Share

Chapter 3

Author: Lisa bean
But this time, Joe’s eyes darted away, his tone strangely stiff.

“After what happened last time… you know my parents’ health isn’t great. If they see you again, it’ll only stimulate them.”

He hesitated, voice softening as if trying to soothe me.

“Don’t take it the wrong way. I’ll talk to them about the engagement. Emma grew up under their roof, so of course they’re closer to her. Once things settle down… they’ll stop holding grudges.”

I watched as he walked away with her, a dull ache spreading in my chest until even swallowing tasted like blood.

Five years. That’s all it took for Joe to forget the love he once swore to me, the vows that no one would ever hurt me.

He’d forgotten them all—forgotten me—and even pushed me into the flames himself, leaving me to suffer alone in that hospital bed.

After countless rejections, I finally understood who Joe had been waiting for all along.

Tears slipped from the corners of my eyes, falling one by one onto the cold floor.

I wiped my face and drew in a deep breath.

Back at the villa, I started packing my things. Five years together had left traces of us everywhere.

I used to believe—foolishly—that he loved me.

The paintings in our home were all ones I’d picked out. He once told me he wanted a pup with me, that we’d take our little one on adventures, run through the forests under the moonlight.

But before we could even have a pup, he’d already stopped loving me.

I worked so hard that I always stayed up until midnight, which caused me constant headaches. Joe found out, and no matter where he was on a business trip, he never forgot to remind me to sleep. He would talk to me on the phone until I fell asleep.

Sometimes the pain was so severe as if it could kill me. Joe felt heartbreaking seeing me suffer. So, he learned massage from the Pack Doctor and gave me a massage when I had a headache.

Now everything blurred, fading like a memory that no longer belonged to me.

He used to notice every glance of mine—whenever my eyes lingered on something, he’d secretly buy it, awkward but full of love.

“I don’t ever want you to have to ask,” he once said, kissing my cheek and ruffling my hair, his voice gentle as he buried his face against my neck.

I don’t know when it started…

but somewhere along the way, Joe grew tired of us.

The first time I proposed to Joe, he smiled and said we were too young—that marrying too early would only make us grow tired of each other like every other couple.

The second time, I had everything prepared—a surprise, candles, the necklace he once said he loved on me. But before I could walk into the room, I overheard him talking to his friends.

“I’m bored of Carol. The spark’s gone. But she is good to me, yeah, I just can’t break up with her.”

“A girl proposing to a guy—shouldn’t she realize by now that I don’t love her?”

The last time...

I gave everything I had. I stood in front of his parents, humbling myself, saying I wanted to marry Joe. I told them I didn’t care about the Smith family’s fortune, didn’t want the Luna title. I only want to be his wife.

But his sister Emma—the one he’d grown up with though they shared no blood—was there that day. The moment when she heard my proposal, she threw a tantrum due to jealousy.

Now, all of it is over. I’ve finally let go.

Every photo I ever took of Joe over the past five years—I tore them all into pieces.

Even the love letter he wrote me, the only one, I burned to ashes with a lighter.

He didn’t message me once that following week, he was waiting for me to give in.

While I had moved my luggage out of his villa long before he noticed.

He probably thought I was throwing another tantrum, so he didn’t bother to check.

But as time went on… it seemed he started to remember I existed.

Three days before I returned to the Blood Moon Pack—our fifth anniversary—Joe finally called.

“Carol,” he said softly, “our five-year anniversary’s coming up. I booked the Quiet Sparrow Gallery, and dinner at your favorite steakhouse. We should talk.”

As his voice faded, a text appeared on my screen. It was the address.

That gallery was where we first met. We’d both reached for the same painting at the same time, even shared the same thoughts about it.

Back then, I’d foolishly believed it was Luna’s blessing. My heart had raced so wildly I thought it would burst—convinced that Joe was my fate mate for life.
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App

Latest chapter

  • After He Married My Sister   Chapter 24

    I never saw Aron again.He sold his Ash Born shares and left the north.Some said he vanished in a blizzard. Others that he exiled himself.No one knew where he went.I didn’t look.Silver Claw’s lands had long since changed hands.Henry and Lisa sent word asking me to return.I mailed back the blood‑severance deed—didn’t leave a trace of scent.As my pen touched the paper, ink smelled like burned bloodline.Saying it didn’t hurt would be a lie.But I’d learned to be silent inside pain.All the bonds of pack and fate ended in ash.—I am Julia.No one’s daughter. No one’s partner.A year later, I bought a derelict warehouse by a southern harbor.Sea‑salt had bleached the floorboards white; wind never stopped outside the windows.I opened my own studio there.A handful of like‑minded designers worked with me— all Betas.No bowing. No kneeling.That equality let me breathe for the first time.Work was hard—but every night I slept deep.No blood in my dreams. No orders.It was our first da

