I watched in numb shock as the priceless statue was beaten out of shape.
When Celeste’s gaze fell on my limited-edition Maserati parked in the garage, I glared at her with cold eyes. It had been Thane’s graduation gift to me.
She strolled over to the car, her eyes raking over its gleaming finish. Then, she dragged her key across the side. The screech of metal on metal echoed in the garage.
Her face twisted with rage, Celeste marched back to me, grabbed my hair, and started kicking me again.
“You bitch! This is my favorite sports car! Thane said he’d buy it for me, and he gave it to you instead!” she screamed.
I was on the floor again, her high heels digging into me. All I could do was curl into a ball to protect myself. I bit my lip, imagining the look on Celeste’s face when she found out she had just destroyed her own bonding ceremony gift.
Not that she deserved any of it now. I swore to myself she would never be the matron of the Sterling family.
“The mistress getting put in her place by the rightful mate! How’s that for a show, everyone? Remember this bitch’s name: Lyra Morningstar. Feel free to dox her,” Sophia said in her irritating voice.
I thought I had endured the worst of it. But then they found my most precious treasure upstairs.
“Celeste, come see what we found!”
The moment I saw them holding the jewelry box, all the pain vanished. I was so panicked I couldn't even speak.
Celeste opened the box and pulled out the platinum crescent moon pendant.
“What is this piece of junk? Kept in such a nice box, too. Toss it,” Celeste said.
“No!” I screamed. “Don’t throw it away!”
As Celeste raised her hand to throw it, I ignored the pain and scrambled to my feet. “You can have anything else! Please, just give me back the pendant.”
It was my mother’s. An heirloom. The symbol of our Morningstar bloodline.
My parents had filed for a divorce certificate over conflicting family philosophies. My father took my brother and founded the Sterling Group. My mother took me back to our ancestral lands. She would sometimes hold this pendant, staring at it, lost in thought. I knew it represented her pride and her lineage.
My mother never took another mate. She raised me alone. She passed away the year I started college. This pendant wasn't just a symbol of my bloodline; it was the last piece of my mother I had left.
Celeste glanced from the pendant in her hand to my trembling, desperate face. Her next words were pure venom.
“Oh,” she said casually. “You seem to care about this. That just makes me want to destroy it even more.”
Seeing her raise her hand again, I blurted out the first thing I could think of. “Celeste, that’s Thane’s most precious possession! If you destroy it, he’ll kill you!”
Celeste hesitated, studying the pendant more closely.
“Why would an Alpha like Thane care about a stupid pendant?” Sophia chimed in, enjoying the drama. “She already tried to trick us by saying she was his sister. She’s trying the same thing again.”
Celeste’s brow furrowed. “You almost fooled me again!” she snarled.
“Please,” I begged. “Don’t break it. I’ll do anything.”
A thousand ideas flashed through my mind, anything to stop this madwoman. None of them seemed likely to work.
Celeste weighed the pendant in her hand, a smug smirk twisted her lips. “Anything? Fine. Then get on camera and admit you’re a shameless mistress.”