I said no.

Lilith's POV.

“You don’t need to go back there,” Alpha Oliver's voice snapped me out of my trance. “I’ll have everything you need brought here.”

For a moment, I just stared at him.

Because I didn’t understand how someone could say something like that so easily… as though cutting ties with everything I had ever known, even if it was pain, was something simple... Life must have been so great for him.

“You don’t understand,” I said quietly, shaking my head as I pushed myself up from the chair, my fingers curling slightly at my sides. “They are still my family. I can’t just leave them like that."

His expression didn’t change much, but something in his eyes softened… just slightly. "So much for being your family with what I witnessed them do to you today."

That made something twist painfully in my chest. “I know,” I murmured. “But it’s not that simple." I exhaled slowly, trying to find the right words, trying to make him understand something I wasn’t even sure I fully understood myself. “I need to go back.”

He simply nodded after a short while of silence. "Be careful."

Despite how simple the words were, they did something to me, because no one had ever said that to me before; like my safety actually mattered.

I nodded slowly, even though something inside me tightened at the thought of stepping back into that house again.

“I will.”

...

“Look who finally decided to come crawling back.” father's voice fired at me the second I walked in.

Exactly the same, as cruel as he's always been towards me.

Somehow, something inside me snapped, maybe alpha Oliver was right, maybe I really don't need them.

“I didn’t come back for this,” I said, closing the door behind me.

He was standing in the middle of the room, his arms crossed, his expression already twisted in that familiar look of disapproval that I had spent my entire life trying.. and failing, to escape.

“Oh?” he replied, his brows lifting slightly as his eyes dragged over me, as though assessing something. “Then why are you here?”

“I came to get my things."

There was a pause.

“Your things?” he repeated slowly.

“I won’t be staying here anymore,” I added, forcing the words out before I could lose the courage to say them.

“Ah,” he said finally, a slow, knowing smile creeping onto his face, one that immediately made something in my stomach tighten. “So you claw your way into alpha Oliver's life playing pity and you think you're a big shot now huh? Talking back at me because you've seen the alpha's nakedness, you're nothing but a disgraceful little slut."

I frowned slightly. "How can you even use such word on your daughter? What have I ever done to you?"

His expression never faltered for a second. "Isn't that what is happening? Aren't you sleeping with the alpha?"

"Nothing of the sort is happening, Alpha Oliver only wants me to work for him." I breathed out in desperation.

Surprisingly, the frown on his face vanished and a wide smile broke out. "Wow, I guess you aren't so useless afterall."

Something about the way he said that made my chest tighten again. "I'm sorry what is that supposed to mean?"

He stopped in front of me, his gaze locking onto mine, and for a brief moment, I saw it clearly, something was forming behind his eyes.

“You’ll give the position to Nora.”

I went numb for a second, maybe I didn't hear him clearly, maybe my mind is just playing tricks, I mean no one in their right senses would say such right?

“What?” I whispered.

“You heard me,” he replied, his tone already losing patience, as though my confusion was nothing more than an inconvenience. “You’ll step aside and let your sister take your place. That way, she can get close to the Alpha.”

My heart dropped so suddenly it felt like the air had been knocked out of me.

“That’s not possible,” I said quickly, shaking my head as I took a small step back. “He chose me. It doesn’t work like that.”

“Then you’ll make it work,” he snapped.

I froze.

Because there it was again; that control, like I had no choice, like I never even had a choice.

“She can marry him,” he continued, his voice growing more serious now, more focused on his own ambition than anything else. “Do you have any idea what that would mean for this family? The influence alone...

“And what about me?” I cut in before I could stop myself.

The words slipped out.

His eyes narrowed slightly. “You?” he repeated.

“Yes, me,” I said, my voice trembling just slightly now, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. “You’re asking me to give up the one thing that’s ever been mine, just so Nora can benefit from it, you don't even know what the job is about.”

He scoffed dryly. "All this tantrums isn't my concern, you will do as I say." He blurted. “This is not a request, Lilith. You will step aside, and your sister will take your place. That is how this will go.”

Something inside me… snapped, like a thread that had been stretched too far for too long.

“No.” The word came out before I could stop it.

His expression darkened instantly. “What did you just say?”

My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat, in my ears, in every part of me that was screaming at me to take it back, to apologize, to make this easier, just like I've always done.

But I didn’t.

“I said no,” I repeated, lifting my gaze to meet his fully this time, even though it felt like standing in front of something that could crush me without effort. “I’m not giving it to Nora.”

His burning gaze seized me up for a second.

“You are nothing in that house,” he hissed. “Do you really think you can keep that position? Do you think the Alpha will tolerate you once he realizes what you are?”

The words hit exactly where they were meant to, deeply and painfully but I refused to let him win.

“He already knows,” I blurted.

His jaw tightened. "If you don't do as I say, consider yourself disowned, you will no longer be a daughter of mine." He rasped and somehow that made me chuckle.

"I don't think I've ever been a daughter to you." I let the words without stopping to care what the consequences could be.

"You've grown wings because you spent just a few hours with the alpha huh? this is far from over Lilith, you will regret this!!!" He yelled at my face.

Maybe I would, but for now, I have to choose myself for the first time.

I turned, walked past him, and didn’t stop.