Chapter 2
“Are you insane? Let me go!” I screamed but her grip only got tighter. Her face was set like the devil's.
“Of course I'll let you go now, but this would be the last chance you get from me. I have come to stay, Andrea. Let that sink in.”
With my whole body screaming in horror, I pulled from her clutch and ran upstairs. There I saw Dimitri glaring down at the baby. His expression was unreadable.
I realized with pain that this was his biggest nightmare. He didn't want me to have a child just so he could drive me from his pack and bring in another woman.
I clutched my hands together and begged him not to hurt my child. “Please, Dimitri, take my life instead.”
“Who says I was going to hurt it yet?” he asked nonchalantly and mysteriously left the room.
The air was filled with a cloud of tension as I stared at my baby. The room’s atmosphere was so intense I almost passed out. Sobbing, I realized that my baby didn't know he wasn't welcome by his father.
Dimitri's actions got worse by the day. With Vera, they smoked the life out of me.
Vera came to my room one day and asked why I hadn't made dinner.
“Dinner? There are chefs for that. Besides, I'm nursing a child!”
I tried to keep my voice calm but Vera's insolence was growing each day.
The next day I overheard her complaining loudly to Dimitri. “She can't just sit around while the poor maids do her work for her! She's the so-called Luna of this pack, why does she act like a goddess just because she's got a child?”
Dimitri tried to keep things controlled. “I shall, um, talk to her. Hey, you look so tense.”
I would cry all night as I heard my mate making love to another woman just next to my bedroom, their moans unrestrained and shameless.
I once begged Dimitri to at least take the baby in his arms, so the child would have the warmth of a father.
But as long as Vera was nearby, he would come up with an excuse. Mercilessly, he threw all we had built at Vera's feet so she trample upon them.
Before my eyes, I saw the years I had spent loving Dimitri crashing down. He had never loved me. I realized why he always wanted me to dye my hair red before we made love. Vera was a redhead! He was only aroused if he imagined me to be her.
I returned home one day to find my bedroom door sealed up. Asking a maid, she told me Vera had locked it up.
A shiver ran down my spine. “What? Did she say why?”
The maid lowered her head. “She says the child makes a lot of noise. She has already moved your things to the… one of the Omega cribs.”
I exploded in rage. “And where's my baby?”
The maid's face fell again. “A wet nurse was hired to —”
A wet nurse!
Unable to take it any longer, a cry of shock quivered through my mouth. With trembling hands, I reached for my phone to call Dimitri.
Luckily he answered on the third ring. “What is it?”
I flinched at the impatience and coldness in his voice. The moisture dried from my tongue, so I stammered:
“Vera's moved my things to the crib. Are you aware of that?”
Uncontrolled, the tears flowed from my eyes. The insult was glaring and painful.
“What's wrong with you?” Dimitri snapped. “Didn't you know how much noise that thing makes all night?”
His words felt like a hot iron running through my heart. He referred to his child as “That thing”.
How could everything be falling apart for me and the only man who could stop it, harbored deep hatred for me and his own child?
“Dimitri, please save me. I can't take this anymore,” I whimpered, my heart breaking.
“You make it look like anyone's forcing you to stay around. I've been so nice to you that you forget how ruthless I can be.”
He ended the call. He didn't bother to hide it anymore that he needed me to leave.
The passageway door opened and Vera barged in. Behind her were three guards, ready to attack me there and then.
“Are you fucking questioning my decision, you loser?” she asked.
I locked eyes with her, my fingers twitching in rage. “If my child gets hurt, you'll regret the day you were born.”
My burst of boldness was aroused by the need to protect my baby against these devils.
“You're such a loser,” Vera sneered. “I actually thought you could counter my decision. Now get out of here before I lock you up!”
There was no need to fight a lost battle. Walking to the crib, I was sweating and shaking from the shame and pain. Dimitri's words breathed hot within me, his deep hatred eating me up like a plague.
The crib was made for the lowliest Omegas. It was where slaves and palace underground servants were packed.
“You thought you could escape your root because the Alpha called you mate?” someone shouted, hurling rotten tomatoes at me.
“You're back to where you started off, fool!”
I was supposed to be the Luna, feared and respected second to the Alpha, yet due to my mate's public disrespect for me, I was reduced to rags.
Silently, I found the room where the wet nurse sat, my baby in her arms. Seeing my baby's innocent face, I broke down again. I couldn't give him the life he deserved. My mate's lover had taken control and my mate was solidly behind her.
That night, I wiped my tears and vowed to leave Dimitri's pack for good. And not just leave, I would make them suffer the way I did.
First, I sold all my shares in Dimitri's companies, which I had bought under a different name.
The next morning, I bathed and fed my baby, assigned him to a private child nanny and left for the airport.
I was signing some papers, when panic-stricken notifications buzzed into my phone. It was from the company group chat.
“One of our major investors suddenly pulled out his shares last night!” “Our stocks are crashing!” “We need to trace him and strike an urgent deal or we're out of the market in the matter of days.”
Smirking in triumph, I collected my flight documents, confirmed the date — two weeks’ time — and returned to pick my baby.
But when I got down from the car, I suddenly froze. My heartbeat doubled and my blood ran cold.
The facility I had placed my child in was in disarray. The steel doors were ripped off and on the floor were bloodstains. I reeled back, panic striking me.
Bloodstains?
Where was my child?
