I sank to the edge of the bed,gasping through the heat.Found the medicine.Took it dry. Their laughter didn’t stop. And suddenly,I remembered.Years ago,during tribal training,I had gotten sick.A fever so high,I could barely speak. Kane crossed the warning line that night—risked being punished just to bring me medicine and water. He sat by my side all night,gently stroking the back of my neck.”If I could trade places with you,I would.I’d rather be the one hurting.” My eyes burned. “Kane…Do you even remember?Or did those words die the moment she walked back into your life?”

“Julia,are you awake?”Kane’s voice cut through the fog in my mind. I blinked my eyes open and saw him leaning over me,his expression tight with worry. “You had a fever all night—why didn’t anyone call me?”he asked,his voice hoarse,as if he’d been running or shouting.“I came by to check,and you weren’t responding…I thought I was too late.” But you were too late,weren’t you? “I’m fine now,”I said flatly,pulling my hand from his. His brow creased.“Are you mad at me?” I shook my head.“No.” “Julia…”He moved closer,his voice softening.“You always go quiet when you’re upset.I can tell.” I didn’t respond. For a moment,he just stared at me.Then,like a reflex,he leaned in and brushed a kiss against my forehead.“Didn’t you say you wanted to go horseback riding on the snow plains?The weather’s clear.Let’s go.” He stood and began gathering my clothes,moving through the room like he still belonged here,like nothing had changed between us. I didn’t protest.I didn’t help either.I just moved through the motions—getting dressed,brushing my hair,washing up—like I was back in the old days,playing the role of the obedient partner I used to be. We were just about to head downstairs when a soft knock came at the door. “Are you two…going out?”Lilian stood in the doorway,her hands resting gently on her rounded belly. “I’ve never been to the snow plains stable,”she said with a small smile.“Do you mind if I come along?I promise I’ll ride slow.” Kane hesitated.His jaw tightened.“It’s probably not safe to go too far right now.” She looked down,stroking her stomach tenderly.“I just feel so cooped up inside.It’s starting to affect my mood,and…that’s not good for the baby.” I didn’t wait for his decision.I just turned and walked downstairs. And just like I expected,when I climbed into the car,she was right behind me,helped in by Kane himself—gentle,cautious,attentive. The whole ride there,he hovered around her like a guardian angel,adjusting her scarf when the wind got strong,checking her seatbelt twice,making sure she was comfortable. At the stables,the horses had already been prepared. I chose a calm brown mare and adjusted the saddle myself,tying the reins with steady hands.I didn’t want anyone’s help.Not anymore. Lilian picked a sleek black horse.Its hooves echoed ominously against the snowy ground.The stable hand warned it could be temperamental. But she just smiled.“It doesn’t mind me.We’re already familiar.” Kane didn’t stop her. Instead,he crouched and secured her gear himself,murmuring,“Don’t go too fast.Take it easy,alright?” That voice. Those hands. They used to be mine. I stood quietly,invisible,watching him care for her the way he used to care for me.Watching my old life play out in front of me…without me in it. I mounted my horse without a word. I remembered being twenty and terrified the first time I tried to ride.Kane had held the reins with me and whispered in my ear,“Don’t be scared.I’m right behind you.Always.” He was still here now.Only,the person he was behind…wasn’t me anymore. He turned to say something,but his communicator buzzed in his hand. He looked between us.“I need to take this.Julia,stay close to her.Make sure she doesn’t wander off.” I didn’t answer.Just guided my horse away. Lilian followed. Then her voice drifted over to me.“Julia?” I turned slightly. “What happens if two horses collide?”she asked,tone far too casual. Before I could respond,she jerked her reins hard and charged at me. My horse reared up with a terrified neigh,hooves clawing the air.I held tight,but the sudden force was too much.My balance slipped and my mare bolted,galloping wildly across the snow-covered field. Out of the corner of my eye,I saw Lilian fall—conveniently,softly. “Lilian!”Kane’s voice cracked with panic. I turned my head just in time to see him sprint across the field like his life depended on it.He caught her before she hit the ground,holding her tightly,checking her for injuries,barking orders for help. “Kane!”I yelled,desperate. But the wind swallowed my voice. He didn’t even glance in my direction.Didn’t even look.He carried her away like nothing else mattered. Then I heard it—thundering hooves. A group of horses had broken free,charging straight toward me like an avalanche.I tried to grip the reins again,but they slipped through my fingers.The saddle bucked.I lost control. And then—everything went white. I felt myself lift into the air,as if time had slowed. And in that moment,I remembered his promise:”Julia,as long as you call my name,I will turn back.” But I had called. And he didn’t turn back. The impact was brutal. I hit the ground with a sickening crack,the cold seeping straight into my bones as the world spun and the pain hit me like a tidal wave. Lying in the snow,my body broken and breath knocked from my lungs,I watched as Kane disappeared into the distance,carrying her into the car like she was the most fragile,precious thing in the world. So careful. So protective. So hers. When she fell—someone caught her. When I fell—there was only snow.

I woke up in agony. My entire body ached like I’d been trampled by a stampede—which,come to think of it,wasn’t far from the truth. The sharp scent of antiseptic clung to the air.I blinked up at the unfamiliar white ceiling,confusion tugging at the edges of my foggy mind. Then I turned my head—and saw him. Kane. He was sitting beside the bed,eyes shadowed with exhaustion,the blue-tinged hollows beneath them deep and bruised.The moment our eyes met,his shoulders sagged in visible relief. “You’re finally awake,”he breathed,placing his hand gently against my forehead.His voice was low,soft—too soft.”Where does it hurt?” I parted my lips to speak,but my throat was dry.Scratchy.Useless. The last thing I remembered was screaming his name as the horses charged—screaming for him.Watching helplessly as he ran…in the opposite direction. To save Lilian. He hadn’t looked back. Now,sitting here beside me,he must’ve felt the weight of my silence,the sting of my wordless accusation.Still,he chose not to face it.He glanced away and said,too casually,”Lilian’s a little hurt.You know how fragile her health is.” Right.Of course.Fragile Lilian. I just stared at him. He cleared his throat and added,”The blood bank’s running low.And your blood type matches hers…” My chest tightened. He leaned closer,taking my hand,his voice lowering into a hoarse whisper.”I know you don’t like her…but Julia,you’ve always been the stronger one.You never hold things against me,right?” I blinked at him,my heart slowly curling in on itself. He was right.I’d never truly fought him.Never screamed.Never said no.I’d always been the one who understood,the one who forgave. But not this time. Something in me cracked. I yanked my hand away from his like it burned,the sudden movement wrenching at something inside me.Pain exploded through my side and I gasped,clenching the sheet in my fist. “Julia…”His voice cracked,gravelly and desperate.”Just this once,okay?Once.After the baby’s born,things can go back to normal—if that still means anything to you.” I stared down at the hand he’d just held.It didn’t even feel like mine anymore.And his…his looked like it belonged to a stranger. Just yesterday,this man left me to die under a storm of hooves. Now,he wanted me to save someone else? A knock came from the door.One of the healers peeked in and said quietly,“Alpha Kane,Miss Lilian can’t wait much longer.” His eyes flickered—frustration flashing beneath the concern. “Julia,please don’t make this harder than it has to be—” He caught himself.For once,he realized how hollow he sounded.His tone softened.“Come on.I’ll go with you.Please.” I didn’t answer. Didn’t fight. Just got up and followed him. The moment the needle slid into my arm,I stared blankly at the ceiling.I didn’t flinch.Didn’t cry.Didn’t even blink.Whatever the healer was saying sounded like background noise underwater. All I could hear was a memory—one that wouldn’t let go: “Julia,wherever you go,I’ll be right behind you.” He said that when he was twenty. Now? Now,he was outside the room,checking his watch over and over,not even bothering to come in and see how I was holding up. When it was over,I stood on shaky legs,blood loss making everything tilt.But I didn’t ask for help.I walked back to my room alone. Halfway there,I paused. Lilian’s door was slightly ajar.Something made me look. She was pale,her wrist wrapped in gauze.Kane sat at her bedside,gently pulling the blanket up around her like she was made of glass. “Don’t worry,”he whispered.“Everything’s okay now.The pup is safe too.” My gaze slid to her neck—and my stomach dropped. She was wearing his silver plate. The one he used to wear around his neck.The one I had knelt in the snow for three years ago,praying beneath the stars before clasping it around his neck with trembling hands. “Let it keep you safe,for the rest of your life,”I had whispered. Now it was hers. He had given away the very thing I begged the heavens to protect him with…to another woman. And she wore it like it belonged to her. I turned and walked away before I did something I’d regret. The next day,the healer brought me a clipboard. “Time to finalize your medical records,”she said,not unkindly. I filled in my name.Age.Species.Pack. When I got to”Marital Status,”my pen hovered. Then I wrote slowly,firmly:Unmarried. The healer blinked.“Wait—did you make a mistake?Isn’t Kane your mate?” I looked her dead in the eye,my voice calm.“No.” The door burst open. Kane stood in the doorway,disbelief written all over his face.“What did you just say?”

