OFF SCRIPT

Evan

I stared at my father in utter shock and confusion, because this wasn't the plan. He just went off script at the last minute, but I didn't react, and I wasn't going to undermine my father's authority in front of anyone. John stood up and pointed to the door.

"Get the hell out of my house."

Joshua looked like he was holding on by a thread, and if it snapped, there was going to be blood everywhere.

"John, we can talk about this," my dad said.

But John, who never overreacted, walked out, followed by Odessa.

"Well, that turned out horribly," I said when we got to the car.

"Drive," my father ordered the driver immediately. We both had our seat belts fastened. He didn't say a single word, and I wanted to stay quiet. I really did, but I just couldn't.

"What the heck was that?"

"We are going to talk about it when we get home," he said, shutting the conversation down before it even started.

"Unbelievable," I mumbled under my breath.

And the car ride back home wasn't supposed to be more than an hour and a half, but it felt like three hours. When we finally got home, Dad got out of the car, and I followed behind him.

"Are you ready for us to have that conversation now?"

He didn't respond. Instead, he just walked to his study, got in, and slammed the door shut.

I pushed open the door.

"What the heck was that, Dad?" I didn't get why he was angry. I was supposed to be the mad one because, out of nowhere, he was offering the Kades, a family who hated us for years, marriage. Who seriously does that?

"Evan, I am not in the mood for this conversation," my father said, rubbing his temples.

"That wasn't the plan, Dad. Why would you change things at the last minute without telling me?"

He didn't respond immediately.

"I did what I thought was best, helping them in return for our families' marging. Is that really a bad thing?"

I paced back and forth for a couple of seconds.

"Hmm, I don't know. You tell me, because we haven't talked to them in almost 7 years, and you just walked into their house offering marriage like it was some achievement. What exactly did you think was going to be the outcome? John was going to open his arms and embrace you?"

I felt so hurt that my father would do such a thing and not include me, and I was surprised that he thought money would be able to buy them over. He has known John for so long, and this was his plan: using money to woo them.

"Dad, the plan was simple. We would help them because we knew they needed help, no strings attached. It was supposed to be a show of..."

"What wasn't going to work," he stopped me before I could finish.

I stared at my father closely.

"Dad, what aren't you telling me?"

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my head, and my vision blurred a little bit. But I kept standing. I refused to sit down.

"Are you okay?" my father asked, instantly worried.

"Dad, I'm fine," I said, my voice strained.

Mia chose me over Joshua. She rejected Joshua, who was her fated mate, because of me. Saying it out loud felt like reopening a wound that never truly healed. And I hated how much I hurt my friend.

 I only got together with her because we were betrothed from childhood, and after two years of being together, it didn't work. I only ever had eyes for one person, and even admitting it to myself scared me, because I knew it was impossible to have her, and maybe this marriage proposal my father brought was going to work. But then again, this idea is completely selfish, and I still had no idea why my father brought it up in the first place.

"I think an alliance between our two families is going to be what heals this... wound between us," my father said.

But I wasn't convinced that he was telling me the whole truth because he couldn't maintain eye contact with me. He kept looking away.

"You know the Kades are not going to agree, and you should have asked me first."

I slowly stumbled back, feeling very lightheaded and coughing uncontrollably. When I stared at my hands, there was blood all over them.

My father stood up from his chair, slowly walking towards me, but I instinctively moved back.

"Dad... Dad, I'm fine. You have nothing to worry about," I lied, and my head felt like it was going to explode, and I could barely see what was in front of me.

"Evan, are you sure?" The worry in his voice was so evident, even though I knew he was trying to hide it.

"I promise to tell you why I made the decision today when the time comes, but right now, I think we need to get you to the pack healer."

"No," I said, shaking my head violently. "I'm perfectly fine, Dad."

But it felt like the more I lied to him, the sicker I became. My insides felt like they were on fire, and I fell to my knees. I couldn't keep standing anymore. My father was already at my side.

"Look at me, Evan."

I was coughing, and my mouth filled with the taste of blood.

I felt like my life was slowly starting to leave my body, and slowly, the darkness began pulling me in. I could no longer keep my eyes open. My father's face grew blurry, and the more the darkness covered me, the more peace I felt.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

"Evan, I need you to keep your eyes open, okay? I am getting the healer," he spoke with such urgency in his voice, but the darkness had already claimed me before I could reply.

Chapter 4 Night, Night, Odessa:

Odessa

I sat alone in my room holding the box he had handed to me yesterday. I was going through so many different emotions right now. What exactly was the plan? Did Evan really think my dad was going to just sell me off because his company was at the verge of collapsing? Did I really worth that little to Evan?

I didn't even want to know the answer to that question.

