ANMELDEN### BiancaBiancaI slammed my foot onto the gas pedal, the engine roaring as the sports car barreled down the deserted, rain-slicked highway. Trees and streetlights blurred past in a smear of dark greens and grays. My knuckles turned stark white against the leather steering wheel, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.The Cracked Tusk.It was the only place left to look. If my mother hadn't returned to the estate, she had to still be at the scrap yard—finalizing the cleanup or waiting out the aftermath of whatever had gone down two nights ago.Or was she lost, curled up in Shawn's bed like a fool?She better not be. Not while my entire life was unraveling at the seams.The moment I turned off the main road and pulled into the secluded, mud-caked alleyway of the scrap yard, my blood ran cold.The heavy iron perimeter gates, usually guarded round the clock were wide open, swaying lazily in the damp breeze with a rusted, mournful whine. No guards stood at the p
### BiancaIt's been two days.Two suffocating, agonizing days of complete, dead silence.I paced back and forth across the plush Persian rug of my bedroom, the soles of my slippers digging into the soft wool until my ankles throbbed. To and fro. To and fro. My hands wrung together so tightly that my knuckles turned stark white.Where is she? Why hasn't she called?My mother was never off the grid for this long. She had explicitly promised me that the scrap yard operation would take a few hours at most. “A quick, silent erasure, my sweet girl,” she had purred before slipping out into the storm two nights ago. “By morning, Sincerely will be nothing more than a memory, and your place as Luna will be absolute.”So where was she?Why hadn't she returned? Why hadn't Sincerely shown up yet either? My phone sat silent on the nightstand, its dark screen mocking me every time I glanced at it. Neither of them had been seen at the estate. It was as if both my mother and Sincerely had step
### SincerelyI held Miranda pinned against the buckled sedan, but my entire world shifted on its axis.I stared across the rain-soaked gravel, unable to process the impossible sight before my eyes.Ryker stood tall under the brilliant, unfiltered glare of the full moon, his broad chest rising and falling in heavy, powerful surges. The horrific bullet wound in his chest was no longer oozing dark, poisoned blood; instead, a blinding, white-hot golden light pulsed beneath his torn shirt. With every second that passed under the moon's peak, his primal Alpha blood violently purged the wolfsbane and silver, stitching his flesh back together with terrifying, majestic speed.He was alive.The man who had taken a bullet straight to his heart without a second thought was standing, breathing, and looking at me as if I were the only thing that mattered in the universe."Ryker..." My voice broke, a sob catching in my raw throat as fresh tears spilled over my cheeks, washing clean tracks thr
### SincerelyI pressed my heels harder into the mud, my arm locked like a steel beam against her throat. The metal side panel of the sedan buckled beneath her weight, groaning in protest as I drove her further into the cold frame of the car.Miranda’s face turned a mottled, bruised purple. Her manicured nails dug desperately into the skin of my forearm, tearing at my flesh, but I didn't feel it. I didn't feel the rain. I didn't feel the cold. The only thing alive inside me was the white-hot, roaring flame of twenty-one years of vengeance, fed by the peak of the full moon burning in my veins."Please..." Miranda wheezed, her voice a ragged, pitiful squeak as her feet dangled inches off the ground. Her arrogant, aristocratic composure had completely shattered, leaving behind the terrified, sniveling murderer who had killed my mother in cold blood. "Sincerely... please...""You took my mother's life," I rasped, leaning in until my glowing silver eyes reflected the sheer horror in he
### Miranda A sharp, mocking chuckle burst from my lips, vibrating through the cold barrel pressed against the back of her head."Bianca?" I echoed, my voice dripping with absolute, unbothered disdain. "Oh, my sweet, desperate little girl... do you honestly believe a pathetic bluff like that is going to stall me?"I leaned down slowly, letting the heat of my breath brush against her damp ear, drawing in the metallic tang of blood, mud, and rain clinging to her skin."My daughter is surrounded by the finest guards money can buy back at the estate. She is warm, safe, and waiting for my call to celebrate the final, permanent erasure of your existence."I straightened up with unhurried grace, tightening my grip on the polished wood handle of the revolver. The heavy cylinder clicked softly in the dark as my index finger rested heavy against the curved metal of the trigger."Now," I murmured, "if you have nothing better to say, let's get this done with.""Do you know," Sincerely ras
### Sincerely“Oh, sweet girl,” Miranda purred, leaning down until her breath brushed my ear. “Did you really think your mother died of an illness? I was her maid. I poured her tea, carried her dresses, and listened to her whine about her noble duties. And when I grew tired of watching her live the life I deserved… I took it from her. I buried her where the dogs feed, walked into her home, took her husband, and raised you as my little house-pet.”The words sank into the cold, damp air like stones dropping into a black lake.For one heartbeat the world stopped. Every cruel command, every night spent scrubbing bloody floors, every sickening moment of bowing to the woman who had stolen my bed, my home, my father’s name and his love—everything crystallized into a single, searing rage. My mother had been murdered by her own maid, thrown into the dirt like garbage so a common thief could slip into her clothes and play empress.A razor-sharp clarity flooded my veins, burning the last of







