Mated To The Cold Hearted Alpha

The Scars She Hid From The World

REGINA MCBRIDE

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

Modern Revenge Scheming Kickass Heroine Comeback Revenge

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Wendy Finch was smacked in the face. Her skin tingled with pain and her head buzzed.

She staggered a few steps back, one hand instinctively covering her bulging belly while the other one held her swollen cheek.

"Wendy, you heartless bitch! How dare you do this to Eris?! You've always been against us ever since my daughter and I became part of this family. To think that you would resort to hurting Eris with a knife... If anything bad happens to my daughter, I will never forgive you, Wendy Finch!"

Cacia Brown turned away then and walked to the living room.

She crouched to the floor and held her bleeding daughter.

"It's not my fault! I didn't do anything!" Wendy clutched at Brian Oliver's sleeve as though it were her last lifeline. "Brian, trust me, please! I really didn't do it!"

"Didn't you?" Brian asked, shaking her off and glaring at her with burning eyes. "There was nobody else in here besides the two of you! Are you saying that Eris hurt herself on purpose?"

"But she did! She stabbed herself!"

"You bitch! Go to hell!"

Brian was livid. He couldn't stand it anymore.

He raised a leg and landed a solid kick on Wendy's belly, sending her sprawling backwards. Her belly hit the corner of the table, sending sharp pain shooting all over her body.

"Ah!"

She screamed in pain and fell to the floor, her arms cradling her belly.

She could feel something hot and wet trickle down her legs.

It frightened her desperately.

"Brian..."

"I was so blind to refuse your kind-hearted sister in order to be with a vicious woman like you, Wendy!"

Wendy's heart sank. Her entire world had just crumbled.

An hour ago, she was waiting for Brian to take her to the hospital for her prenatal checkup. Eris had gotten in her way, stopping her and showing a photo of herself and Brian in the act of making love.

"Brian and I have been in love for a long time!" Eris had mocked her. "He doesn't love you anymore!

Do you want to know why he hasn't broken up with you yet? Are you thinking it's because you are carrying his baby? Ha ha! Stop daydreaming! Did you really think I would let you have Brian's baby? The baby in your belly is not his at all!

I'm the only one who loves him the most in the world!

And I am willing to pay any price in order to be with him!"

Nothing could have prepared Wendy for what had happened next, but she eventually learned what Eris had meant by "any price." The doorbell had rung, and Eris had grabbed a knife from the kitchen and plunged it into her own abdomen.

It had all happened so fast, with Cacia rushing into the scene screaming and Brian kicking the front door open to get inside.

And here they were now.

Wendy turned to look at Eris.

The other woman was lying in her mother's arms, weak and bloody. But then she smirked at Wendy.

Horrified disbelief was added into the maelstrom of emotions Wendy was feeling.

How could a person bear to hurt themselves just to get what they wanted?

Another bout of pain burst from Wendy's belly.

She was bleeding!

She had lost a considerable amount of blood at this point, and she could feel that her face had gone pale. She reached out a hand toward Brian in a desperate plea. "Brian, our baby, our baby..."

"It's not ours! It's just yours!"

"What? What did you say?"

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