I had no idea how much time had passed before I regained consciousness. The first things I heard were the wail of sirens, frantic voices shouting over one another, and strangers rushing around me. They told me I was fortunate. They said I'd survived.
Lucky?
I couldn't bring myself to believe that.
The hospital staff cleaned and treated my injuries, insisting that I stay for further observation, but I refused. There was nothing left there for me. As soon as they discharged me, I returned alone to the glass house.
It had once been the place Rowan built with me in mind. Every room, every piece of furniture, every tiny detail had been chosen because he wanted to make me happy. Now, it felt like I was walking through someone else's home.
Celeste had only lived there for two months, yet her presence had swallowed everything.
Her perfume lingered in every hallway. Her clothes occupied closets that had once been mine. Her belongings were scattered throughout the house as though I had never existed.
When I stepped into my dressing room, it was in complete disarray. My music room had been taken over as well, filled with her things until there was almost no trace of me left.
Then my eyes landed on a wooden carving lying crooked on the floor.
I had carved it by hand and given it to Rowan years ago. Back then, he'd held it as though it were the most precious gift he'd ever received.
I stood there staring at it for a long while.
Had those tears in his eyes been genuine...
Or had they been another performance?
Outside, darkness had already swallowed the sky. An entire day and night had passed since everything happened, and Rowan still hadn't returned.
Of course he hadn't.
He was with her.
A faint smile tugged at my lips, though it carried no warmth.
I wiped the dried blood from the corner of my mouth before taking several prepared documents from my bag. Quietly, I slipped them into the mailbox standing outside the glass house.
The first envelope contained the laboratory report about the bouquet Celeste had given me.
My fingers trembled as I unfolded the pages.
Every line made the ache in my chest grow heavier.
The flowers hadn't been harmless after all.
Someone had hidden powerful intoxicating herbs among them.
Those scents were what had driven the rogue wolf and the shadow lynx into a frenzy.
It had never been an accident.
Someone had planned everything from the beginning.
Yet Rowan never questioned what happened.
He never investigated.
He never even wondered why the beasts had suddenly targeted me.
He simply accepted it while I nearly died.
My grip tightened around the second document until the paper crumpled beneath my fingers.
It was my medical report.
The words blurred before my eyes.
Miscarriage.
Our child was gone.
Because once again...
He had chosen Celeste.
Just as he had on the day I was thrown into the rogues' pit.
Just as he had while I endured the silver whip and she watched from safety.
For the second time, his decision had cost our unborn child its life.
The final item rested silently in my palm.
A broken diamond ring.
Five years ago, Rowan had traveled all the way to Africa to find that diamond himself. He'd proudly told me he'd spent months waiting for it to be polished because nothing less than perfection was worthy of me.
He had called it proof of his devotion.
A promise that I would forever be the only woman in his heart.
Now it was nothing more than shattered glass and broken promises.
I let out a bitter laugh that barely sounded like my own.
“So it was you all along, Rowan.”
The deep thrum of helicopter blades suddenly echoed overhead.
I looked up and saw a familiar figure leaning out from the open cabin.
“Aren't you coming?” Alaric called down.
Instead of answering immediately, I forced a small smile despite the ache crushing my chest.
“Do you happen to have a lighter?”
He gave a short whistle before tossing down a box of matches.
“Closest thing I've got.”
“That'll do.”
I caught it with trembling hands.
Every step toward the glass house felt heavier than the last. My wounded legs protested with each movement, while memories crowded my mind from every corner of the place.
Once, these walls had echoed with laughter.
They had held music, warmth, and dreams of a future together.
Tonight, they would hold only fire.
I remembered Rowan's gentle hands.
His quiet smiles.
The nights I believed I had found a love blessed by fate itself.
The memories squeezed painfully around my heart, but they no longer had the power to stop me.
I struck a match.
Before letting it fall, I lifted my free hand to the mating mark on my neck.
Even touching it sent unbearable pain racing through my body.
Gritting my teeth, I whispered into the stillness surrounding the house.
“I am Luna Lillian Brightman.”
“My bond with you ends today, Alpha Rowan Ashcroft.”
“I reject you.”
“You are no longer my mate.”
The rejection tore through me like lightning.
Agony surged through every vein as though something inside me was being ripped apart by force.
My knees nearly gave way.
I clutched my neck, feeling the bond fight to remain intact before it finally began to break.
It screamed through my mind.
My body convulsed violently.
Blood mixed with tears as they ran down my face, yet I refused to let go.
Not this time.
Never again.
With the last of my strength, I flicked the burning match toward the glass house.
The flames caught almost instantly.
Within seconds they raced across the walls, devouring everything in their path. Glass shattered in deafening bursts, the roof began collapsing, and room after room disappeared beneath waves of fire.
The home where I'd once laughed...
The place where I'd believed every promise Rowan whispered...
Everything was consumed by the blaze.
Smoke curled into the night sky, carrying away every memory I no longer wanted to keep.
Behind me, Alaric spoke quietly.
“Are you alright, Lillian?”
I gave a slow nod.
The words barely escaped my lips.
“I will be.”
“I'm finally free.”
He said nothing else.
He understood there was nothing left to say.
I turned for one final look at the burning glass house.
The emptiness inside me remained.
So did the grief.
But beneath them...
There was also relief.
Without another glance back, I walked toward the helicopter.
The rotors whipped my hair into the air as I climbed aboard. As the aircraft lifted from the ground, the burning house grew smaller and smaller beneath us, its flames becoming nothing more than distant light against the darkness.
“This is goodbye, Rowan,” I murmured to the wind. “Goodbye to every promise you ever made.”
The helicopter carried me farther across the night, leaving the fire, the lies, and the man who had once been my entire world behind.
This time, I didn't look back.
I was gone.
