3

I wasn't even angry anymore. I just felt sad and ridiculous.

I picked up the bank card. The money inside was what my father had saved his entire life. It belonged to him, and I should take it back.

When I bent down to get the card, Damon snorted dismissively, as if my actions disgusted him.

I ignored him, pocketed the card, and started packing my belongings.

Five hundred thousand dollars. Enough to arrange a proper burial site for Dad.

Thinking about it made my nose sting with tears.

I'd never been one to cry easily. I didn't cry while taking care of Dad. I didn't cry when he died.

Even up until now, I kept thinking that if I just tried harder, maybe everything could still turn around.

But pain always comes with delayed realization. Only now was I gradually accepting the reality that Dad had left me forever.

Tears slid down my cheeks slowly. My hands shook uncontrollably as I packed, but then suddenly the doorbell rang.

Damon went to answer it, and I looked over too.

The visitor was very familiar—it was the same girl who'd been selecting gemstones at the luxury store.

She smiled as she looked at Damon.

"Damon, I was worried she'd cling to you and refuse to let go, so I came specially to protect you. These scheming Omegas can be very hard to shake off. You got the agreement signed, right? I'm here to take you home."

Damon's expression immediately softened considerably.

"You're so thoughtful."

The woman smiled down at her feet, then turned her gaze to me.

"What a pleasure to meet you. Damon mentions you often. I thought you might be different from other lower-class people, but turns out you're just a clumsy liar with bad acting skills. Now that you've gotten your money back, you don't need to keep pretending. Why don't you bring your father back to life? Though I'm afraid if you say too many unlucky things, they might actually come true."

Her mocking tone and disdainful look made the anger I'd been suppressing impossible to control any longer.

She could insult me all she wanted, but talking about my father? I couldn't tolerate that.

Almost instinctively, I reached out to slap her. Damon roared in fury, but that little white flower was already sprawled on the ground several feet away.

"Sage, are you insane? Hit a nerve, did she? Do you know who you're standing in front of?"

Did it matter who she was to me now? I had nothing left to lose.

I ignored his threats. My hand had somehow shifted into wolf claws. I teleported over, yanked the woman up, and gave her another vicious slap.

But before I could vent completely, several men in black suits suddenly burst through the door and pinned me to the ground.

The woman climbed up awkwardly and threw herself crying into Damon's arms.

"Damon, I was just kindly trying to reason with her, but she attacked me! I already recorded evidence of her hitting me with a memory stone. I'm going to demand the Wolf Council punish her!"

I was forced to kneel on the ground, unable to move an inch, could only glare at her through gritted teeth.

She pulled out a memory stone hidden in her collar and gave me a sinister smile.

"She didn't just deceive your feelings—she even concealed her true identity. She's clearly not an Omega at all! She disguised herself to get close to you, definitely with ill intentions! Good thing we've been prepared all along!"

Damon looked at me with a dark expression, gently patted my face, then raised his hand and struck hard.

The pain hit as expected—an especially forceful slap that made tears shoot from my eyes.

A flash of reluctance crossed his eyes, but when he looked at me, there was nothing but disappointment.

"I never thought we'd come to this. You almost passed my test, but you exposed yourself at the last moment. I didn't expect you to hide even your wolf nature from me. Maybe you never had genuine feelings for me at all."

"After five years together, I did truly love you. This slap is just paying back what you did to Ivory. Let's part on good terms. You and I were never meant to be on the same path."

The restrained woman still seemed unsatisfied.

"Damon, you're just too soft-hearted. That's why this gold-digger could play you for a fool. She even pretended to be an Omega to get close to you. Who knows if she's a spy sent by another pack, deliberately trying to disrupt our wolf community? You made so many efforts to get the pack to accept an Omega as our Luna."

Damon looked down at me from above, his eyes full of pity, as if he felt sorry for me.

But during these five years we'd been together, we'd both been sincere with each other. I'd even given more—time, energy, money. I'd given him everything I could. Meanwhile, he'd never given me a single gift.

Maybe that was part of his "test" too, but honestly speaking, I didn't owe him anything.

I spoke coldly to Damon:

"Is it fun to toy with someone's genuine feelings? In this relationship, I never wronged you. Maybe I wasn't good enough for you, but you have no right to insult my feelings."

"From beginning to end, you're the only one who wronged me."