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Chapter 22
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Olivia’s POV
The ballroom erupted with applause, clinking glasses, and well-wishes. Smiles stretched across every face-except
mine.
I stood at the entrance, watching the celebration unfold like a grand lie draped in velvet and glitter. The chandeliers above cast a sharp shimmer across the marble floor, and every spotlight seemed fixed on Ethan and Chole. My dress -a deep red tulle that trailed behind like spilled wine-swished with each slow, deliberate step I took forward.
The room noticed.
Whispers spread like wildfire.
“Isn’t that…?”
“Olivia? Ethan’s ex?”
“Oh God, she came. She really came.”
Some murmured that I was here to cause a scene. Others whispered that I was the one wronged. A few brave ones said aloud,” She was just dating an alpha. Not her fault he traded her out.”
I kept walking. My heels didn’t falter. My face remained neutral, my makeup sculpted into cool, ruthless elegance. I wasn’t here to scream.
Chole turned pale. Her fingers trembled on Ethan’s arm. Amelia’s poised expression cracked for the first time, just slightly. And Ethan-Ethan looked like someone had punched the air out of him. His feet shifted instinctively toward me, but Chole tugged his sleeve like a drowning girl grasping at driftwood.
“We’re engaged” Chole’s voice cracked across the ballroom. “We’re getting married! You should just let it go, Olivia.”
I stopped.
“Shut up,” Ethan muttered under his breath, yanking his arm away from her. “Not now.”
Chole’s lip trembled as if she were about to cry. I had seen that performance before. It wasn’t special anymore.
As Ethan tried to come closer again, a voice sliced through the tension.
“You’re going to embarrass Chole in front of everyone forher?” It was Felix Windsor, Chole’s brother, stepping for- ward like a guard dog.
Ethan’s jaw flexed. “Move, Felix.”
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Felix didn’t.
But I didn’t need Ethan to clear the way. I was already standing in the center of the ballroom now, the silence growing heavy with each step I’d taken. Eyes from every elite pack in the region were on me.
Amelia’s voice rang out, brittle and commanding. “What do you want, Olivia? You’ve made your entrance. You can
leave now.”
Ethan finally broke free from Felix and stood beside me. His face was stone. “Olivia, this isn’t the place. Don’t do this here. Let’s go home. We’ll talk.”
I tilted my head slightly, my voice velvet-wrapped in mockery. “Home?” I echoed slowly. “Is that where you keep your mistresses now?”
Gasps. Someone dropped a glass.
Ethan’s face contorted. “Olivia-”
Chole stepped forward, rage coloring her cheeks. “I am not amistress. I’m his fiancée! I’m not someone hiding in the shadows-youare!”
“You’re his fiancée?” I raised a brow. “Since when?”
Before Chole could respond, Ethan growled at her, “That’s enough!”
Amelia placed a firm hand on Chole’s shoulder. “Don’t waste your breath on someone like her,” she said with a false- ly gentle smile. “It’s beneath you.”
“You are right,” I said coolly. “But let Chole talk. She’s finally getting her moment.”
Amelia’s eyes sharpened. “You say one more word of nonsense, Olivia, and you won’t see a dime.”
Ethan’s head snapped toward her. “What are you talking about?”
For a moment, everything paused.
The Windsor Pack’s elders looked insulted. Chole’s mother exchanged a frown with Felix. Murmurs started again.
“She was paid?”
“So shewasthe mistress?”
“She’s arrogant for someone who’s getting paid to leave… ”
I felt Yve stir in me, growling softly.
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Felix had enough. He stepped forward, his tone no longer polite. “You’ve made your point. You’ve had your show. Leave peacefully now… or we will have to use force.”
I looked at Felix with a calm smile, as if his little threat had amused me.
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Chapter с
“And who the hell are you,” I asked, tilting my head, “to demand that I leave? I’m the Lunaof the Hawthrone Pack. The only one who should be leaving is themistresspretending to be me.”
Gasps broke out in the crowd.
Chole blinked like she hadn’t heard me right. “You’re crazy,” she snapped, her voice cracking. “You’re out of your goddamn mind-”
I pulled the folded marriage license from my wallet and flicked it open with two fingers. I stepped forward and held it up right in front of her nose.
“Am I?” I said, cool and sharp. “Is it enough for you to bow down before me?”
Chole’s words died on her tongue. She stared at the paper like it had slapped her across the face.
Silence spread like fire.
The guests saw it. The seal. The date. The signatures. Ethan Hawthrone and Olivia Whitmore.
I turned slightly, my voice rising just enough to address the room.
“Now you all understand,” I said. “This man-” I gestured toward Ethan, who stood frozen in place “-is married. And she-” I pointed directly at Chole “-isn’t his fiancée. She’s the other woman.”
Murmurs turned into scowls. The Windsor elders looked like they wanted to disappear into the floor. Amelia’s lips pressed into a hard line, her facade slipping inch by inch. Even Chole’s mother looked like she was beginning to pan- ic.
Ethan covered his eyes briefly with his hand, as if hoping the scene would vanish if he just stopped seeing it.
I walked calmly to the nearest tray and picked up a glass of red wine. I carried it over to Ethan, each step slow and de- liberate. When I stood in front of him, I stared into his eyes.
In that moment, I didn’t feel rage. I felt a bitter, hollow ache. Memories of us as teenagers. Our first apartment. Our wedding vows in front of no one but the Moon Goddess and a state registrar. And now… this.
I raised the glass.
And threw the wine straight over his head.
A collective gasp exploded in the room.
Ethan’s jaw tightened. He grabbed my wrist with force, too hard. His hand crushed the crimson ribbon tied over my wound. Pain lanced up my arm. He leaned in, furious. “Did you really have to make it into a circus?”
I didn’t flinch. “Let’s get a divorce,” I whispered.
He tried to hold on, but I twisted out of his grip. The motion ripped through my tender wrist, and blood began to soak the fabric. I hurled the empty wine glass at the floor near his feet. It shattered, glass flying.
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He looked down-at the blood smeared across his palm.
He followed it to my wrist.
His eyes widened. “Olivia…”
A hush fell over the ballroom.
Before anyone could react, Chole shrieked and lunged at me with claws out. I didn’t have time to move.
She shoved me to the ground.
“You filthyslut!” she screamed, her face twisted with hatred. “You think you can stand here and play innocent? You were gang raped by rogues last night! You should be dead!”