The healing room fell into an uneasy silence. The healer quietly closed her medicine kit and muttered under her breath,“I’ll come back later.” The soft click of the door shutting behind her left only Kane and me in the room,with a heavy tension hanging in the air between us. “Still mad at me?”he asked,stepping closer.His voice had softened,but the usual commanding edge in his eyes remained. He reached up like he was going to touch my cheek—gentle,hesitant—but I turned my head away,avoiding him.His fingers hovered in the empty space for a second before they slowly dropped. “I never meant to hurt you,”he said quietly.“But Lilian’s condition was critical.I couldn’t be in two places at once.” I closed my eyes,not wanting to see the guilt—or lack of it—in his expression. Then his voice dipped lower,calculated and cautious.“Julia…I came to ask for a favor.” I opened my eyes,already knowing what was coming.“Let me guess—Lilian again?” He didn’t deny it.He didn’t even look guilty. “She’s been having trouble keeping food down,”he said,like it was the most reasonable thing in the world.“She asked for your blueberry pie.Just until she gives birth.Then everything can go back to normal.We’ll go back to us.I’m doing this for our future.Can’t you understand that?” I stared at him,stunned by how easily the words rolled off his tongue—how casually he asked me to bake a pie for the woman he betrayed me with. Something inside me felt hollow.Numb. But I nodded anyway.“I’ll have someone send it over once I’m discharged.” Relief swept over his face like I’d just given him the moon.He leaned in and kissed my forehead.“I knew it.Deep down,you still care about us.” I didn’t react. The day I left the healing center,I gave my recipe to the head chef and had a servant deliver the pie to the estate. Then I started packing. A few days later,Kane came home unexpectedly in the afternoon. “Is Lilian still in the healing wing?”I asked. “She’s getting her follow-up tests,”he said,avoiding eye contact. I didn’t pry. He reached for my hand.“Don’t worry about packing.I’ve planned a trip to the snow mountains.Just you and me.We’re leaving now.” I didn’t have time to ask questions.He was already leading me out the door,his grip firm,his pace urgent. The drive was quiet—eerily so. He didn’t make his usual small talk.No smug smiles.Just the sound of tires against asphalt and his steady breathing. By the time we pulled up to the cabin at the base of the mountains,night had fully fallen.The sky was pitch black,stars hidden behind thick clouds. “I left something in the trunk,”he said,stepping out.“Wait here.” I nodded and stood at the door,clutching my coat around me,watching as he disappeared into the darkness. The wind picked up.Minutes dragged by.My fingers were starting to go numb from the cold. I pulled out my phone and called him. “How much longer?”I asked softly.My breath fogged the screen. There was silence. Then his voice came through—low and cold.“I’m not coming back.” I froze. “…What?” “There was something wrong with the blueberry pie,”he said flatly.“It was laced with an inhibitor.Lilian nearly miscarried.Did you really think no one would find out?” My throat tightened.“You think I poisoned it?” “She only ate your pie that day,”he said,like that was all the proof he needed. “You didn’t even ask me,”I whispered.“You just decided.” A pause.“You’ve changed,Julia.” My voice cracked.“So have you.” Then—click.He hung up. I stood there,alone,the wind howling through the trees,yanking at my coat like icy fingers.And then I heard it—a low rumble,deep and threatening. The mountain groaned. An avalanche. Panic surged in my chest.I turned and ran,but I didn’t get far.The snow came down like a tidal wave,swallowing everything in its path—including me. I hit the ground hard,buried under a suffocating weight of snow.My limbs ached,my breaths came shallow,my fingers trembling as I fumbled for my communicator. I dialed his number.Once.Twice.Four times. Seven. Finally—someone picked up. “Kane,”I gasped.“There’s an avalanche,I—” “Hello?”A woman’s voice. Lilian. “The signal’s bad.Who is this?” I tried to speak,but then I heard Kane’s voice in the background.“Who’s calling?” “Wrong number,”Lilian said sweetly.“Don’t worry.Keep reading to the baby.” The line went dead. My phone slipped from my hand,disappearing into the snow. And so did I. The last thing I remembered before the darkness took me was Kane’s voice from that night,whispering like a promise:“Julia,in this life,you’ll never escape me.” Now,he had left me to die—buried me himself.

