My Alpha Traded Me for Her, I Took His Empire

A P

the lie tasted lik

some shopping," I told the dr

but I waved him off. "I'll take one o

I drove myself, leaving the familiar black town car-an

d cinnamon. Josie was already there, in a corner booth, a stark slash of crimson hair against the dark wo

like hel

t in pleasantries

rds came out flat, devoid of emotion.

smile spread across her face. It wasn't a happy smile. It was the

for three years," she said, her voice a

ight of him with Jena and her son in the garden. I spoke as if I were reading a

rching look-not a lawyer assessing a client, but a friend making sure I was still standing. Only after that di

According to inter-pack law, since the mating was never c

s mark should have been. There was nothing there. Three years, and he had never even tried. I had told myself he was being gentle, th

f assets will be th

e my stomach turn. "I don't care about the mo

ey, Avia. It's compensation for three years of your life. It's the capital you

t freelance translations I had done over the years, never telling Donavon, never asking for permission. It was enough to survive, b

nodded slowly. We spent the next hour discussing ter

idence. We need more concrete evidence of his preference for Jena. I

ready forming in the cold

it doesn't finish it. If he refuses to follow through, if he fights it, we'd have to take it to the Elders, maybe even to court. And while that drags on, he could bury yo

. "So I can't

arder for him to stop. But if he sees it coming-if you hand him the document and ask him to read it-he will refuse. He will stall. He will find

n front of him, he would laugh. He would tear it up. He would tighten his grip on me, and I would never get ano

," I said slowly, the shape of the plan beginning

harp. "Now you're thinking l

n was gone, at his corporate office downtown. Jena and Kaden were in the

to the second fl

kept locked. In three years, I had never been inside. He'd

e he kept t

I saw the way he sometimes glanced at the top of his bookshelf, at a thic

y hand hovering over the lock. Once I turned this key, there would be no going back. The wife who still hoped-the one who had convinced herself that ma

ked open with

e air washed over me, thick with the s

by a single dim lamp. The wal

hem were

is brother, Arthur, on their mating day. A dozen pro

office. It

ady heard him say the worst possible words. But seeing it, wall after wall of her face, her smile, her l

of honor. It was the picture from his phone: Jena, holdin

x at the corner of the table. My fingers,

diamonds, glittering malevolently in the dim light. A certificate of authenticity was t

llion d

our third wedd

he was busy.

il midnight. The candles burned down to nothing, their wax pooling in cold, hardened puddles on the silver holders. I had told myself he was just swamped with

oud in the silent room. I photographed everything. The walls of pic

d files to Josie wi

his e

The key went back into its hiding place. I closed th

zed. A reply

rst draft of the agreemen