WHO ARE YOU?

MAYA

The slammed oak door was still echoing in my ears, but the silence that followed inside the hallway felt even louder. My chest heaved as tears burned down my cheeks, hot and bitter. My hands were shaking so hard I had to ball them into fists to stop the trembling.

I didn’t push Edward away because I hated him. God knew I didn't hate him. I did it out of pure, suffocating pain.

My heart felt like it had been ripped apart and scattered across the cold floorboards. I loved Edward with every fiber of my being. But hearing him confess that he had walked into a trap, carrying a gun, keeping secrets, and letting Maria wrap her sharp wires around his neck—it broke something inside me. I knew the grief he carried. I knew that ever since Philomena died, a part of Edward had died alongside her, leaving behind a darkness that sometimes blinded his judgment. But he should have trusted me. He should have known that no matter how dangerous Maria’s games were, he didn't have to face them alone or hide them behind closed doors.

Instead, he kept it all inside, letting Maria manipulate him and drag him into a nightmare where he was framed for his own brother’s murder.

A sudden, white-hot fury washed over my grief, replacing the sadness with pure rage. This wasn't just about Edward's mistakes anymore, this was about the parasitic viper living under our roof, poisoning every life she touched.

Without thinking, without caring about the consequences or the late hour, I turned on my heel and marched down the dimly lit hallway toward Maria’s wing of the pack house.

The corridor was quiet, but every step I took sounded like thunder in my mind. I didn't knock. I didn't hesitate. I threw the heavy double doors of her suite wide open.

The room was luxurious, filled with expensive velvet drapes, silk sheets, and the overwhelming scent of sweet jasmine perfume that always made me want to gag. Maria was lying in the center of her massive canopy bed, fast asleep, looking like a peaceful queen who hadn't just destroyed lives.

The sight of her serene face sent me over the edge.

I rushed across the marble floor, grabbed a handful of her silky black hair, and yanked her upward with every ounce of strength I had.

"Get up!" I screamed.

Maria let out a sharp, ear-piercing shriek of pain and shock. Her eyes flew open, wide and filled with confusion, before turning into wild rage as she realized who was standing over her.

"What are you doing, you crazy bitch?!" she gasped, clutching at my hand, trying to loosen my grip as I dragged her half off the bed. "Let go of me!"

"How dare you?" My voice cracked, dripping with pure venom as I shoved her back against the pillows, leaning down so our faces were inches apart. "How dare you blackmail him?! He is your Alpha, he is my husband, and all he has ever done was try to maintain some form of peace for this pack despite how vile you are!"

Maria sneered, her shock quickly morphing into that arrogant, condescending mask she always wore. She pushed my hands off her and sat up, smoothing her tangled hair, though her chest was breathing heavily.

"You insolent little trash," Maria hissed, her eyes dark with malice. "You come into my bedroom in the middle of the night laying hands on me? You have no idea who you're dealing with, Maya. Edward is a murderer! I have the video to prove it. He put a bullet in his own half-brother's chest!"

"He didn't shoot Lucas, and you know it!" I yelled back, stepping closer, refusing to give her an inch. "You set him up! You stood in the dark like the coward you are, had someone shoot your own son with a silencer, and then recorded it to frame Edward!"

Maria's eyes flickered for a fraction of a second, but she instantly covered it with a cold, cruel laugh. "You sound delusional. The evidence speaks for itself. Edward held the gun. Lucas died. That makes Edward a fratricide killer. And the penalty is banishment. Unless, of course, he obeys me."

"You monster," I spat, tears of rage brimming in my eyes. "You killed Philomena, didn't you? You destroyed Philomena’s father, you ruined the throne, and I am pretty sure you sacrificed your own womb  just to get control over the pack again! Now you're blackmailing his brother to send me away and replace me? How evil are you?!"

Maria stood up from the bed, stepping right up to me. She was taller, her presence suffocating, but I didn't back down.

"I am protecting what belongs to this pack!" Maria shouted, her face twisting into pure disgust. "You think you belong here? You are nothing! You're a nobody who crawled out of nowhere and seduced Edward when he was weak and grieving! You made him soft! You made him a weak Alpha! A maid! A low-life bottom-feeder who doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as pack royalty!"

Her words were meant to crush me, to remind me of the fake background everyone believed I had. But listening to her call me names—listening to this murderer speak about royalty—something snapped in my brain. The sheer absurdity of her arrogance made my blood boil past the point of caution.

"I am NOT a maid!" I barked, taking a furious step forward, my voice booming through the room. "Nor am I some low-life you can walk over! I am Phi—"

CRASH!

A deafening noise shattered the room.

A large, heavy golden picture frame mounted on the wall right beside us suddenly gave way, plunging straight onto the marble floor. The glass shattered into a thousand glittering pieces with a sound like a gunshot, echoing loudly off the walls.

The sharp sound cut off the word right in my throat.

I froze. My breath hitched, my heart slamming against my ribs like a trapped bird.

I looked down at the shattered glass on the floor, my eyes wide with sudden horror. The picture that had fallen was an old portrait of the pack elders, framed in heavy bronze.

Philomena.

The name had almost left my lips. In my blind, furious rage, I had been seconds away from shouting my true identity into the face of my worst enemy. I had been about to tell her that I was Philomena—that the woman she thought she destroyed, the woman whose death had broken Edward, was standing right in front of her.

The loud crash of the falling frame was like a slap across my face, waking me up from my reckless anger. If I had revealed myself right now, without proof, without plan, without Edward knowing the full truth... Maria would have used it to finish what she started years ago. She would have eliminated me before I could ever expose her.

The picture falling had saved me.

Maria jumped back at the noise, clutching her chest, her eyes wide as she stared at the shattered glass on the floor before turning her gaze back to me.

"What were you about to say?" Maria asked softly, her eyes narrowing as suspicion crept into her expression. "You are who?"

I forced my muscles to relax, breathing through my nose to settle the wild panic in my heart. I pulled my shoulders back and met her cold gaze, locking my emotions behind a wall of ice.

"I am the next one he loves just as much as he loved Philomena," I said quietly, my voice steady and cold as steel. "I am the woman Edward loves now. And I am the Alpha's wife. You can play your sick videotape, Maria. You can try to threaten us with banishment and lies. But hear me clearly—I am not going anywhere. And I will tear your web down piece by piece until everyone in this pack sees you for the monster you are."

Maria stared at me, her lips parted slightly, caught off guard by the absolute hatred and confidence in my eyes.

Without giving her another second to respond or question what almost slipped out of my mouth, I turned on my heel and walked out of her suite, leaving her standing alone among the broken glass.

As I walked back down the dark hallway toward our room, the adrenaline began to fade, leaving behind the heavy, aching grief. My hands were still shaking. I knew I had to fix things with Edward. I had pushed him out of pain, but seeing the evil we were fighting made one thing painfully clear: we couldn't afford to be divided.

I opened the door to our bedroom. Edward was still sitting on the edge of the bed where I had left him, his head buried in his hands, looking completely defeated.

He lifted his head when he heard me enter, his dark eyes filled with a raw, desperate fear that broke my heart all over again.

"Maya..." he whispered, standing up slowly as if afraid I would run away again.

I closed the door behind me and locked it. I walked across the room, stopped right in front of him, and cupped his jaw with both my hands.

"We are going to fight her, Edward," I said, tears blurring my vision as I looked deep into his eyes. "Together."