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After six years of marriage, my husband, Michael, once again refused to meet me, using work as his excuse. I understood how hard he worked, so I made a special trip to New York to surprise him. But I never expected that when I walked into a flower shop, I would see my husband’s wedding photo with another woman. … The clerk confirmed with me again and again, “Are you sure you want these flowers sent to Michael Carter? The professor who teaches at the university?” I nodded, happily imagining the surprise on Michael’s face when he received the flowers. But the clerk suddenly shrieked, “That’s our boss’s husband’s name. What is your relationship with him?” “Don’t tell me you’re another one of his obsessed admirers?” After saying that, the clerk proudly pointed at the wall. Hanging there, plain as day, was a framed wedding photo. “Look how in love he is with our boss. Stop trying so hard to destroy their family!” The moment I saw the photo clearly, it felt as if I had been thrown into an ice cellar. For a long time, I could not say a word. The man in the photo was Michael. The woman leaning against him wore a white wedding dress, her face glowing with happiness. While I stood there in a daze, the clerk turned and went to a corner to make a phone call. A little while later, a woman pushing a stroller opened the door and walked in. Her complexion was rosy, but her expression was unusually wary. “So you’re the one trying to send flowers and seduce my husband?” Her appraising gaze was full of contempt. “Ever since my husband became a tenured professor, I’ve lost count of how many women like you I’ve had to deal with!” She looked so natural, as if she were Michael’s real wife. Everything hit me at once, so hard that for a moment I could not bring myself to believe it. I forced down the enormous shock in my chest, dug my nails hard into my palm, and struggled to keep myself calm. “Ma’am, you’ve misunderstood.” “I’m only here to ask Professor Carter for some research materials.” At some point, a few passersby had gathered around us. After hearing what I said, they joked, “Vivian, don’t be so angry. Professor Carter dotes on you so much. He wouldn’t even look twice at another woman!” Only then did the woman breathe a sigh of relief. She warmly pulled me over and had me sit down on a chair. “Don’t blame me. It’s all because my husband is too outstanding. Women are always trying to seduce him, so I can’t help getting a little nervous.” She lowered her head and kissed the baby boy in her arms. There was a showy note in her voice. “This is my husband’s and my child. What do you think? Cute, isn’t he?” I had to admit, the child looked a lot like Michael. Back then, he chose to stay at the university to teach, while I was assigned by the CIA to a covert station overseas. I was shut away there for six years. For six years, I endured all the danger and loneliness alone, risking my life in exchange for medal after medal. And what waited for me in the end was my husband keeping another family outside our marriage. He had even had children with her. Just then, a middle-aged woman walked in from outside. “Well, Vivian, Professor Carter finally let you out?” Vivian smiled playfully. “Linda, you have to keep it a secret for me.” “If Michael finds out I went out by myself, he’ll worry himself sick again!” Linda laughed along with her. “Oh my god, your husband is seriously the most devoted man I’ve ever seen in New York.” “Even when you’re having steak at a restaurant, he cuts it into bite-sized pieces and feeds it to you. Whenever you go out, he’s terrified something might happen to you. He worries like crazy.” Listening to them, a sharp ache tore through my chest, and my face turned faintly pale. Vivian handed me a cookie with a smile. “Have something to tide you over. You came all this way. You must be starving.” “I baked these cookies myself. Michael loves them, but he worries my hands will get tired, so he won’t let me make too many.” How ironic those words sounded to me. I had thought my husband only knew how to bury his head in research, careless and clumsy about daily life. It turned out he had given all his tenderness and consideration to his second family in New York.

“Mommy.” A child’s call interrupted our conversation. When I saw the little girl’s face clearly, my whole body stiffened. The girl looked a lot like Michael too. She seemed to be around four or five years old. She ran to Vivian’s side and acted spoiled. “When is Daddy coming home? I miss him so much.” I looked at the baby boy in Vivian’s arms, then at the little girl whining beside her, and the bitterness in my heart almost spilled over. Michael and I had been married for years, but we had never had children. Over the years, I had told him countless times that I wanted a child. When we were newly married, Michael once held me and said, “We’re newlyweds. We haven’t had enough time alone together yet. There’s no rush to have children.” Later, before I was selected by the CIA for the mission, I became anxious and insisted that we try for a child before I left. He agreed readily enough, but every time my ovulation window came, he would just so happen to be away on a business trip. “I’m really too tired. Why do you think I’m working so hard? Isn’t it to give you and our future child a better life?” “We’re both educated people. We can’t let a child hold back our careers.” Later still, whenever I brought up having a child, he would repeatedly say that he was worried about my health and did not want childbirth to drag down my career. For a time, I truly believed he did not like children. So it turned out someone else had already given him children. Vivian glanced down at her phone, her smile full of sweetness. “My husband almost never goes out, and he never works overtime.” “Today really is just bad timing. I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you to wait a little longer.” At that, I was stunned again. The two words Michael said to me most often were “working overtime.” If he did not answer the phone, he was working overtime. If he could not come home to see me, he was working overtime. Even last Christmas, he had been working overtime the entire time. Three years ago, his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He said his project was at a critical stage and he had no way to take care of her, so he could only ask me to help. I was so busy I could barely breathe. But while his mother was ill, she jumped into a lake when the caregiver was not paying attention. The hospital called my workplace directly. I was truly swamped, so I asked Michael to go handle it. But he still shirked it, saying he was working overtime. In the end, I was forced to go and deal with it for him, which delayed my CIA work. Listening to Vivian, a bone-deep sense of helplessness swept through my entire body. Vivian picked up her crying little son and stood. “The baby is hungry. My home is nearby. If you don’t mind, you can come wait there with me.” I stood up almost eagerly, but still made my tone sound casual. “Do you live with his parents?” Vivian shook her head. “His parents passed away a long time ago. It’s just my parents at home. He treats my parents better than he would his own.” I picked at my nails, wondering how Michael’s mother would feel if she heard those words. When I lowered my head, my eyes accidentally caught a line of small print on Vivian’s daughter’s backpack: Department of Defense Affiliated Elementary School. Seeing me stop, Vivian smiled and explained, “That’s my older daughter’s school.” “My husband is a Gold Star Family member, so under policy, they made a special exception and let our child attend that school.” Hearing the words “Gold Star Family,” I looked up in confusion. “Gold Star Family?” Vivian nodded and sat down beside me. “Yes. His sister was a martyr who died in service to the country.” After she said that, she caught sight of the small embroidered words on the cuff of my down jacket: New York Headquarters · Central Field Station. Her eyes immediately lit up. “Oh, his sister used to work where you do.” “Her name was Sarah Carter. Do you know her? She died in the line of duty six years ago.” Those words struck me like a bolt from the blue. My body swayed, almost unable to stand. How could I not know her? I was the Sarah Carter she was talking about. As his legal wife, I had somehow become his so-called sister. It was truly ridiculous. Seeing my face turn deathly pale, Vivian considerately stuffed a hand warmer into my hands. “Did you get too cold outside? Here, warm your hands. Michael knows I get cold easily, so he stocked up on a lot of these.” Vivian’s happy smile was like a red-hot branding iron, burning my chest again and again. I struggled to steady my emotions and asked as if by accident, “How could they send someone to work in such a harsh place?” Vivian smiled and said, “My husband’s family has money, but what good is money? Without power or connections, people still bully you.” “So my husband stepped in himself and sent his sister there!” That sentence became the final straw. So back then, Michael had deliberately made me leave. He had locked me away in that isolated CIA place for six whole years. Knowing full well that I was my parents’ only daughter, he still sent me away without hesitation. So when my father died of a heart attack, I could not make it back in time to see him one last time because of work. On one hand, Michael used my “Gold Star” status to let the illegitimate children he had with another woman enjoy national benefits. On the other, he kept a beautiful woman by his side in another home, surrounded by children. My voice trembled slightly. “Have you… ever met his sister?”

