1 dragged Ophelia’s attending physician down to the basement of my medical practice. After three hours of intensive questioning, the truth finally
spilled out of him
Ophelia had never attempted suicide. The whole thing–the coma, the life support, the desperate family vigil–it was all an elaborate fucking lie. A. performance orchestrated by her and the Duskrend parents to keep me away from Kaela
But that wasn’t the worst
pari.
The worst part was learning that Ophelia hadn’t saved my life when we were children, Kaela had.
She’d been the one to pull me from the lake, barely back from those mountain villages and still adjusting to pack life. She’d performed CPR on my unconscious body, then run for help when I wouldn’t wake up.[]
But because she was the “damaged daughter, the ane everyone whispered about, no one believed her frantic claims that there was a drowning hoy by the water. By the time she found adults willing to listen. I was already conscious and asking who’d saved me.
“The eldest Duskrend daughter.” they’d all said. And since the family hadn’t hold a formal recognition ceremony for Kaela yet. I’d assumed they meant Ophelia
I stared at the surveillance footage and medical records spread across my desk, feeling like the world’s biggest fool
The woman I’d loved, the woman who’d saved my life, had been right there beside me for three years. And I’d been too blind, too fucking stupid. to see
rong sister, eve
Every memory felt different now. Every moment I’d punished Kaela for Ophelia’s lies, every time I’d chosen the wrong believing in a fantasy while destroying the only real thing in my life.
My chest felt like it was caving in. I couldn’t breathe properly, couldn’t think past the crushing weight of what I’d done.
every second I’d wasted
The Duskrend family had known. They’d all known Ophelia was faking, and they’d still let me slowly kill their real daughter with that cursed bracelet. They d watched me torture an innocent woman and done nothing to stop it
I grabbed my phone and called my heta assistant.]
“Cur all financial support to the Duskrend pack immediately,” I ordered, my voice deadly calm. “Terminate every contract, cancel every loan, call in every y debt. I want them bankrupt within the hour.”
It wouldn’t bring Kaela back, but at least those bastards would pay for what they’d done to her.
Twenty minutes later, I was standing outside the Grimweald compound, arguing with security guards who wouldn’t let me past the gates. I was about to leave when I saw their car a
approaching.
This was my chance. Maybe may unly cluance.]
I stepped directly into their path, forcing the driver to stop. Through the windshield, I could see Kaela’s beautiful face, but her expression was colder than I’d ever seenat
“Karla, please,” I called out, my vote cracking with desperation. “I know the truth now. About Ophelia about your tanuly, about everything. Ever all funding to the Duskrend pack–they’ll be financially ruined within hours I know you hate them for what they did, and now they’re paying for it Doesn’t that mean anything? Can’t we start over?]
She looked at me arough the window, and for a moment I thought I saw something flicker in her eyes. But when she spoke, her voice was ice–cold “Whether you destroy the buskrend pack or not has nothing to do with me, Suren. You’re not doing it for me–you’re doing it because you hate being played for a fool. Stop lying to yourself about your motivation.”
The words his like physical blows, but I couldn’t give up. Not now
“Grimweald,” I said, turning my attention to the hybrid behind the wheel Tll give you the northern district development rights. Three billion in projected revenue over five years. Plus thirty percent of all future Blackvein Grunwald joint ventures. Just let her go.”
The offer hung in the air between us. It was everything–territory, money, power. The kind of deal that could transform a pack’s status permanently.]]
Kaela looked at Nikolai with something like
like uncertainty, and my heart lurched. Maybe money would talk where emotion hadn’t. Maybe- Nikolai’s laugh cut through my desperate hopes like a blade []
“Thirty percent?” he said, voice dripping with amusement. “That’s interesting, considering you were willing to spend fifty percent of your family’s entire fortune on a wolf bone bracelet to wake up a woman who was already conscious,”
The reminder hit me like a sledgehammer. He was right–I’d hankaupted myself trying to save Ophelia, but I was only offering a fraction of that to get Karla back
“Save your money for Ophelia’s legal defense fund” Nikolai continued. “She’s going to need it:[
That’s when Kaela leaned over and kissed his cheek, right there in front of me. The gesture was casual, affectionate, and it destroyed me more thoroughly than any torture could have
e loved him. Really loved him. Not the desperate, needy love she’d felt for me, but something genuine and mutual and beautiful
She
The car started moving again, and I found myself shouting at their taillights like a madman
гаг
won’t give up, Kaelat I’ll court you properly this time! I’ll I make you love me again!“]
But even as the words left my mouth, I knew how pathetic they sounded
The truth was, she’d never really loved me–she’d loved the idea of me. The fantasy of being chosen by someone she thought was worthy.[]
And I’d never really loved her either. I’d loved having someone worship me unconditionally.
Now she was with someone who actually saw her worth, who’d spent years planning how to protect and cherish her, Someone who’d loved her when she was nobody special, just a scared little girl in the mountains.
I stood there in the empty road long after their car disappeared, finally understanding what I’d lost
And knowing it was too late to ever get it back