After summoning so much courage, I finally opened the box, and there was a small butterfly-shaped knife inside of it. I picked it up, hoping there was like a note or something, but there wasn't. Only the knife, and seeing it just made me smile so hard. I couldn't believe he actually got it. I remembered mentioning it to him once, and six years later, he fulfilled his promise. I sighed, placing the knife back into the box. I kept wondering why exactly things were this messed up.

First, it was my family's company, and now I was pretty sure Josh hated me. I tried talking to him throughout last night, but he refused to speak to anyone or even have dinner with us.

I got off my bed, picked up my phone, and tried calling him for the 50th time, but it went straight to voicemail again.

If my brother wasn't going to talk to me, then I guess I would have to go to his house. It was that simple.

I got out of the house and headed straight to my car. I got in, and immediately I closed the door, I felt a very strange, suffocating kind of smell. I couldn't breathe properly, and it felt like someone had been in my car.

My sense of smell was stronger than that of everybody in my house, and sometimes it was actually misleading, but this wasn't. I could swear there was someone in my car not too long ago.

But I quickly shook it off. Maybe my paranoia was getting to me or something, but I couldn't be thinking of things like this. It was getting weird.

I drove out the gate and headed straight to Josh's house, but the feeling of being watched felt so strong.

I suddenly took the wrong turn, changing paths from the road that led to Joshua's place. And the two red cars that had been tailing me from half an hour ago followed almost immediately, and that was when I realized, shit, I was being stalked. 

My heart began racing fast as I began speeding on the road, trying to lose them, but I wasn't that good of a driver, and their cars seemed faster than mine. 

But I wasn't ready to give up. Hell no. Whatever these freaks wanted, they were not going to get it. I began speeding so fast, and when I looked out the window again, I couldn't see them. 

It felt like I could finally breathe, like I could finally relax, because what the hell was that? Suddenly, my car began slowing down. I heard a weird sound from underneath my car, or was it the tire? I didn't know what made that sound, but I quickly maneuvered my way and parked by the side of the road. 

That was when I realized this was a fucking lonely road. Oh my Goddess, just when I thought today couldn't get any worse, life has a funny way of always coming to bite people on the ass.

I got down from the car to check what was wrong. It wasn't like I even knew anything about cars.

There was smoke coming from under the car. I didn't know what to do. I pulled out my phone from my pocket to at least call my brother... but there was no service.

"NO!" I screamed, frustrated. How exactly was I going to get out of here? I was terrified because it was slowly starting to get dark, and no single car was passing, and if I decided to walk back home, there was a high chance I was going to die on the road.

I looked up at the sky. "Why are you making my life more miserable, Moon Goddess?"

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a car speeding from up ahead, heading towards me. I couldn't believe my ears until I saw the lights. It was moving with so much speed. I began waving, trying to get them to stop.

But from how fast the car was going, I wasn't sure they were even going to see me. But the more I kept waving and screaming, I noticed the car slowing down until they were right next to me.

"What happened?" the woman in the driver's seat asked.

And God, I was so grateful it was a woman. I felt a little safe. "My freaking car broke down."

"Would you like to get in?" she asked so nicely. "Both my kids are at the back, but we could give you a ride."

"That would be amazing. Thank you so much."

I got into the back, and within seconds, we were on the road. Her kids sat quietly, and I couldn't really see their faces from how dark the car was.

After a couple of minutes, I realized I had no idea where this woman was taking me.

"Ma'am, I don't know where this is, but this is not the direction I gave you."

She didn't respond. Slowly, I began panicking, but I didn't let it show.

"Ma'am?"

"You need to relax, Odessa. You have nothing to worry about. You are in good hands."

Now I was freaking out completely. The both kids sitting at the back with me didn't say a single word. They both sat straight. I tapped one, and he fell apart.

They were both mannequins! I screamed.

"Please... please, I don't know who you are, but let me go!"

"Night, night, Odessa," was all she said, and it felt like my entire body was under a spell. I was paralyzed with fear, but I couldn't move or even do anything.

My eyes were slowly beginning to close. My eyelids felt heavy. The more I fought to keep them open, the more my body felt weak, and I couldn't stay awake any longer, and I just allowed the darkness to swallow me.

When I opened my eyes again, I screamed, completely disoriented and wondering exactly where I was.

The room was so bright, nothing like that dark car. My heart slammed violently against my ribs.

I rushed to the door of the room, trying to open it. My hands were shaking terribly, but I knew I had to get out of here... wherever here was.

The moment I was finally able to open the door, I came face to face with Alpha Grayson.

"What... what... you..."

I was just saying gibberish.

"I know I have a lot of explaining to do," he said calmly, "but I need you to calm down. No one is going to hurt you here. You are safe. I knew if I had asked nicely, you wouldn't come..."

"So you decided to kidnap me," I said, finally able to speak.

"I'm sorry, Odessa, but my son is dying, and you are the only key to saving his life.”