Vivian shook her head. “My husband said he was afraid the family would be saddened by seeing her things, so he got rid of everything that belonged to his sister. He didn’t keep even a single photo.” “By the way, I still haven’t asked your name.” I paused, then gave a fake name. “Call me Sally.” Vivian laughed. “What a coincidence. Michael’s sister seemed to have an alias too. It was Sally.” I lowered my head and did not answer. Vivian chattered on the whole way. “Thank goodness my husband had vision and sent his sister to serve the country. My two children can enjoy Federal Gold Star Family benefits for medical care, school, everything.” “When my son was born, the government even issued a special compensation payment.” Gold Star benefits had limited slots. No wonder Michael had always insisted we remain childfree. It turned out he was afraid the children I gave birth to would take away his illegitimate children’s share. A bitter taste rose in my throat. I did not know what to say, so I asked casually, “When was your son born?” “November eleventh. The day I had my little boy, Michael booked the most expensive private hospital in Manhattan, with VIP delivery care the entire time.” My head snapped up, and my pupils shrank. That was the day my father died. That day, the doctor said that if my father had been brought to the hospital just one hour earlier, he could have been saved. But Michael, who had promised to help me take care of my parents, could not be reached no matter how many times I called. At my father’s funeral, Michael slapped himself across the face while sobbing and apologizing to me. I thought it was genuine guilt, so I forced down every doubt in my heart. Who could have imagined that he had been at another hospital that day, watching his illegitimate son be born? As the truth was laid out before me piece by piece, anger nearly burned straight through me. Vivian was still speaking. “It’s just that the two children are a little far apart in age. More than six years. They fight all the time.” At that moment, I could already be certain that when Michael married me, he had already been with Vivian. Vivian raised her hand and pointed ahead. “We’re here. This is my home.” Unlike our ordinary apartment, they lived in a penthouse near Central Park. The place was decorated so warmly. Fresh lilies sat on the dining table, and family photos of the four of them hung on the walls. Every sharp corner of the furniture had been carefully wrapped with soft padding. I forced a smile. “Your home is so clean and warm.” “Oh, Michael did all the decorating. He always says a home should feel like a home.” Hearing that, another wave of bitterness surged through me. When Michael was with me, he never touched housework. He threw clothes and socks everywhere and was too lazy even to take out the trash. If something at home broke, he would leave it there and wait for me to come back and fix it. Every time I took family leave, it became my deep-cleaning day. Thinking about it now, I was truly ridiculous. Cleaning the house, earning money to support the family, helping take care of his mother… All my efforts had become the perfect warm backdrop for my husband’s affair. I forced down the pain in my heart and asked as if unintentionally, “Your family seems very well-off. Money and status, and such a large apartment. Did you buy it yourself?” Vivian smiled. “My husband bought it.” “I was lucky. I had just come to New York from a small town when I met Michael.” “The flower shop downstairs was also opened for me with money he provided six years ago.” Michael came from a poor family. When we got married, even the home we lived in was rented with my salary. At that time, he had not yet established himself in New York and had hardly any money at all. And now that he had achieved success and fame, he spent all his money on his other family. Just then, the door clicked open from outside. It was Vivian’s father. His gaze as he looked me over was full of scrutiny and caution. “Who is this?” Vivian introduced me warmly. “Dad, this is someone who came to get important materials from Michael.” The old man nodded indifferently. “Michael is like my own son. The country values him, and I feel proud too. Tonight I’ll cook myself and make something nice for you all.” Just then, a phone began to ring. Vivian casually put it on speaker. I heard Michael’s voice clearly. “Honey, I may not get back until after midnight tonight.” “I know you’ve been craving those chocolates lately, so I made a special trip to buy your favorite handmade ones.” “Sorry to make you wait so long. Be good.”

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When I opened my eyes after being reborn, the first thing I did was tackle my adoptive mother, who was conducting an experiment, and rip a piece of flesh from her. Before anyone in the laboratory could react, I had also bitten my “sister.” I then splashed a cup of dog urine onto her. Everyone thought I was suffering from rabies. The hospital sent me to a rehabilitation center. Inside, I was filled with joy. In my past life, my experiment was about to succeed when my sister blew up the laboratory and stole my research results. The deceased’s family presented surveillance footage that accused me of being the murderer, and countless media outlets gathered at the hospital demanding an explanation. I was confused, but my adoptive mother claimed I had intentionally sabotaged my sister’s experiment. My adoptive mother and sister shifted all the blame onto me. In the end, I was tortured to death by an enraged family member. “Ah! What are you doing, you bastard?” Mandy screamed as I pounced on her and bit down. I clung to her, refusing to let go. When people pulled me away, my mouth was full of blood, and my face was twisted. I spat out the piece of flesh, disgusted, and looked at Mandy. Mandy turned to run but tripped over some equipment. I viciously tore at her face. Then, I splashed a cup of rancid dog urine onto her face. “Ah! Alice, are you insane? How dare you bite me! How dare you throw urine on me!” “Quick! Catch her! She’s gone crazy!” Manda, clutching her bloodied face, screamed hysterically. A few security guards rushed in and held me down. I shook violently, struggling desperately, letting out incoherent screeches, saliva flying everywhere. “Rabies! She must have rabies!” someone shouted, and the crowd erupted into chaos. Mandy stood outside the crowd, emanating a foul stench, with dog hair sticking to her hair. Her face alternated between green and pale. She stared at me, as if she wanted to devour me whole. “Dr. Chris! Check her properly! She’s faking it! How could she possibly have rabies?” Mandy screamed, her voice sharp and venomous. She stood there, filthy with urine and dog hair, yet still trying to maintain her laughable “elegance.” I could feel the fearful gazes of the people around me. They were looking at me like I was a monster. Good. This is exactly the effect I wanted. Mandy yelled at the doctors who had arrived. “Why are you just standing there? Why haven’t you taken this bitch away yet?” “She bit my mother!” “And threw urine on me!” “I’m suing her! I’ll make her rot in jail!” “This bitch, I want her to become a cripple!” The doctors exchanged glances. One of the older doctors pushed up his glasses, trying to explain: “Mandy, Alice’s condition is quite special, and we need to observe her further…” “Observe what?!” Mandy interrupted him. “She’s intentionally hurting people!” “Can’t you see that? Or are you trying to cover for her?!” In the end, the hospital doctors concluded that I had rabies. They sent me to the rehabilitation center. Only I knew that I had to hide in the center to preserve myself. In my past life, my experiment was on the verge of success. When I returned from being out, the laboratory had turned into a sea of fire. Amid the flames, Mandy’s figure twisted and went mad. She smiled smugly, holding the core data of my research results. “Alice, you will never win against me!” I struggled to get up, trying to stop her, but my body was unsteady. Outside the hospital, the sound of the crowd and cries blended together as I was labeled a murderer.

“Murderer! Give my daughter back her life!” “It’s her! The surveillance footage clearly shows it! She blew up the lab to take all the research results for herself!” “Crazy! A person like her deserves to be torn apart!” Reporters shoved microphones into my face. “Dr. Alice please explain, why did you destroy the laboratory?” “You’re staying silent, does that mean you’re admitting it?” “Alice, I know you didn’t mean it, you just… didn’t want Manni’s experiment to succeed, right?” Manda stood behind the crowd, “lovingly” watching me. I looked at her in disbelief. “Mom… I didn’t…” I tried to explain, but my voice was drowned out by the angry roars of the crowd. “This wicked woman! She killed my son! I want her to pay with her life!” “Kill her! Kill this murderer!” The family members lost control, pushing past the security guards and lunging at me. “Stop! Stop!” I screamed in desperation, but no one listened. In the chaos, someone tore at my clothes, spewing vulgar words. “Bitch! Slut! Let me show you what it feels like to be humiliated!” … “Alice, do you see what I’ve brought you?” Mandy walked into my hospital room. Her voice was sweet to the point of being sickening. I stared at her, blank-eyed, like a true madwoman. Mandy’s smile widened as she leaned in closer and lowered her voice, her malice clear. “How’s life at the rehabilitation center? Comfortable?” “It’s far better than the research institute, no more boring experiments.” She pulled a bottle of water from her bag, twisted the cap, and handed it to me. “Here, drink some water, soothe your throat.” I “obediently” took the cup, and just as I was about to drink, Mandy suddenly gasped, as if remembering something, and snatched the cup away. “Look at my memory! The water’s too cold. You’re weak now, you can’t drink cold stuff.” She tilted her head and spat a few yellow-green phlegms into the cup, then handed it back to me. “It’s better now, warm. Drink up.” I stared at her blankly. I took the cup, and in Mandy’s smug gaze, slowly poured the water onto the ground. “Mandy, I’m not thirsty,” my voice was hoarse, with a touch of “innocence.” Mandy’s face instantly darkened. She grabbed my hair. “Alice, don’t think you can escape by pretending to be crazy!” Mandy opened my mouth and spit her phlegm into it and onto my face. “Bitch, weren’t you so arrogant? Come, drink some ‘beverage’.” Mandy pulled out a packet of dog urine from her bag and poured it into my mouth. Then, she pressed her foot hard on my face. The stench! Disgusting! Nauseating! I looked even more “silly.” Struggling, but being held down by the nurse. I drank down 200cc of dog urine. “Good, that’s better. You’re just a slut for everyone, that’s what you deserve.” “Once I get my hands on the research results, I’ll show you what pleasure really is!” “The stray dogs in the city are waiting for you, my ‘sister.’” The recording pen hidden in my sleeve faithfully recorded every word Mandy said. After Mandy was done humiliating me in the room, she left. I then heard two voices in the corridor. “… That bitch, how is the plan going?” It was Mandy’s voice. “Don’t worry, Mandy, everything is as you instructed,” a strange voice replied. “Hmph, that’s good. Remember, add some ‘shit’ to her food every day. Let her taste my ‘favor’!” “Yes, Mandy.” “Oh, and don’t forget to add dog urine to her water. Let her experience what I went through!” Mandy’s voice was sharp and malicious. As expected, this “sister” would never let me live in peace! This world thinks I’m crazy, and I won’t even bother pretending anymore!

