Chapter 3
Clarisse turned to leave, but her stepmother Margot stepped in with fake concern and tried to stop her. “Clarisse, how can you talk to your father like that?”
Clarisse came to a sudden halt.
She slowly turned around, years of pent–up hatred swirling in her eyes. “What’s wrong? Afraid that once I form a bond with the Alpha and leave this castle, you’ll finally get to play Luna for real?”
She stepped closer with every word. “Listen carefully, Margot. Even if my mother is gone, it doesn’t change the fact that you’re nothing but a notorious homewrecker. And that precious daughter of yours? Even if she becomes the lady of the Eboncrest Pack, it’ll never erase the stain of being born to a mistress.”
Margot’s face went pale in an instant, and she staggered back a few steps.
Clarisse spun around and walked away, every step sharp and cutting like a blade.
It wasn’t until she returned to her room and closed the door behind her that she finally collapsed, sliding down to the floor like her strength had been drained completely. She buried her face deep into her knees.
The next morning, the sound of movement and laughter downstairs jolted her awake.
“What’s going on?” she demanded, flinging the door open. “Do any of you even care that I’m sleeping around here?”
The butler stammered, “M–Miss Clarisse… Miss Grace just moved in…”
Before he could finish, a familiar figure appeared at the top of the stairs.
Grace stood there in a flowing white dress, looking delicate and fragile.
Clarisse’s blood turned to ice instantly.
She never imagined that the stepmother’s daughter, the one who had spent all those years “recuperating” in Moonrest Hollow, would turn out to be Leopold’s first love.
It was as if fate had decided to play the cruelest joke imaginable on her.
In the next second, Grace walked over with a sweet, apologetic smile. “Clarisse, I’m so sorry to awake you…”
Before she could finish, Clarisse slammed the door in her face with a loud bang.
“Clarisse! Where are your manners?!” Alpha Vexley roared from outside. “Rack up your room and move out! Grace likes it, so it’s hers now!”
Clarisse let out a cold laugh and swung open her wardrobe to start packing.
Fragments of conversation drifted in from outside.
“Uncle Vexley, is Clarisse mad at me?” Grace’s voice was saccharine and fake.
“Don’t worry about her. She’s been spoiled rotten since she was a child.”
“But it seems she doesn’t like me…‘
“You’ll be fine. She’s going to bond with the Alpha of the Noctelle Pack soon. After that, this house will be yours and your mother’s.” Clarisse’s hand paused for a moment, then a colder, sharper sneer curled her lips.
She swiftly booked a flight for the end of the month to Silverden, the city where the Noctelle Pack was based, and went on gathering her things.
Half an hour later, she dragged her suitcase out of the room.
bo
Downstairs in the living room, Alpha Vexley, Margot, and Grace were cozied up on the sofa watching TV. The coffee table was covered in Chapter 3
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fruit and pastries, like they were a picture–perfect happy family.
Clarisse didn’t spare them a single glance and just walked straight past them.
“Stop right there!” Alpha Vexley barked. “What’s the matter now? Don’t forget what you promised!”
“Relax. I’ll keep my word,” Clarisse said without turning back. “But I’m not staying here for the next two weeks. This place makes me sick.”
She went straight to the most luxurious hotel in the city and booked the presidential suite.
In the days that followed, Clarisse went on a shopping spree.
She bought the most extravagant wedding gown, attended auctions and spent fortunes on antique jewelry for her trousseau.
Even if she was bonding with a dying Alpha, she was determined to do it in grand style.
Her phone buzzed in her purse non–stop, but she didn’t check it until she’d bought the last diamond necklace on her list.
There were thirty–eight missed calls, and all from Alpha Vexley.
The moment she swiped to answer the call, Alpha Vexley’s furious voice exploded through the line.
“Have you lost your mind?! You’ve blown through two billion in a single day! Are you trying to bankrupt me?!”
“Why are you so nervous?” Clarisse let out a mocking laugh. “Once I bond with the that Alpha, you’ll have a hundred billion coming in.”
“But that money hasn’t arrived yet! If you keep spending like this, the company will go under tomorrow!”
Clarisse sneered.
His bankruptcy was exactly what she wanted.
She had already arranged for the payment of one hundred billion from the Noctelle Pack to be deposited directly into her personal account once she got there.
By then, she wanted to see if Grace and her mother as the mistress would still loyally follow an old man who had nothing left.
Only her mother had been foolish enough to stay by Alpha Vexley’s side while he built his empire from nothing, working herself sick, coughing up blood, ending up in the hospital, and finally being driven to leap from a rooftop.
Just thinking about her mother made Clarisse’s chest twist in sharp pain.
Her phone buzzed again.
It was a message from Leopold. It read,
“Why the tantrum again? Why didn’t you come see me today?”
Clarisse stared at the message for a long time.
For the past year, Leopold had used the excuse of “disciplining” her to keep her tethered to him. She had shown up on time in front of him nearly every day without fail.
But now she was bonding with another Alpha. What business did he still have “disciplining” her?
Chapter 3
