Scarlett POV
I don't know how long I was out. I woke up to a pounding pain in my skull.
Everything was pitch-black. The air smelled of blood and damp mold. My body shivered. Am I dead?
I tried to move my hands. My wrists were still tied tight behind my back, burning. That's when I realized I was probably still alive.
Once my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could make out the room. The three kidnappers were gone. So was Liliana.
What the hell was going on?
Right as I was trying to figure it out, a bright flashlight beam hit me straight in the face.
"Luna's here!"
Whose voice was that?
Had Jaxen come to rescue me?
A rush of joy hit me. I struggled to stand up, but my hands and feet were still tied. My legs gave out, and I collapsed awkwardly onto the ground.
The person with the flashlight ran over, helped me up, and carefully peeled the tape off my mouth.
"Luna, are you okay?"
"My head hurts so bad..." I didn't know this person, but he called me Luna and was untying me, so he had to be one of ours. "Are you one of Jaxen's guys? Did he come? Where is he?"
"I'm Alpha's new bodyguard. He's here, he's... outside..." The bodyguard sounded hesitant. A bad feeling rose in my chest.
"What's wrong? Did he get hurt fighting the kidnappers?" I asked urgently.
"Uh... Alpha's outside. Let me help you out."
He was clearly hiding something. I frowned, but let him support me as we left the warehouse.
Outside was an open field full of cars. The most obvious one was the black Bugatti with the plate 'JL00001,' Jaxen's favorite ride.
"Is Jaxen in the car?"
Before I had even finished the sentence, I saw them.
Jaxen and Liliana.
She had her face buried deep in his broad chest, arms wrapped tightly around his waist as if she were scared he'd disappear. Jaxen stood straight, lips moving as he whispered to her. The night wind blew past, and for once his usual stony face looked gentle, as if he were comforting his scared lover.
People surrounded them: cops, doctors, Ashford family members-everyone looking worried and concerned.
At that moment, it felt like a wolf's claw ripped my chest open. The last bit of hope I had left got crushed into dust.
Five years. He had never held me like that. The way he was holding Liliana, the look in his eyes... it felt like my blood was on fire and someone was pressing a red-hot brand against my heart.
I'd actually been dumb enough to think he came to save me... that he cared about me at least a little.
Turns out I was just an afterthought.
He only came for Liliana. From beginning to end, I was simply the Luna in name only in the Iron Claw Pack. I had no actual place in his heart.
It was painfully obvious who he loved.
Tears slipped down my cheeks before I could stop them. I bit my lip hard so I wouldn't make a sound, but my fingers unconsciously gripped the bodyguard's arm tighter.
The bodyguard noticed how stiff and shaky I was. He sighed quietly but said nothing, just gently tried to distract me. "Luna, wait here. I'll get the doctor to check on you."
I could barely hear anything around me. My mind was stuck on that painful scene.
We were both kidnapped. Why did Liliana get everyone's care and protection while I... what the hell was I?
Just the annoying side chick who got in their way?
Jaxen didn't love me. His white moonlight was back. He was now the alpha of the Iron Claw Pack, fully controlling the family business, and he'd multiplied the value of Hale's Group several times. The Ashfords couldn't find a better son-in-law. He probably couldn't wait to divorce me so he could be with Liliana again.
Warrick, standing near them, finally noticed me. He glanced at Liliana, still sobbing and clinging to Jaxen, then quietly said, "Alpha, we found Luna."
Liliana glanced over. When she saw me standing there like a statue, staring at them, the corner of her mouth curved up in a tiny, almost invisible smirk. She hugged Jaxen even tighter, her voice teary and sweet: "Jaxen, you don't know how scary those three kidnappers were... They brought me here, but you came just in time..."
Before she could finish, her body suddenly swayed.
By the time I blinked, Jaxen had nuzzled her. He quickly took off his suit jacket and tossed it to his assistant, Warrick. "Throw this away."
Warrick walked past me with the jacket. Now nothing was blocking my view. Jaxen finally looked at me.
"Are you okay?" He walked over, tone casual, like he was asking a random stranger.
I let out a bitter laugh, my voice hoarse. "Not dead yet."
Jaxen looked me up and down, then glanced at the pack of doctors checking on Liliana nearby. He said lightly, "Wait until they finish with Liliana, then they can check on you. You don't look badly hurt, anyway." The corner of his mouth even twitched up a little.
That was it. All the hurt, anger, and pain inside me exploded.
I said each word slowly, my voice quiet but crystal clear:
"Jaxen, let's get a divorce."
Everything that happened today was like the sharpest knife, constantly reminding me: stop holding onto stupid, empty fantasies.
I'd secretly crushed on him since high school for five years, spent two years becoming his wife, and struggled through three years of marriage... Ten whole years. I tried everything to make him love me, but to him, I was still just a stranger who didn't matter.
There was no future for Jaxen and me.
Instead of waiting every day in fear for him to ask for a divorce first, I'd end this one-sided marriage myself.