I touched the wound on my face and the sticky substance, feeling the disgusting stickiness in my throat. I couldn’t stop the anger rising within me. The fiery pain on my face intensified my hatred. Wait! You two won’t get away with this! … At night, when the nurse went to rest, I groped around the bedside table and found the “care package” phone that Mandy had sent earlier. This phone is probably more than just a “care package,” isn’t it? I opened the phone and, sure enough, found a tiny bug on the mainboard. I threw the bug out of the window, smashing it to pieces. On the third day after I entered the nursing facility, an explosion occurred in the hospital’s lab. Not a single researcher from the lab managed to escape. This became a huge news event, with the media scrambling to report. The cause of the explosion remained unclear, but there were rumors pointing to me, saying I deliberately wanted to destroy my sister’s research results. They even claimed I cruelly murdered over ten researchers. As expected! Even though I’m hiding here, they won’t leave me alone! I continued to play the role of a “rabid dog” being treated at the facility. I mechanically repeated my “rehabilitation training,” kicking my legs, bending over. The nurse’s gaze was like that of looking at livestock, numb and disdainful. The nurse added “extra ingredients” to my food every day. She forced me to eat it, then showed a twisted smile. My body grew weaker and weaker. I couldn’t resist the influence of my sister and adoptive mother’s power, so I had to endure their insults for now! “Alice” Mandy took me out of the nursing home to celebrate my birthday. I knew they were about to smear me. “Alice, look, this is the birthday party that your sister specially prepared for you. Do you like it?” Mandy hooked her arm around mine, seeming affectionate, but her private hand was tightly pinching my flesh. I could even feel blood trickling out of her hand. “I like it…” I lowered my head, my body slightly trembling, perfectly playing the role of someone mentally unstable. “Alice has always been obedient and understanding since she was a child, but it’s such a pity… her mental state…” Manda appeared beside Mandy at just the right moment. She “sympathetically” stroked my hair, her eyes flashing with calculation. “Mom, don’t say that. Alice will get better,” Mandy “comforted” Manda gently, but when she turned to look at me, her eyes became sharp. “Alice, do you remember when we used to play together when we were kids?” In front of the guests, this “sister” is quite the actress. I “dazedly” shook my head, my eyes empty. “Ah, really pitiful…” Manda sighed and “casually” brought it up. “Actually, when Alice was little, she was… a bit different from other children. She liked to lock herself in her room, talking to herself.” “Sometimes she would… sometimes she would do some strange things…” The guests whispered among themselves, their looks shifting from sympathy to doubt, even tinged with fear. I knew their “performance” had worked. In the eyes of everyone, I had become a complete “lunatic.” “To celebrate Alice’s birthday, I’ve prepared a very special gift!” Mandy’s voice drew everyone’s attention. On the projection screen in the banquet hall, a surveillance video appeared. The footage was blurry, and only a vague figure could be seen lingering near the lab. “Look, this person is Alice!” Mandy pointed at the screen, her tone confident. “That night, she snuck into the lab and caused the explosion!” “No… it wasn’t me…” I feigned a “weak” protest. My voice was drowned out by the murmurs of the crowd. “Oh my God, how terrifying! I can’t believe she would do something like this!” “I knew it, she always seemed strange… turns out she’s really a lunatic!” “People like her should be locked away so they don’t hurt anyone else!” I looked around, and the people’s eyes were filled with disdain. This is human nature—clearly, nothing is confirmed, yet they can openly despise someone.

