CASEY CONWAY POV:
Kaden Reynolds pushed his way through the murmuring crowd. He was still in his training gear, sweat dampening the dark hair on his forehead. He looked annoyed, his jaw set in a hard line.
His eyes swept over the scene, landing on me for a split second before darting to Jennifer's pale, tear-stained face.
Seeing him, Jennifer let out a fragile sob. She practically threw herself into his arms, clinging to his solid chest as if her legs could no longer support her. "Kaden," she whimpered, burying her face in his neck, playing the helpless victim to perfection. "I'm so scared... this woman came out of nowhere, saying terrible things..."
Kaden wrapped a protective arm around her waist, patting her back soothingly. Then, he fixed his cold, unfamiliar gaze on me.
I stood my ground, my spine stiff. I stared back at him—the man I had once loved, the man who had abandoned me in a cold, empty room for three years while he played house with another woman.
"Kaden," I said, my voice remarkably steady despite the storm raging inside me. "Aren't you going to explain? Who is this woman?"
I held up the bonding certificate, the heavy parchment fluttering slightly in the breeze.
Kaden's eyes locked onto the document. A flicker of genuine panic crossed his features, but he masked it instantly, his expression hardening into a mask of pure contempt.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he announced, his voice loud and clear, designed to carry over the crowd. "I don't know you."
A collective gasp rippled through the onlookers. The sheer audacity of his lie sent all the blood rushing to my head. A rage so hot it threatened to consume me flared in my chest.
I forced my trembling hands to remain still, holding the proof higher. "You don't know me? Then what is this? Stamped by our Pack's Elder, witnessed by the Moon Goddess herself!"
Kaden let out a short, derisive laugh. "Oh, that piece of paper."
He turned to the onlookers, his posture relaxing into one of pained honesty. He was a terrifyingly good actor.
"Everyone, please, it's not what you think," he began his performance, shaking his head as if dealing with an unreasonable child. "This woman, Casey, is just an actress I hired back in my home Pack."
The crowd fell dead silent, hanging onto his every word.
"I was in a hurry to transfer here to Stone River for my duties," Kaden continued, his voice smooth and persuasive. "But my mother was ill and refused to let me leave unless I was settled with a mate. To give her peace of mind, I paid Casey to stage a fake bonding ceremony. That certificate is nothing but a prop."
He turned his cold eyes back to me, his lip curling in disgust. "I paid you handsomely for that job. Our transaction ended months ago. I never imagined you would be so greedy as to track me down and use a fake document to blackmail me."
The lie was so flawlessly delivered, so utterly shameless, that it left me breathless. And the worst part? It sounded plausible to them.
The atmosphere in the courtyard shifted instantly. The neighbors' gazes, once filled with sympathy for a wronged wife, now dripped with suspicion and disgust.
"Blackmail? Seriously?" Brenda muttered loudly, crossing her arms.
"I knew it," another woman sneered. "Look at her cheap clothes. She saw Kaden moving up in the ranks and decided she wanted a piece of his wealth. What a shameless gold-digger."
Hearing the crowd take Kaden's side, Jennifer pressed herself even closer to him. She looked up at him with wide, tearful eyes, her voice trembling like a fragile leaf. "Kaden... is that true? She just wants your money? How could someone be so cruel to ruin our day for coins?"
She was the perfect, helpless maiden, relying entirely on her strong Alpha warrior to protect her from the wicked, greedy Omega.
I was shaking so hard my teeth rattled. I never thought the man I married could be this vile, twisting our sacred bond into a dirty financial transaction.
"You're lying!" I screamed, my voice cracking under the weight of my fury. "Kaden Reynolds, if that's the truth, do you dare swear an oath to the Moon Goddess right now?"
In our world, swearing a false oath to the Goddess was a grave sin, one that invited immediate divine retribution.
Kaden's jaw tightened. A muscle ticked in his cheek, but he recovered his arrogant composure quickly. "Why would I risk insulting the Goddess by swearing an oath over a crazy, money-hungry stalker? You tried to extort me, and when it didn't work, you decided to make a public scene."
He was effortlessly turning the entire Pack against me.
"Look," I said, my voice dropping to a deadly, icy calm as I played my final card. I pulled the heavy silver key from my pocket, letting it catch the light. "The Alpha's own Beta gave me the key to your quarters. Do you really think Alpha Del Wolfe would authorize this if my certificate was a fake?"
At the mere mention of the Alpha's name, Kaden's arrogant facade finally fractured. A flicker of real, unadulterated panic flashed in his eyes.
But his ego was too fragile, and he was in too deep to back down now. He puffed out his chest, trying to regain his dominance. "Who knows what filthy tricks a desperate gold-digger like you used to deceive Beta Foster," he spat, his lip curling in disgust. "You'd probably do anything for a free place to stay."
Before I could even process the vile accusation, Kaden reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick wad of cash. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed it carelessly at my feet. The bills fluttered through the air, scattering across the dirt like discarded trash.
"Here," he sneered, his voice dripping with absolute condescension. "Consider this a generous tip for your 'acting' services. Now take the money and get out of my Pack before I have the guards throw you out for trespassing."
The bills lay there, resting against the toes of my worn shoes.
