“She is not only the daughter of a mistress. She is the reason my mother is dead. And you expect me to apologize?” I shouted.
Sarah didn’t even speak. Evan’s eyes went cold as a winter storm.
“I warned you,” he said, voice sharp as steel dragged against ice. “Do not test me.”
Then he turned to his guards.
“Retrieve her mother’s body from the burial cavern. Drag it out.”
The words struck like poisoned blades.
“She will not learn until she is broken,” he said with a sneer. “Did you truly believe someone like you deserved to stand as Lady of the Stoneclaw Alpha line?”
He raised his chin in command.
“Feed the corpse to the wolves.”
He meant it.
His guards moved instantly, their boots thudding like a death march.
“No. No, please!” I lunged forward in blind panic, but another guard seized my arm. His grip was so strong I heard a sickening crack.
Pain tore through me, bright and blinding.
Tears clouded my vision. I sobbed until I could barely breathe.
“Evan, please. Don’t do this to my mother. She is already gone. Isn’t that enough?”
Sarah tilted her head, masking a smirk beneath feigned innocence.
“Evan… the dead deserve peace. Maybe we should spare her this time?” she whispered sweetly.
“You are too soft,” he replied with a sigh. “That softness is why she walks over you.”
Then he looked back at his guards.
“Well? Why are you standing there? Do I need to guide you to the cavern myself?” His voice cracked like shattered glass.
With each word, the last pieces of the love I’d held for a decade fell apart.
He knew. He knew my mother was my only weakness. And he crushed it without hesitation.
I broke.
My spine bent. My knees hit the ground. My pride spilled at Sarah’s feet like blood.
“Please,” I whispered, tears falling so hard I could barely speak. “Please leave my mother. Let her rest. I was wrong.”
Wrong for believing in fairness.
Wrong for hoping he might choose me over her.
Wrong for loving him at all.
As I bowed, the blood-soaked back of my collar spilled into view.
Evan’s gaze flickered. For a moment, he looked almost stunned.
“Is this enough for you?” I straightened slowly, digging up the last fragments of strength, staring at him with disgust I could barely contain.
His jaw tightened. He signaled to his advisor.
“Bring the pact.”
Only after I pressed my bloody fingerprint onto the scroll did his expression finally ease.
“You are bleeding,” he said quietly. “I will summon a healer.”
Releasing Sarah, he stepped toward me.
I slapped his hand away.
“Save it. Go tend to your precious girl instead. If you wait too long, her fake bruises might fade.”
I turned to leave, but Sarah slid her foot in front of me.
I tripped hard, crashing to the ground.
Evan’s instincts sparked. He reached out—then stopped, hand suspended in the air.
He hesitated. Then dropped his arm and stepped back.
“Find a healer yourself,” he said stiffly. “If your injury worsens, that is your problem.”
I forced myself upright despite the pain stabbing up my spine.
As he and Sarah stepped into the lift platform, he glanced back.
“I will accompany you to the bridal weaver’s hall tomorrow,” he said just before the doors slid shut.
The room spun. My knees buckled. Blood loss pulled the world into a haze.
In the blur, a memory flashed.
Evan at nineteen, newly burdened with responsibilities after taking over the clan’s trade routes. Exhausted, sleepless for days. One evening, I burned my hand a little while preparing stew for him.
A tiny blister.
But Evan found out. He stormed out of a crucial council meeting and raced home on horseback without waiting for permission.
He grabbed my hand, cradling it as though it were fragile crystal.
“I am sorry, my love,” he whispered, guilt heavy in his voice. “I should have protected you. As long as I breathe, I will never let anything harm you.”
He pulled me close, warm, trembling, his promise etched into me like a brand.
But that boy was gone.
He had grown into a cold, distant Alpha heir who looked at me as though I were nothing. As though I were disposable.
And now, he was the one hurting me the most.
I staggered toward the tower’s exit. The edges of my vision darkened.
Then everything went black.
But before I hit the ground… someone caught me.
Strong arms. Heartbeat unfamiliar. Scent foreign.
Just before darkness swallowed me, I heard a whisper at my ear. Quiet. Dangerous.
“Do you want revenge?”
A pause. Warm breath against my skin.
“In exchange for those shares… I can help you uncover the truth behind your mother’s death.”