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I was the most untouchable daughter in the Moretti family. Then my brother Eli had me locked in the farm’s lower cellar under the name of “family correction.” I slept on concrete for three solid months. Every day I fought rats for whatever scraps they threw through the slot. If I resisted, the men would hold my head in a barrel of cold water, or press a cattle prod against my ribs. The only thing that kept me alive was the mute errand boy who brought my meals. He would slip me antibiotics in secret, sit quietly while I sobbed and begged him to get me out. He even promised to help me escape. I swore that when I got out, I would tell my brother: I’ve learned my lesson. I’m not the same anymore. Then one day I collapsed on the stone floor with a fever so high my heart gave out. I was convulsing in the dark when I watched the mute man pull off his hood and peel away the fake scar beneath it. The face underneath was Sebastian’s. My fiancé. “This is what you get for slipping something into Zara’s drink. Even if it was just a laxative.” “Consider three months in a cellar a fair trade for the scare you gave her.” “Kill the feed, Marco. Zara says watching me work this hard is breaking her heart.” I watched Sebastian take Zara’s hand and walk toward the stairs. My heart stopped. I drifted upward, floating above the stone floor, looking down at my own body. Covered in filth. Dirt packed under every fingernail. “Cut.” Marco’s voice cracked with satisfaction. “Perfect — absolutely perfect. That dying look in her eyes is incredible!” “Get me a close-up. The Don will want to see this.” Every camera in the cellar swung toward my face at once. A pair of polished oxfords appeared beside my head. Sebastian. He pressed a handkerchief over his nose and looked down at me with contempt. “Okay. Stop performing. Marco already called it — why are you still on the ground?” “Getting too deep into it?” My body rocked slightly as he nudged it with his foot. No response. “Ava Moretti.” Sebastian frowned. “Are you seriously holding your breath this long just to milk the sympathy angle?” “Three months in a cellar really did expand your lung capacity.” I floated above him, screaming into the nothing. “I’m not performing! Sebastian — I’m actually dead! Look at me!” “Don’t be too hard on her, Sebastian.” A black umbrella opened over his head. Zara Cole stepped around the drain and took his arm. “She really was trying her best this time to make it up to me.” “Look at the state of her. So grimy — someone who didn’t know better would think she actually lived down here.” She said it lightly, her eyes skimming over my body on the ground. A slow clap started somewhere nearby. My brother — Eli Moretti, heir to the family, the man every underboss in the city answered to — stepped out from behind the monitor. He looked down at my corpse from above. “Not bad. Three months and she actually got better at this.” He turned to Marco. “Pull that footage and cut it into the reel. Title it: A Moretti Daughter’s Confession.” “That last moment — the best thing she’s ever put on camera.” “I almost believed her.” Looking at my brother, something tore open inside me. Eli. This isn’t an act. I’m in real pain. Real, actual… pain. I’m dying. “Eli,” Marco asked quietly, “do we… wake the Miss now?” “Don’t let her track that filth into my car. It’s disgusting.” Eli barely glanced at me. “It’ll make Zara sick — she’s been under the weather.” “Then…” “Wrap her in a tarp and put her in the trunk.” “Since she’s so committed to playing dead, she can stay in character the whole ride home.” “Saves me from listening to whatever speech she had planned.” The men scrambled to obey. I watched two of them lift my stiff body and fold it into a plastic tarp. Sebastian was already fixing Zara’s rain-damp hair. He didn’t glance at me once. The trunk slammed shut. The engine turned over. My head hit the spare tire with a dull thud. I floated beside myself in the dark, and felt something almost like the urge to laugh. I remembered being eighteen — I bumped my head on a car door once, left a small red mark. Eli saw it and didn’t say a single word before he picked up a tire iron and destroyed the car. “Anything that hurts my little sister,” he’d said, “doesn’t deserve to exist.” And now my corpse was rattling around in the trunk of his car. Was that all an act too, Eli? Or is it simply that the moment Zara Cole walked into our lives, your own sister stopped being worth keeping? Zara turned from the front passenger seat and glanced toward the trunk. “Eli, do you think Ava will be upset with us for putting her back there when she wakes up?” Eli watched the road, the trunk’s direction a flicker in his rearview mirror. He let out a short, cold breath. “She doesn’t get to be upset. I have plenty of ways to keep her quiet once we’re home.” “The family sit-down is already set for tomorrow.” “If she dares cause a scene, I’ll ship her back to that cellar for another three months.” From the back seat, Sebastian added without looking up: “She’d better behave.” “Zara spent three days in the hospital over what Ava put in her drink.” “Three months is the bare minimum.” I drifted along the ceiling of the car, watching the three of them. I never put anything in Zara’s drink. Zara stole my heart medication and took it herself, then turned around and told everyone I tried to poison her. No one believed me. And now I can’t explain it to anyone, ever again. The car bounced along the mountain road, my body knocking against the trunk walls the whole way. When the car finally rolled through the gates of the Moretti estate, Eli popped the trunk and dragged the tarp out himself, one of the housemen taking the other end. One step. Two. Three. My head hit every stone step on the way up. The sound echoed sharp and hollow in the rain. My soul flinched. I reached out instinctively to shield my own skull — and my hands passed through the air. “Heavy,” Eli muttered, disgusted. “If she’s going to play dead, the least she could do is lose some weight.” He dragged the tarp into the main hall and let it drop onto the marble floor. The wrap tore open. My face, caked in filth, lips turning purple, eyes sealed shut, was exposed to the light. Eli stood over me and nudged my leg with his foot. “We’re home. Drop the act. Go clean up and don’t get the floors dirty.” I want to, Eli. I really do. But I can’t. Zara curled closer to Sebastian and murmured: “Did Ava actually pass out? Her color looks… wrong.” “That’s the cold.” Sebastian cut her off. “She was down there three months. Her circulation is shot.” “She fakes this all the time to get out of things.” “The doctor said her health is fine — she can handle it.” Eli’s patience ran out. He crossed the room, turned the thermostat down to its lowest setting, and walked away. “Fine. She wants to lie there — let her lie there.” “Nobody touches her or gives her a blanket tonight. We’ll see how long this lasts.” The three of them went upstairs. Only the cold air remained, moving slowly over my body on the floor. I floated above myself — above that small, alone shape on the marble — and I wanted to cry. But ghosts don’t have tears.

I kept watch through the night. By morning, the bruising had crept all the way up my neck and down both arms. The Moretti household staff arrived early. Today was the family sit-down Eli had organized — every capo, every underboss, every allied don in the region had been summoned to witness what he was calling a “public correction.” I was supposed to stand before them all and apologize. The woman they sent to prepare me reached for my hand, then recoiled. “She’s — cold. Mr. Moretti, her temperature is…” Eli was selecting a tie. He glanced over. “She spent three months underground. Cold hands are expected.” “She probably trained herself to stay still to sell the suffering angle.” “Just put some color on her face. She looks appalling.” “And those purple patches on her neck—” Sebastian came down the stairs. “Bruising from the cellar. Cover it. Today’s theme is reconciliation — we’re not showing up looking like we ran a torture operation.” The woman said nothing more and pressed concealer into my skin with hands that had not stopped trembling. Floating at a distance, I found it almost funny. Concealer could cover the discoloration. Nothing could cover the smell of death. “Get that jacket off her. She reeks.” Zara came downstairs and pointed at a white dress hanging on the rack. “Put her in that.” It was something Zara had worn once and discarded. The size was wrong. Too small. Two housewomen tried to dress me. That’s when the problem became clear. Rigor mortis. My limbs had locked rigid. They couldn’t bend my arms. One of them tried several times and said, “Mr. Moretti, she’s not cooperating.” “Her arms won’t move. She’s fighting us.” Eli’s expression darkened. He set his coffee cup down hard. “Ava Moretti. How much longer are you going to drag this out?” “If you won’t put the dress on, you can walk in there as you are.” My body, naturally, gave no answer. Sebastian crossed the room in four steps. “If you want to play stubborn, fine.” He grabbed my left arm and wrenched it outward. The sound of bone fracturing carried across the entire hall. My soul lurched upward. I screamed — then remembered there was nothing left to feel pain. “There. Strong grip for someone supposedly incapacitated.” Sebastian let go. My arm dropped at a wrong angle, bent where arms should not bend. “Stop the dramatics and get dressed.” He assumed it was defiance. That was all. The housewomen, hands shaking, worked the white dress onto my body. The broken arm required a long glove to hide the shape of it. They folded both hands over my lap and arranged them as best they could. I was dressed, positioned, and styled without a single word of protest from me. Foundation erased the purple of my lips. Concealer buried the bruising on my neck. A high collar covered the marks where the restraints had been locked around my throat in the cellar. Eli walked a slow circle around the wheelchair and nodded. “That’s more like it.” “Three months actually did something. That attitude is gone.” “When she’s quiet, she looks just like she used to.” He reached out and patted my face — cold, stiff, unyielding. “When we get to the venue — if you embarrass this family, or say a single word out of turn, I will make sure you spend the rest of your life wishing you’d stayed in that cellar.” Don’t worry, Eli. In this chair is where I’ll stay. And I will never speak again. “Let’s go. Don’t keep the families waiting.” A houseman wheeled me out through the front door. The sun was sharp. But I couldn’t feel its warmth. The hall where the sit-down was being held was already packed — capos, underbosses, allied heads, all of them in good suits with bad histories. Zara had changed into a fitted black dress; her makeup artist had given her the practiced look of a fragile, grievously wronged woman. While Eli and Sebastian worked the room, Zara drifted over to my wheelchair and crouched beside me. “Ava. You’re so quiet today. I love it.” She pressed her thumb into my side hard and twisted. “You always used to call me a pretty face with no spine. Nothing to say now?” “Tired? Or just out of ideas?” “Don’t worry. There are a few more surprises waiting for you up at that table.” I didn’t respond. Zara tilted her head. “You really can hold a grudge. But then you’re about to lose the engagement anyway. Might as well go quietly.” Lose the engagement? I looked over at Sebastian sharply. He was standing under the chandeliers, leaning toward Eli, murmuring something low. I drifted close enough to hear. “Today’s the right moment. In front of every head in the room. The whole commission watching.” “I’m cutting this loose permanently.” Eli was quiet for a beat. He looked toward my corner of the room. “She brought it on herself. No one else to blame.” In that moment, my soul felt it again — the same gutting pain. So even the last thing I had left — my name, my place in this family, the engagement you chose for me — means nothing. I don’t even get the dignity of being considered a person worth keeping.

