Chapter 3

Casey’s footsteps faltered.

I quickly lowered my voice. “Stop it!”

Luke clenched his teeth and held back.

Casey only paused briefly before getting into his car.

Lately, I had been feeling my wolf unraveling more and more, my mind slipping in and out of clarity.

The moment I got into Luke’s car and settled into the seat, my vision went blank. Leaning against the backrest, I mumbled in a daze, “The 50,000 I owe you… I’ll find another way to pay you back…”

I was ten years old when I learned my father had another she-wolf outside.

That winter, the cold came suddenly. Casey and I had just come home from school and pushed open the front door, only to see our father sitting in the living room with a strange she-wolf beside him.

Our mother's eyes were swollen red, and she choked with tears.

Casey instantly stepped in front of me, covering my eyes with his hand.

“Cora, don’t look. Listen to me.”

He then led me upstairs.

That night, when I went down to get water, I passed by my parents’ bedroom and heard our father’s cold voice through the door.

“If you can’t accept it, then break the bond. Aren’t there plenty of Alphas in other packs who’ve done the same?”

However, breaking a bond was not something that could be done so easily, and the process dragged on for more than half a year.

In the end, our mother agreed to leave with nothing so that she could have custody of Casey and me.

From a castle estate of several thousand square feet, we moved into a shabby house barely 500 square feet.

Our mother worked odd jobs during the day and begged lawyers for help at night, gritting her teeth as she demanded child support from our father again and again.

She was busy. Most of the time, it was just Casey and me, looking after each other.

Every day after school, he would wait at my classroom door and take my hand to walk me home.

To save a bit of money on the bus fare, we often walked the long way through dark streets.

Whenever I grew tired and complained about my sore feet, he would bend down, let me climb onto his back, and laugh. “Such a pup, always so spoiled. I’ll carry you home.”

One night, after carrying me home, his congenital heart disease flared up. His wolf body convulsed, and he collapsed onto the old couch.

I panicked and rushed to find his medicine, but when I opened the drawer under the coffee table, all I saw was an empty pill bottle.

That night, our mother did not come home. She had gone to confront our father for child support.

I used the landline to call for an ambulance and followed the paramedics as they rushed Casey to the medical facility. His hospitalization fees, plus the medication he needed afterward, were a massive amount for our mother.

It was then that I realized only our Alpha father could truly save him.

The next morning, as Casey lay pale-faced in the hospital bed, with dark circles under his eyes, he suddenly pulled out a bracelet from his pocket, as if performing a magic trick, and handed it to me. “Happy birthday, Cora.”

That bracelet had cost 50,000 dollars.

Casey was still underage at the time and was unable to officially register for work in the pack. He had secretly cut back on his own medication to buy me the gift I had dreamed of.

My heart ached to the point of tears. However, when I took the bracelet, I deliberately frowned and said, “This isn’t the limited edition I wanted. I told you I wanted the moon-silver chain necklace.”

He fell silent for a long time before whispering, “Someday… when I can earn money, I’ll get it for you—”

I interrupted him, saying, “I don’t want to stay here anymore. I want to go back to Dad.”

His lips trembled, and with effort, he raised his hand to brush my forehead. “You’re just talking nonsense again, aren’t you?”

I shoved him away, impatience written all over my face.

We stared at each other in silence, and the air froze.

Finally, his hoarse voice broke the stillness. “You… really mean that?”

I did go back to our father. I went back to the manor in the highlands, wore new clothes, and restored my dignity. I returned to my elite school, where there was no trace of my brother.

Then, when I turned 16, our mother fell critically ill and was rushed into a medical facility. They announced that she was dying.

However, that night, I was on our father’s yacht, celebrating his birthday.

As fireworks lit up the sky, Casey reached out to me through our mind link. It was the first time he had ever cried while speaking to me. His words were broken, desperate.

“Cora… Please come back… Mom says she wants to see you one last time.”

However, all I said was, “Dad’s party isn’t over yet. Maybe… tomorrow.”

The next day, when I went back, I never saw our mother again. Only her death certificate awaited me.

Casey had stood at the hospital ward door, saying coldly, “Cora Windsor, don’t ever appear in front of me again.”

That was the first time he had ever called me by my full name.

I never even saw our mother's body. Afterward, Casey and I went no contact for six years straight.

I jolted awake from the haze in my mind when I heard Luke’s voice. “We’re at your place.”

He leaned over to unbuckle my seatbelt.

“You… were crying?”

His gaze darkened as he studied me. “Your father is already in Silver Prison. Why won’t you tell Casey the truth? Wasn’t it you who swore that once Charles Windsor fell, you'd immediately go back to Casey and visit your mother’s grave?”

I said nothing. Luke was my best friend now. I did not want him to know about my illness.

His voice dropped lower. “Cora… Did something happen?”

I pushed the door open and bolted, escaping up the stairs. However, after just a few flights, I was so dizzy I saw stars.

I stumbled into my apartment and collapsed straight onto the couch, drifting into a heavy sleep.

When I woke, hunger gnawed at me. I wanted to find something to eat, but I could not stand up.

It was getting worse.

I needed to get to the hospital. With great effort, I finally managed to press the number for my emergency contact, but the line took forever to connect. At last, a cold voice answered after a long silence.

“What is it?”

Then, it struck me. I had set Casey as my emergency contact.