  • After He Married My Sister   Chapter 23

    The rain stopped.Clouds broke apart, air wet and clear.Kane and I came back from the market with milk, eggs—and a bunch of sunflowers.He carried the bags one‑handed, the other in his pocket, stride unhurried.Everything felt easy.Until I saw the figure.I stopped.A man stood under the streetlamp by my building.Wind lifted his coat; black fabric clung to a rigid back.I knew that silhouette by heart.Aron.My breath caught.I hadn’t thought he’d truly find me.Kane followed my gaze and moved instinctively to stand in front of me, angling his body against the wind.Aron saw us.His eyes flickered, then darkened by degrees.When he looked at Kane, the shadow in them nearly cracked.He walked toward us—quick, steady.Kane took an easy step forward and blocked him.“Who are you?” Aron’s voice was very low.Kane tipped his chin. “I could ask you the same.”The air tightened. Their breaths were close enough to hear.“Kane,” I said.He shifted back half a step, but stayed nearby.Aron’s

  • After He Married My Sister   Chapter 22

    For days, Aron barely left Ash Born’s borders.If he wasn’t tracking Julia’s trail, he was haunting the ruined house—the place he’d hidden when the pack cast him out.Rain bled through the roof’s cracks. The boards smelled damp and rusty.Still he stayed—Because her breath lingered there.It was where she walked him through the dark.She taught him the temperature of light, the layout of each chair and wall.Blind then, he mapped the world by her voice and scent.She’d said, “You’ll see someday. Make sure the first one you see is me.”He closed his eyes. He had lost her— after he saw again.His fingers pressed the crack in a clay cup when the call came.“Alpha,” the Beta said carefully, “we found word of Julia. She’s in Oslo— interviewing at a design firm.”Air froze; Aron exhaled slowly.“Book the soonest flight.”“You haven’t slept— perhaps rest—”“I won’t repeat myself.”He took the coat that still held her faint scent.The car slipped from the woods; night split the road in two.

  • After He Married My Sister   Chapter 21

    Even after dealing with Susan, it wasn’t enough. Anger ran like wildfire through Aron’s chest.With Julia gone, Ash Born was disordered. If Silver Claw had meddled, they would taste loss too.He started with their holdings.Before they realized it, Ashborn‑aligned investors were already buying Silver Claw stock. The quoted price is ridiculously low, yet it is highly sought after by the market. Soon, orders for Silver Claw sharply declined and the supply chain broke down. Those who had once fawned upon them turned away as fast as they could.When word spread, the industry snickered.Aron didn’t end it. He wanted them to watch it collapse.He had the news taken to the basement—where Susan was kept.Hearing of the ruin, Henry fainted. Lisa sagged to her knees.Half a lifetime’s work turned to grit.Susan only thought of herself.When she saw Aron, tears sprang. She crawled on her knees.“Aron, please let me out. I know I was wrong. I’m really terrified—bugs, rats— I can’t sleep.”Tears f

  • After He Married My Sister   Chapter 20

    The room was so quiet you could hear a heartbeat.A sealed folder sat on the table; Silver Claw’s crest stamped in the corner.Aron nodded at it. His voice was calm to the point of cruelty. “Open it.”Susan’s hands trembled. When she tore it, pages fluttered out.On them—a clear title: Blood‑Severance Statement.Her face drained.Aron drummed his fingers twice. “Tell the truth.”Susan lifted her head, lips shaking. “I don’t know what you mean—”“Then wait till I’m done.”He stood, long shadow stretching under the light.“Take her,” he said.The car stopped outside the Ash Born house.Night pressed down like a wall.No one opened her door.She climbed out. Hands seized her. A black cloth dropped over her eyes.She shrieked, “Who are you? Let go!”“Quiet,” someone warned. “If you want to live, don’t move.”Her hands were tied. Breath stuttered.Time stretched until the cloth was yanked away.Light stabbed her eyes—and there he was.Aron.Her lips shook. “Aron? Why?”He came close, terrif

  • After He Married My Sister   Chapter 19

    “Alpha, the materials you requested.”The Beta set a heavy file on the desk.Aron opened it. Hospital records spilled out.The earliest dated more than a decade back—Julia was three.Diagnosis: congenital immunodeficiency. Patient: Susan.The last line of the plan read: “Umbilical cord blood donor urgently required.”Time froze.Aron stared at the lines. His hand tightened.Julia’s birth wasn’t an accident.She had been brought into the world to save Susan.He thought of those years— Julia always silent at the edges.At family banquets, beside the training ground, in every corner she “should” exist yet was invisible.She never complained.Even with every ounce of favor poured into her sister, she only said softly, “It’s alright.”Aron’s throat burned. That “it’s alright” turned into an accusation.At the bottom lay a scuffed old phone.It had been Julia’s.“We recovered some data,” the Beta said.The screen lit. Aron hardly dared breathe.No selfies in the gallery— only scraps of sky f

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status