Chapter 6: Now We're Even

⌁⌁ Ashton Knight ⌁⌁

The next morning dragged by unbearably slowly.

At exactly nine o’clock, my office door opened, and Shanna walked in.

She looked immaculate in a sharp, tailored coat, her posture straight and elegant. Thick brunette waves framed her heart-shaped face, and her large hazel-brown eyes, once so familiar to me, now met mine with a cold, detached stare. Her rose-tinted lips were pressed into a thin line, and not a trace of the heartbreak I'd expected showed on the beautiful face I had spent three years waking up beside.

She didn't look like a heartbroken wife. She looked like a stranger who had come to finalize a business transaction.

“You’re punctual,” I noted, leaning against the edge of my desk to mask the strange thumping of my heart.

“Let’s get this over with,” Shanna said, her voice completely devoid of emotion. “The first thing I want to discuss is the alimony. How much will I receive?”

I named a staggering figure—a sum that would set anyone up for life.

“I’d like to see the money first before I sign.”

I turned to Jared, who stood quietly in the corner of the room. “Jared, contact my legal team right now. Have them wire that exact amount to Shanna's private account immediately.”

A bitter satisfaction curled in my chest. Just as Vivian had predicted. At the end of the day, Shanna only cared about power, status, and money.

Jared hesitated, casting a conflicted, uneasy glance toward Shanna, but he followed my orders, pulling out his tablet.

A few minutes later, Shanna’s phone chimed softly in her pocket. She pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and confirmed that the full amount had been credited to her account and was available for withdrawal.

Only then did she step forward and pick up the pen resting beside the thick divorce contract on my desk.

She flipped to the final page and signed her name with a sharp, effortless stroke.

Then she laid the pen down, looked up, and met my gaze head-on.

“The money is in my account, and the papers are signed,” Shanna said, a chilling, hollow smile touching her lips. “Now, Alpha Ashton... you can reject me.”

My breath hitched as the finality of her words struck me like a freight train.

I pushed away from the desk and stepped directly in front of her. Her expression remained unchanged, her hazel eyes giving nothing away. I searched her face for even the slightest hint of hesitation, but found none. Swallowing the strange uneasiness rising in my throat, I raised my chin and spoke the ancient, binding words of severance aloud:

“I, Alpha Ashton Knight, reject you, Shanna Reed, as my mate and my Luna.”

The moment the words left my lips, the universe ripped apart inside my chest.

White-hot agony tore through my veins as the sacred mate bond shattered, a searing blaze ripping through my soul. The shock stole the breath from my lungs. My knees buckled, and I dropped hard onto one knee, clutching my chest as I struggled to breathe. A deafening pulse hammered through my skull, drowning out everything around me.

Across from me, Shanna staggered, her face turning deathly pale as she gripped the corner of the desk to keep from collapsing. Her fingers trembled against the polished surface, and her knees threatened to buckle. For a fleeting moment, I saw the pain twisting her features before she forced it under control.

For one terrifying moment, we remained trapped in the wreckage of our broken bond.

Slowly, painfully, Shanna forced herself upright. She wiped a drop of blood from the corner of her lip, her eyes locking onto mine one last time with glacial detachment.

“Now we're even,” Shanna whispered, her voice hollow. “Goodbye, Ashton. May we never meet again.”

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