Was there another man?

Little stepsister?

The blood drained from my face.

He knew.

Every desperate hope I'd clung to since walking into the VIP lounge crumbled in an instant.

My lips parted, but no sound came out.

How long had he known?

Since the moment I stepped through the door?

Since he ordered them to bring me over?

Or had he recognised me the second our eyes met?

My silence seemed to amuse him.

"You actually believed that mask would fool me?" he asked, giving a slow shake of his head. "Five years apart, and that's the best disguise you could come up with?"

I instinctively reached for the mask.

Before my fingers could touch it, Braxton let go of my wrist and grabbed the edge of the silver fabric himself.

The ribbon snapped.

The mask scraped across my cheek as he ripped it away, leaving behind a sharp sting before it landed somewhere on the floor.

Cool air brushed against my face.

There was nowhere left to hide.

His eyes travelled over every familiar feature as though committing them to memory all over again. For a brief, dangerous moment, I thought I saw relief flicker across his face.

It vanished so quickly I wondered if I'd imagined it.

"So..." His jaw tightened. "It really is you."

The words lodged like a stone in my chest.

"Brax..." His name slipped out before I could stop it.

His expression hardened immediately.

"Don't call me that." He took a slow step towards me, his eyes never leaving mine. "You lost the right to call me Brax the day you decided to die."

I felt my throat tighten. "I..."

"No." He cut me off with a bitter smile. "You don't get to speak yet. I've spent five years listening to silence. You can listen to me for once."

I lowered my eyes because there was nothing I could say that would erase the last five years.

Braxton laughed under his breath, though there wasn't a trace of amusement in the sound. He turned away for a moment, dragging a hand across his jaw before facing me again.

"They told me you fell off a cliff." His voice remained calm, but each word struck harder than the last. "By the time I got there, all they found was blood."

My fingers curled into my palms.

"I searched the bottom of that cliff until my hands bled." His eyes settled on me again. "For three days."

I shut my eyes.

Please… Not this.

"I refused to believe you were gone." He gave another quiet laugh. "Do you know how pathetic that made me look? My Beta had to drag me away because I wouldn't stop searching."

My vision blurred.

"I thought if I looked long enough, I'd find you alive."

The words cut deeper than any accusation could have.

"I never found you."

Silence stretched between us.

When I finally looked up again, Braxton was already watching me.

"They buried an empty coffin." His voice almost broke. "There wasn't even a body to bury, Scarlett."

My breathing became uneven.

"I stood in front of that grave wondering why the Moon Goddess would be cruel enough to take you from me." His jaw clenched. "I blamed myself for not protecting you. I blamed myself for every argument we'd ever had. I kept thinking there had to be something I could've done differently."

He paused, studying my face. "Do you know what hurts the most?"

I couldn't answer.

"The fact that none of it was real." He laughed again, shaking his head slowly. "You weren't dead."

His eyes darkened. "You were alive."

Every word stripped away another piece of the wall I'd spent five years building around myself.

"I buried you," he continued quietly. "I mourned you. I spent night after night sitting beside a grave with your name carved into it..."

He took another step closer until only a breath separated us.

"While you were here."

The scent of cedar and rain surrounded me, achingly familiar.

Once, it had been home. Now it felt like judgment.

My eyes burned, but I refused to let the tears fall.

If I cried now, he would think I was asking for sympathy.

I didn't deserve it.

Braxton searched my face for another long moment before speaking again.

"So tell me." His voice dropped lower. "Why?"

The question I'd feared for five years had finally come.

I looked away. "I can't."

His brows drew together. "You can't..."

"I can't tell you." I repeated.

His laugh was short and disbelieving.

"I spent five years believing you were dead, Scarlett, and all you have for me is 'I can't tell you'?" He scowled.

My throat tightened painfully. "I had my reasons."

"What reasons?" His gaze sharpened. "Give me one reason that makes any of this make sense."

I opened my mouth but nothing came out.

Because the truth wasn't mine alone.

Because exposing his father wouldn't just destroy the Alpha.

It would destroy my mother too.

The old wounds I'd spent years burying threatened to tear open all over again.

Braxton waited.

When the silence dragged on, whatever patience he'd been holding onto slowly disappeared from his face.

"You still won't tell me." It wasn't a question.

I lowered my head. "No."

His eyes remained on me for another long moment before he nodded once, almost to himself.

"Then answer me this instead." His voice was calm again. "Was there another man?”

My head snapped up so quickly my neck protested.

"What?" The word came out barely above a whisper as I stared at him in disbelief. "There was never another man."

Braxton held my gaze for a long moment before letting out a hollow laugh.

"Then explain it to me." He spread his hands, the bitterness in his voice no longer hidden. "Help me understand why the woman who swore she'd spend the rest of her life with me suddenly disappeared without a word."

"I can't." I said, lowering my head even more.

"You can't?" He took another step towards me, forcing me to look up at him. "Or you won't?"

I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek. "It doesn't matter now."

"It matters to me." His voice sharpened for the first time since I'd seen him again. "It mattered every single day for the last five years."

I lowered my eyes, unable to bear the hurt burning behind his anger.

"I'm sorry." The apology slipped out before I could stop it.

Braxton went still.

Then he laughed again, quieter this time.

"Sorry?" He repeated the word as though it left a bitter taste in his mouth. "Do you really think that's enough?"

"No." I shook my head.

"It isn't." He gave a slow nod, almost as if he'd finally reached the end of something. "I spent years convincing myself you had a reason. I told myself you wouldn't betray me unless you had no choice."

His eyes searched mine one last time. "I was wrong."

Something inside me broke.

"If I had to choose again..." My voice trembled despite my efforts to steady it. "I'd still leave."

The words hung heavily between us and for a heartbeat, neither of us moved.

Then every trace of pain disappeared from Braxton's face, replaced by a coldness I'd never seen before.

"Then the woman I loved really did die five years ago." His gaze drifted over the silver outfit clinging to my body before returning to my eyes.

A look of undisguised contempt settled across his face.

"You're just another whore now." He sneered. "And you'll do what a whore is paid to do.”