“Three — two — one.” The lights blazed on. They wheeled me onto the stage. The restraints kept me upright in the chair, spine straight. Every head in the room turned. The capos. The underbosses. The allied heads who had known me since I was a child sitting under my father’s table playing with his cufflinks. A murmur moved through the room. 【Is that the Moretti girl? Why is she just sitting there like a mannequin?】 【Three months in a cellar broke her.】 【Good. Heard she tried to poison the woman Eli brought under family protection.】 The whispers reached me, word for word. Eli lifted his hand for silence. His expression was perfectly calibrated, a man doing something painful because it was necessary. “Gentlemen. Thank you for coming.” “The only reason we are here today is to confess in the open. No closed doors. No whispers.” He gestured to me. “My younger sister, Ava Moretti, acted out of jealousy and recklessness, causing serious harm to a innocent woman, Zara Cole.” “After three months of correction, she has confronted the consequences of her actions.” “She asked to come here today, in front of every head at this table, to apologize in person.” Murmurs moved around the room. 【Eli Moretti handling his own blood in the open — that’s a don who means what he says.】 【She poisoned a civilian. Three months is light.】 【Make her apologize on her knees.】 Eli turned his back to the room and moved to stand in front of me, blocking half the frame. “Stop this. Talk. Tell them what you did wrong.” I had nothing to give him. He pinched the soft skin under my arm, hard. My body shifted with the pressure, my head dropping lower. Nothing more. Zara stepped in, playing the peacemaker flawlessly. “Eli, don’t. She’s clearly overwhelmed with remorse.” “It’s fine. I forgive her.” She picked up a glass of red wine and pressed it into my broken arm’s hand. “Drink with me, Ava. We move forward together.” The glass tilted. Wine ran down the front of the white dress. My body didn’t react. Zara turned to the room with wounded eyes. “She still can’t look at me. I suppose she hasn’t forgiven herself yet.” 【Zara Cole is a saint. Ava doesn’t deserve it.】 【Someone drag her out of that chair.】 The old capo near the back was no longer murmuring. He was watching my hand. The way it had fallen. The angle of it. He had seen enough bodies in his life to know what a hand looked like when no one was home inside it. Sebastian took the floor and walked to center stage. He stood over my wheelchair and looked down at me. “Since Ava Moretti insists on silence, I have nothing more to protect.” He reached into his jacket and withdrew a small velvet box. What was left of my soul surged with a single reflex of hope. Our ring? He opened the box. Inside was something new — a pink diamond, gleaming, unfamiliar. Sebastian turned away from me. In front of my corpse, in front of every head of every family in the city, he lowered himself onto one knee before Zara Cole. The room went very still. “Zara Cole.” “For three years, you’ve been the constant I held onto.” “Your honesty, your loyalty — you are everything I ever wanted beside me.” He rose. He turned back toward me, and his voice went cold. “I, Sebastian Vane, formally dissolve my engagement to Ava Moretti.” “A woman this cowardly, this incapable of remorse, has no place in my family or in this world.” Every word landed somewhere in the place my soul used to live. He proposed to another woman in front of my corpse. He ground my name into the floor of my own family’s hall and pressed his heel into it. “Sebastian—” Zara’s voice broke beautifully. “I—” Sebastian reached into his other pocket and produced the plain silver band I had given him three years ago. He tossed it sideways without looking. It hit the rim of a waste bin at the edge of the room with a sharp metallic ring and dropped inside. “From today, Zara is the only woman I stand beside.” He slipped the pink diamond onto her finger. She leaned up and kissed him. The room erupted — applause from some, silence from others. In every eye that turned toward me, the background was the same: a girl in a white dress, slumped in a wheelchair, wine-stained, motionless, head bowed. Three years ago, Sebastian had knelt in the snow outside my apartment for three days and three nights to ask me to marry him. His lips had gone pale from the cold. He had gripped my hands and sworn: “Ava, this ring is my life. The moment you accept it, my life belongs to you.” Your life was cheap, Sebastian. Cheaper than I knew. The moment Zara appeared, every last scrap of patience and love you had ever given me transferred to her. I didn’t change. You just stopped looking at me. The ring in the waste bin. That’s where we ended up — you and me and every promise we ever made. Rotting in the same place.

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Three years into my marriage, I walked into a Swiss immigration office for my residence permit. The officer told me I wasn’t his wife. After we got married, Alistair got recruited by ETH Zurich with a three-hundred-thousand-franc package. I gave up everything to move from the States to Switzerland with him. Three years later, I still didn’t have so much as a residence permit. But his research assistant, the one who came over with us, already had her B permit through his sponsorship. I was furious. I started packing right then and there. Alistair never lost his cool. That day was the first time I saw his eyes go red. He took my hands and begged me to stay. “You have me. I’m not going anywhere. Don’t rush this, okay? The permit process is all standard procedure, but my position is sensitive right now. I have to be careful about how things look.” “As for Sienna, she uprooted her whole life to come work for me here. Helping her get settled first is the least I can do as her employer.” My heart softened. I put the suitcase down. Until the day I decided to handle things myself. I’d been teaching myself German on the side, slowly, so he wouldn’t have to deal with the paperwork on top of everything else. I walked into the office and handed over our marriage certificate. The clerk looked at her screen, then back at me. “Ma’am, our records don’t show you as Professor Vance’s spouse. You may want to check with your husband.” I couldn’t move. I was never his wife. Not in any way that counted. So there was no spousal permit. No family reunification. None of it was real. I packed everything without a word and booked the next flight home. Some goodbyes were never meant to be said out loud. … I got back to the apartment and punched in the code three times. Three times the lock flashed red. That knocked me out of the fog I’d been in since the clerk’s office. I double-checked. Right apartment. But the lock wasn’t the same one Alistair and I had set up when we first moved in. I called him. “What’s up?” He picked up right away. “Why was the lock changed?” It was fine when I left this morning. Two seconds of silence. “Oh, Sienna’s lock broke today. She likes the same model as ours and didn’t want to wait for a replacement, so I just swapped ours over to her place. The new one’s already in, I just haven’t set up your code yet.” “Get a hotel tonight. I’m pulling a late one, not coming home.” Sienna’s lock broke. So he gave her ours. And I was supposed to find a hotel. I thought I’d misheard him. I opened my mouth. Nothing came out but “Okay.” What was I supposed to say? This was our home and Sienna’s code was already in the system. She had her own room here. Alistair had set it up for her when she first got to Zurich. She was used to our lock. Of course she was. I hung up. I found a hotel down the block. A hundred and twenty francs a night. My card barely went through. When we first moved to Zurich, Alistair had put me on his bank card. No spending limit. Then Sienna started handling all his purchases. Clothes, watches, even the thermos on his desk. Everything went through her. Little by little, the card migrated to her wallet. Alistair started wiring me three thousand francs a month instead. He said she was better at it. Better eye, better taste. She said she was simply doing her job. I let it go. Until our third anniversary. Just the two of us, dinner at home, candles lit. The mood was right. Then the doorbell rang. Alistair got up to answer. Sienna was standing in the hallway, slightly breathless, holding out a box of condoms. “Professor Vance, big night tonight. I grabbed these for you.” She glanced my way and smiled like it was the most natural thing in the world. “You always say this brand is your favorite. Tell me I’m not the best assistant you’ve ever had.” He took the box with an awkward grunt. She waved and left. Door closed. He walked back to the table and tossed the box down next to the wine. I stared at it. I never knew which brand he liked. We’d been trying for a baby. We never used them. That dinner felt like sitting through a trial. He finished eating, said something came up at the department, and grabbed his coat. The door closed and it finally landed. An assistant’s job can be that thorough. That night I dreamed about our first year in Zurich. Me walking out of the airport dragging two oversized suitcases. Alistair waiting right there at arrivals. He was still the man who teared up because I’d thrown away my whole career to be with him. Still the man who took my bags without asking and pulled me close when I could barely stand. Then Sienna showed up. He said she’d left everything behind for his work. The least he could do was help. So he got her a residence permit. Got her a job at the university. And eventually got her the lock off my front door. Next morning, I went to book a flight home. Standing at the crosswalk, waiting for the light, my phone buzzed. A friend from back home.

