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 Chapter 1

Aria’s POV

It was just another random day‚ and I’d barely stepped into the house after a long day at college when I heard my mom and stepfather arguing again.

“You followed me?!” Mom screamed from the kitchen. “You actually followed me to a hotel like some kind of stalker?”

I stopped in the doorway‚ my bag still hanging from my shoulder.

Honestly‚ I was beginning to think those two couldn’t go a single day without fighting.

I didn’t need to ask what had happened. Judging by the way Mom was shouting‚ whatever she’d done this time had finally caught up with her.

“I followed you because one of my betas saw you walk into the Regency with a man who wasn’t me, Diane,” my stepfather, Kael, replied. His voice was so calm that it was almost frightening. “And when I got there, the front desk confirmed you’d been checking in every Thursday for the past two months. Same room. Same time. So don’t stand there and act like I’m the crazy one.”

“You had no right—”

“I had every right! You’re my wife! You’re the Luna of this pack! Do you have any idea what this does to us? To me? To my reputation?”

“Oh‚ here we go with the reputation bullshit again—”

“It’s not bullshit‚ Diane! I’m running for Alpha King! Every move we make is being watched‚ and you’re out here spreading your legs for some random nobody in a hotel every fucking Thursday!”

I quietly closed the front door and walked into the living room‚ wondering how long it would take before one of them finally ran out of things to scream about.

Judging by experience‚ I wasn’t holding my breath.

I dropped my bag on the couch and walked toward the kitchen‚ only to find Mom standing by the counter with her arms crossed. She was still wearing her going-out dress‚ her hair freshly done‚ and her makeup flawless.

Of course.

The woman looked like she’d just returned from a romantic date instead of getting caught cheating on her husband.

Kael stood across from her‚ his tie loosened and his jaw clenched. He looked exhausted. Not physically‚ but in that way people looked when they’d been fighting the same battle for so long that they were beginning to wonder why they’d bothered picking up a weapon in the first place.

“I saw the messages on your phone‚” he said quietly. “Don’t even try to deny it.”

Mom’s eyes widened.

“You went through my phone?”

I almost rolled my eyes out of their sockets.

Seriously?

“Really‚ Diane?” Kael let out a humorless laugh. “That’s all you have to say?”

Mom opened her mouth‚ then closed it.

For a moment‚ she looked genuinely caught. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

Maybe this time she’d admit what she’d done. Maybe she’d apologize without adding a but at the end. Maybe she’d finally understand that she was destroying a marriage that didn’t deserve to be destroyed.

Then she spoke.

“It didn’t mean anything.”

I stared at her.

Of course it didn’t.

Apparently‚ sleeping with other men meant absolutely nothing to my mother. Neither did lying‚ sneaking around‚ or making her husband look like a complete fool.

At this point‚ I was beginning to wonder what exactly meant something to her.

I loved my mother. I really did. She was the woman who’d raised me on her own for nineteen years before she met Kael. She’d had me when she was fifteen‚ which meant she’d practically grown up alongside me. Sometimes‚ we were more like sisters than mother and daughter.

She was fun‚ wild‚ beautiful‚ and fiercely protective of the people she loved.

But she was also selfish‚ impulsive‚ and apparently incapable of keeping her legs closed once another man caught her attention.

And I hated that I could say all those things about the woman who’d raised me.

I hated it even more because Kael didn’t deserve any of this.

When he married Mom a year ago‚ he welcomed both of us into his life without hesitation. He moved us into his mansion‚ made sure we had everything we needed‚ and treated me like his own daughter even though I wasn’t related to him by blood.

He never made me feel like an outsider. Never made me feel like a burden. He even helped secure a scholarship for me at the most prestigious university in the territory.

The man had given us a life we could only have dreamed of before he came along.

And Mom repaid him by cheating on him.

Repeatedly.

This wasn’t the first time‚ the second time‚ or even the third. It was just the latest in a long line of men my mom couldn’t resist.

And the timing couldn’t have been worse.

Kael was running for Alpha King of the entire territory. If the pack found out his wife had been sneaking around with other men for months‚ his reputation could take a serious hit.

