ares by penny dee

His Trophy Wife, The Apex Predator

Eydie Pfefferle

My husband of three years, Arthur Vanderbilt, came home smelling of his mistress's perfume and threw divorce papers on our marble kitchen island. He demanded I sign away all rights to our assets for a five-million-dollar "severance," calling me a leech his family picked up from the suburbs to solve a temporary PR crisis. When I refused and demanded my four percent equity in the Vanderbilt Group, he and his mistress, Serena, launched a vicious smear campaign. They planted false stories on Wall Street forums, accusing me of laundering money for an Eastern European crime syndicate. They tried to force my hand with a check for five hundred million, which I tore up and threw in his face. To them, I was just a trophy wife they could easily discard. They had no idea that the "leech" they so despised was the anonymous investor who had secretly bailed out their entire company three years ago, saving them from bankruptcy. Their final move was to hire an actress to publicly accuse me of fraud in the lobby of the most powerful law firm in Manhattan. They didn't realize I was there to retain the firm's most ruthless lawyer. After security threw them out, I looked my replacement in the eye and made her a promise. "Prepare for an FBI probe into perjury and corporate defamation."

Modern Revenge

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“Wake up! Wake up!”

“Isn't it too early?”

I ask Athena groggily. I wonder why Athena's so preppy in the morning. Athena is my wolf. I've had her since I was sixteen.

Which was weird because everyone else shifts at eighteen. Each time I try shifting in someone else's presence, I feel my bead tighten around my wrist and stop my shift.

I remember my first shift. I was terrified. I thought it wasn't supposed to happen until two years. I had no one around me to help me through it. I was alone.

It happened when I was taking a breather by the little pond I found. It wasn't as painful as everyone claimed it would be.

I haven't mentioned it yet to anyone. Not even my adoptive parents. It's bad enough I'm taller than all other girls my age, I can't become the pack freak who shifted at sixteen.

“It's our birthday! Yours but we are one so it counts as ours”

I startle awake. Eyes wide. It's my birthday. Technically, it's the day Jules and Damon found me. I was about 2 months old when they found me and took me in as their own.

“It's our birthday today. You know what this means”

“WE FIND OUR MATE TODAY!”

I say with Athena. Okay now I'm excited. Hopefully my mate adores me the way Damon adores Jules, my adoptive parents. The thought of it alone sent me into a state of euphoria.

I take a quick shower and head to the living room. Mum and Dad live two blocks away from the Pack House.

“Happy birthday sweetheart”

Dad hugs my shoulder and kisses my head. I love his head kisses. I smiled so wide I was afraid I'd split my cheek in two.

“Thanks dad”

Mom and Ashley walk in at that moment.

“Happy birthday baby”

Mom kisses my cheeks as she hugs me. I watch as Dad's eyes come alive as she walks in. To this day, she's still the most beautiful woman to him.

“Big day huh. You'll be getting your first shift and hopefully meeting your mate in the pack.”

Mom says as she sits next to Dad. He wastes no time wrapping his arms around her and kissing her head too.

“Morning Dad”

Ashley voiced. I won't say we don't get along but I can't also say that we do. We are at a stalemate.

“Morning princess. Won't you wish your sister a happy birthday?”

“She already has you both fawning over her. What could she possibly need to hear from me again”

“Ashley! Would it kill you to be nice”

Dads face twisted. He doesn't like Mom angry. And he certainly doesn't tolerate anyone that makes her angry. That includes us. He gives Ashley a look that spells ‘fix it before I fix you'.

“Arrrggghhh fine. Happy birthday Ares”

“Thank you. It means so much to me that Mum and Dad made you say it.”

I said with a saccharine smile that I know she hates.

“Good. Can I leave now? I'm meeting up with My friends”

“Sure princess”

“Thank you”

Ashley is a year older than me. She still hasn't found her mate yet. My birthday is probably a reminder of hers. She went round the pack and couldn't pick up his scent after she shifted into her wolf. When she shifted back and still couldn't pick up his scent. She bawled her eyes out. I had never seen her cry so much.

“Can I leave too? I'm hoping to go sightseeing around the pack”

“Is that what we are calling it now?”

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