“Clara, that thing you asked me to look into…” She hesitated. “I called in a favor, but all I could access was the registration info. Privacy laws are strict. Couldn’t get the full file.” “It’s fine,” I said. “Whatever you found.” Two seconds of silence. “The woman registered as Alistair’s legal spouse… it’s Sienna. Sienna Reed.” I held the phone. Said nothing. “Are you okay?” “I’m great,” I said. “Thanks.” I hung up. The light turned green. The crowd moved. Bodies brushed past me on both sides, one wave after another, and I just stood there. Rooted to the concrete like something left behind at the curb. Across the street, sunlight hit the glass of a high-rise and bounced back so bright it burned. Sienna. Sienna Vance. His real family had been right next to him this whole time. I stood on the sidewalk and laughed. For three years I’d been killing myself trying to prove I was worth something, refusing to settle for housewife. And the whole time, I’d missed what was right in front of me. Like how every weekend he said the department needed him. Gone the whole day. When I asked what it was about, it was always the same: “You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.” Like the time he forgot a file and I dropped it off at his campus office. Two toothbrushes sitting on the bathroom counter. One blue, one pink. I never let myself think about it. … I pulled myself back and kept walking. Two blocks, three turns, and I was at the airline counter. Standing in line, I thought of the queue at Zurich Airport three years ago. Just as long. But back then I was about to see the man I loved. I was so stupidly happy I didn’t feel tired at all. When Alistair spotted me at arrivals, he picked me up and spun me around. Then a girl waved at him from behind me. “Professor Vance! What a coincidence, Clara and I were on the same flight!” Sienna. Alistair smiled and took her suitcase. He turned to me like it had just slipped his mind. “Oh, I forgot to mention. Sienna’s coming on as my research assistant. She came all this way on her own. That takes guts.” Sienna gave me a sweet smile. “Clara, I hope we’ll get along.” My smile stiffened for half a second. I nodded. On the ride home, I watched them talk. When she spoke, he tilted his head to listen. When she pointed at the lake, he looked where she pointed. The attention that used to be mine alone was quietly being split in two. It stung a little. But I was happy for him, too. Good assistants are hard to find. Having someone he trusted would make his work at ETH go smoother. Those first months in Zurich, I tried to find work. Everything was in German. My field was too niche, and without the language, I didn’t stand a chance. Hundreds of resumes sent. Either silence, or a one-line rejection. I’d been top of my class my whole life. Everything had come easy. I’d never once been told no. Every night I lay awake turning the same thought over and over. Was I just not good enough? Eventually I swallowed my pride and went to Alistair. After dinner one night, I sat down next to him. Stumbled through it. “Could you maybe… ask around at ETH for me?” “There’s a spousal placement in the recruitment package, right? I was thinking, if something could be arranged…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. I had never in my life asked anyone to pull strings for me. It was a standard benefit, something the university offered as part of his hire. But saying it out loud made my face burn. Like I was begging for something I didn’t deserve. “Sure,” he said, not looking up from his papers. “I’ll ask around.” Something in me unclenched. That was three months ago. When I brought it up again, he said he’d been swamped. He’d get to it. But by then Sienna had already been working at ETH for a while. Administrative role, weekends off, solid pay. Alistair said she got in through the normal hiring process. I believed him. Looking back, her qualifications didn’t come close to mine. No German. No French. Could barely order coffee without pointing at the menu. So why did hundreds of my applications go nowhere while she walked right in? The answer had been sitting in front of me the whole time. I just refused to look at it.

The line moved forward a step. My turn. Over three years, I’d gone from sounding out street signs to filling in government forms. Free apps, secondhand textbooks from the Brockenhaus, and every spare hour I had. For three years Alistair had handled every piece of paperwork, every phone call, every official letter. I’d trusted him with all of it. Not anymore. This time, I would go myself. I handed over my passport. The woman behind the counter typed a few keystrokes and frowned. “Es tut mir leid, mit diesem Dokument kann ich kein Ticket ausstellen.” I understood every word now. I’m sorry, I cannot issue a ticket with this document. “Why not?” She switched to English, slowly. “Your residence status shows as irregular. You have overstayed your permitted period.” I blinked. “Overstayed?” “Your last permit extension was never approved.” She looked at me. “There is no valid authorization on file.” I stood at the counter. Said nothing. Three years. I’d been in this country for three years and I didn’t even have valid papers? “So what do I do?” “You will need to contact the cantonal migration office. Pay the penalties, get your status cleared, and then you can travel.” She slid my passport back. “Nächster, bitte.” I stepped aside. The person behind me pressed forward and the counter disappeared behind them. I stood there, staring at the passport in my hands. I wasn’t even here legally. Then what were the last three years? Outside the terminal, I called my immigration consultant. “Linda, I need to ask you something. My permit extension keeps getting denied and now I’m looking at a huge fine. What’s going on with my case?” Linda Wyss was as upbeat as ever. “Mrs. Vance, that doesn’t make any sense. Your husband is a professor at ETH. Family reunification through his B permit should be completely straightforward. Did he file the sponsorship documents?” “He did.” “Then there shouldn’t be an issue…” She paused. “Hang on, let me pull up your file.” Silence on the other end. When she came back, her voice was lower. “Mrs. Vance, let me ask you something. When your husband filed for your permit, did he go through the spousal reunification route?” I held the phone. Didn’t answer. “What I’m seeing in the system…” She chose her words carefully. “The spousal dependent slot linked to your husband’s B permit was approved for a woman named Reed.” “He did submit something on your behalf, but not through the spouse category. It was filed under a different channel.” “That channel was discontinued about a year ago. That’s why your extensions have been stuck ever since.” I paused. “Got it. Thank you, Linda.” I hung up. Stood there, remembering. Three years ago, right after we arrived in Zurich, Alistair said he’d handle all the immigration paperwork. He took my documents and I handed them over without a second thought. Later he told me everything was taken care of. I never followed up. Turns out what I thought was following the man I loved to a new life was actually becoming an illegal overstayer. I stood on the sidewalk for a long time. I went to every office I could find. Tried every option. In the end there was only one way out. Alistair, as my original sponsor, had to submit a sworn statement to the cantonal migration office. Confirming that he had failed to notify me of changes in my permit status, and that my overstay was not willful. Then I could pay the fines, apply for a short-term visa, and leave the country legally. Simple. All he had to do was sign. But how was I supposed to ask him? Walk up and say, “Since you gave the spousal slot to someone else, could you at least sign a piece of paper so I can leave?” And if I did, wouldn’t the bill for the last three years come due with it?

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