Not that Mom seemed to care.

I couldn’t understand how someone could have so much and still find reasons to throw it all away.

But then again‚ I wasn’t the one sleeping with random men behind my husband’s back.

I pulled out my phone and opened my messages.

If I had to spend another minute listening to my parents tear each other apart‚ I was going to lose my mind.

Thankfully‚ I had Silvia.

My best friend. My ride or die. 


 Me: I need to get out of this house tonight. Is that club thing still happening?


 Three dots appeared immediately.


 Silvia: HELL YES IT IS. Wear a fucking hot dress and bring a mask. Tonight's theme is masquerade.


 Me: What club again?


 Silvia: The Veil. It's that underground club on 8th. VIP rooms‚ open bar if you know the right people‚ and I know the right people. Meet me there at 7pm sharp.


 Me: I'll be there.


 Silvia: THAT'S MY GIRL. Wear something slutty. I mean it. Tonight we forget our problems and make new ones 😈


 I checked the time. It was just past five‚ which gave me enough time to shower‚ get dressed‚ and get the hell out of this house before my mom and Kael's fight turned into round forty-seven.


 I took a long hot shower and tried not to think about anything. Not about my mom. Not about Kael. Not about the fact that this family was falling apart at the seams and I was stuck in the middle of it with nowhere to go except a club where I could pretend to be someone else for a few hours.


 I dried off and stood in front of my closet trying to figure out what to wear. Silvia said slutty. I could do slutty.


 I pulled out a red dress I'd bought months ago and never had the guts to wear. It was tight‚ short‚ with a low neckline that showed just enough cleavage to make someone look twice. The fabric hugged my waist and my hips and stopped mid-thigh. I put it on and looked at myself in the mirror.


 Damn. I looked good.


 I did my makeup quick and simple‚ just enough to make my eyes pop behind a mask. I grabbed a black lace mask from a costume box in my closet that I still had from Halloween and tucked it into my clutch. Then I slipped on my black heels and checked myself one more time.


 I looked like someone who didn't have a care in the world. Which was funny because I had about a thousand.


 I opened my bedroom door quietly and listened. They were still going at it downstairs‚ but it had moved from the kitchen to the living room now.


 "I have given you everything‚ Diane‚" Kael was saying‚ and his voice sounded tired and heavy. "Everything. This house. This life. My name. My pack. And you throw it in my face every single time."


 "Oh please‚ spare me the martyr act—"


 "I'm starting to think marrying you was the biggest mistake I've ever made."


 That one hit different. Even from the top of the stairs I could feel the weight of it. My mom went quiet for a second and I thought maybe it actually landed. Maybe she actually felt something.


 "Well maybe it was‚" she snapped back. "Maybe we should just end this."


 "Fine!"


 "Fine!"


 I didn't wait to hear the rest. I walked down the stairs quietly‚ slipped past the living room while they were too busy glaring at each other to notice me‚ and walked right out the front door.


 The evening air hit my face and I took a deep breath as I pulled out my phone and ordered an Uber. The car would be here in eight minutes.


 I stood on the porch and looked back at the mansion. Through the window I could see Kael standing with his back to me‚ one hand on his hip and the other rubbing his face like he was trying to hold himself together. My mom was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed‚ looking away from him.


 Two people who should have never gotten married‚ stuck in a house together‚ tearing each other apart.


 I turned away and waited for my ride.


 Truth be told‚ I felt bad for Kael. Not for my mom. My mom made her choices and kept making them. But Kael didn't deserve this. No one did. He was a good man who married the wrong woman‚ and now he was paying for it every single day.


 My Uber pulled up and I got in.


 "The Veil on 8th‚" I told the driver.


 He glanced at me in the rearview mirror like he knew exactly what kind of place that was‚ but he didn't say anything. He just drove.


 I put my mask on in the backseat and stared out the window while the territory blurred past me. Tonight I wasn't Aria. I wasn't the Alpha's stepdaughter. I wasn't the girl caught between her cheating mother and her suffering stepfather. I was just a girl in a red dress and a black mask looking for an escape.


 That was the plan‚ anyway.