“I returned to a cold, empty mansion, my body still aching from the miscarriage I had just suffered alone. But the silence was broken by a delicate lace wrap on our couch. It belonged to Seraphina, my Alpha mate's childhood sweetheart. While I was in a hospital bed losing our pup, Archibald was bringing his true love into our home. A news alert flashed on my phone, showing him smiling tenderly at her at a luxury restaurant. When I handed him the official Rejection papers to sever our mate-bond, he didn't hesitate to sign. "I told you from the beginning, Bird. You were just a substitute," he sneered. Later, I overheard him telling his second-in-command that the child we just lost was nothing but an "unexpected nuisance." For three years, I had given up my Stanford research and my dignity, believing my total submission could earn his love. Hearing him dismiss our dead child so callously shattered the last illusion I had. My heart turned into a graveyard. To someone who doesn't love you, even your tragedy is just an inconvenience. I packed my worn clothes, took the fifty million dollar severance, and walked out of his life. I didn't cry or beg at his office doors like he arrogantly predicted. Instead, I took industrial shears to my priceless diamond wedding ring, snapped it in two, and walked into a rival tech firm to reclaim my genius.”