Eva Chase POV:
Eva Chase's perspective:The icy night wind burned my lungs.
Branches and sharp stones tore at my bare feet as I ran through the woods along the familiar path.
The wolf within me howls, a pure, painful wail that echoes from the gaping wound in my soul.
I don't know how long I ran.
Time has dissolved into a blur of pain and panic.
Finally, the small, tidy house came into view.
My mother's house.
My hands, wet with cold sweat, trembled as I frantically pounded on the front door.
In the dead of night, the sound was unsettlingly loud.
I leaned against the door frame, my body trembling violently, thinking my bones were about to fall apart.
The door was suddenly pulled open.
My mother, Sharon, stood there with a displeased look on her face, her hair curled with a curling iron.
She glanced at my disheveled appearance.
There wasn't a trace of worry in it.
I'm just annoyed.
"Ava? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
I staggered forward, reaching out to grab her, longing for the comfort of my mother's embrace.
“Mom,” I sobbed, “Chace…Bella…”
She stepped aside to avoid me.
I almost fell headfirst onto the cold, hardwood floor of the foyer.
She did not offer any help.
She simply clicked her tongue in disapproval.
"Keep your voice down. You'll wake the neighbors."
I stared at her, my pleas stuck in my throat.
I struggled to utter the story, words tumbling out in a jumbled, desperate rush.
That extramarital affair. That rejection. That pain.
Throughout all of this, she stood there, examining her fingernails under the porch light.
She didn't even glance at me.
When I finally fell silent and started breathing heavily, she sighed.
A long, impatient sigh.
“Ava, I already knew.”
This question hangs in the air, colder than the night wind.
I noticed that she didn't look at the bloody wound on my neck, which was a physical manifestation of being rejected.
A terrible doubt began to creep up my spine.
“You knew all along,” I whispered, barely audible, “you knew about them all along.”
Her gaze was hard and unapology-free.
“Bella knows how to please an Alpha. She knows how to get what our family needs. You’re always too weak.”
She started listing my failures.
I am unable to have heirs.
I lack political acumen.
She twisted my financial support of the past decade—money I transferred from my own trust fund to her account—into a pitiful scrap.
The last fragile thread of hope I had been clinging to—the concept of home—has snapped.
I took a step back.
Another step.
The tears stopped.
A chilling calm enveloped me.
Without a word, I turned and walked back into the darkness.
I have to go back.
Back to that house full of lies.
There are some things I need.
My own stuff.
When I pushed open the front door of the villa, Chace was in the living room, holding a glass of amber liquid.
He raised his head, a mocking sneer playing on his lips.
"You climbed back so quickly?"
I ignored him.
I raised my hand and pulled the cheap silver necklace he had given me years ago off my neck.
The clasp broke.
I tossed it onto the coffee table. The clatter it made as it fell sounded like a gunshot in the quiet room.
“I am no longer anything to you,” I said flatly.
He laughed, a laugh that was grating and unpleasant.
"Good luck. You won't last a week without me."
I walked straight up to him and stood above the leather sofa where he was sitting.
For the first time in ten years, I didn't feel insignificant in his presence.
“I want my severance pay,” I said, my words clear and cold.
He blinked, genuinely surprised.
Then he tilted his head back and burst into laughter.
“What about you? Are you crazy? You’re an abandoned vagrant, Ava. You get nothing.”
He leaned forward, his voice lowered, turning into a threatening roar.
"Get out of my house, or I'll have you thrown out."
I didn't move.
“For the past ten years,” I began, my voice rising, “I have been using my own money to maintain the wolf pack’s defenses. The third year, the east wall was reinforced. The fifth year, the surveillance system was upgraded. The seventh year, new training equipment was purchased for the soldiers.”
I have listed out each of the major expenses I have paid.
My fists were clenched at my sides, my nails digging deep into my palms. The tiny, sharp pain kept me awake.
He waved his hand dismissively.
"Pocket money. Insignificant."
He is trying to destroy me.
To erase all my contributions.
Just then, Bella came down the stairs wearing that silk robe.
Chace's entire demeanor softened. He pulled her onto his lap and placed his hand possessively on her thigh.
He looked at me again, his face stiffening once more.
"Get out. Now."
I took out my phone.
My fingers were trembling, but I still managed to find the contact.
Sloane.
My only true friend.
The phone rang once, then twice.
"Ava? What's wrong?" Her voice was sharp with worry.
“He dumped me and chose my sister,” I said, my voice hoarse. “It’s Bella. I’m in the house. I need you.”
A string of angry curses erupted from the other end of the phone.
"I'll be there in five minutes. Don't move. Don't say another word to that bastard."
The call ended.
I put down my phone and met Chace's smug gaze.
I turned and walked towards the door.
The car's headlights pierced the darkness outside.
A black SUV screeched to a halt in the driveway.
The driver's side door swung open, and Sloane stood there, his face clouded with rage.
She saw me standing on the porch, shivering in my thin dress.
She ran to my side and wrapped me in a thick coat she had taken from the back seat.
It smells like her, like leather and unwavering loyalty.
That warmth, that simple act of kindness, shattered my long-held, icy self-control.
My body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Sloane hugged me tightly.
“I’m here,” she whispered, her voice firm and strong. “I’m here.”
She led me to the SUV and settled me in the passenger seat as if I were made of glass.
The car door clicked shut, sealing us in warm, safe darkness. At that moment, the dam broke.
A primal, guttural sob ripped from my chest.
I weep for the past, for the betrayal, for the chilling realization that I am utterly and completely alone.
Sloane said nothing.
She simply shifted gears, sped away, leaving that house and my old life behind in the rearview mirror.
