Everett’s POV
The house felt colder than usual as I stepped inside, my fingers wrapped tightly around the thin plastic stick still faintly warm from my grasp. Two pink lines. Life. Hope. A second chance. My heart swelled at the thought, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I smiled with real joy.
I had to tell Chester.
Even if he wasn’t mine. Even if the Moon Goddess hadn’t fated us as mates, I still loved him. Deeply. Desperately. I believed—maybe foolishly—that what we had was enough. That love, even without a bond, could still be real.
I rushed to find him, the thrum of anticipation alive in every step. But as I reached the edge of his office, the sound of voices drifted out through the slightly ajar door. I paused, uncertain. Then I heard his voice—steady, sure.
“I’m marrying Princess Stella.”
My breath caught. A chill spread through my body.
“She’s everything I need. A real Luna. Not like… her.”
"Her?" Julian asked cautiously.
Chester’s laugh was sharp, merciless. “Everett? Please. She was useful. That’s all.”
My knees weakened.
“An omega with no status? Do you think I ever really saw her as my mate? I needed someone back then, and she was convenient.”
The pregnancy test nearly slipped from my hand. I clutched it tighter, my whole body trembling. Tears blurred my vision.
“I’ll discard her, and she’ll thank me for it,” he went on. “After I wed Stella, I’ll spin her a tale—tell her it’s all for the good of the pack. She’ll believe it. She always does.”
Julian hesitated. “What if she hears this?”
Chester scoffed. “She can’t. She’s deaf, remember?”
My heart stopped.
“She lost her hearing after the miscarriage,” Julian said.
“That’s what she thinks,” Chester said coldly. “But it was never just a tragic accident.”
He leaned back, his words cutting deeper than any blade. “I made sure she lost that baby.”
“What?” Julian whispered.
“I poisoned her,” Chester admitted, casual, cruel. “I told her it was medicine. She drank it so easily. Of course, I didn’t anticipate the side effect. She bled out badly. Damaged her hearing. But it worked, didn’t it? That mongrel child would’ve ruined everything.”
The air around me vanished.
I remembered the pain. The way I screamed. The way the healers tried everything to stop the bleeding. The moment I woke up and realized I couldn’t hear anything anymore.
For three years, I had lived in silence.
Three years without sound. Without music. Without a single voice. The healers called it trauma. Said the grief stole my hearing. I believed them. I accepted it.
But it was him. All along, it had been him.
Chester, the man I trusted, the man I thought loved me. He took everything from me. My child. My body. My hearing.
And now—now he was casting me aside as if I were nothing.
I felt something snap inside me. Something deep and silent and permanent.
At that moment, Chester stood and opened the door. His face was calm, composed. “Everett,” he signed, with a fake softness in his eyes. “Come in.”
So I did.
Like a fool.
I walked into the lion’s den, heart pounding, mind reeling. Sat on the couch like everything was fine, my hands hidden in my coat pockets, still clutching the broken pregnancy test.
They kept talking. Right in front of me. Like I was furniture. Like I didn’t matter.
“She won’t do anything,” Chester said with a smirk. “Even if she knows. She's too weak.”
Julian glanced at me, uncomfortable. “You sure?”
“I broke her once,” Chester said, eyes gleaming with arrogance. “I can do it again.”
He looked at me then, and for the first time, I didn’t see the man I loved.
I saw a monster.
A monster who wore kindness like a mask. A killer who smiled while he destroyed me.
I wanted to scream. To fight. To tear him apart with my bare hands.
Instead, I stayed still. Silent. Cold.
But inside me, something had awakened—something fierce and burning.
I may have been deaf. I may have been broken.
But I wasn’t weak.
Not anymore.
