CHAPTER ONE

Ondina's POV

"I want to be your wife, Ezra. Will you marry me?"

I knelt on the cold tiles of the balcony and looked up at him. My chest tightened with hope. I spent the entire banquet rehearsing these words. We spent seven years together. Seven years of me waiting for him to be ready. Tonight, I finally gathered the courage to ask him.

"I love you more than anything," I said, my voice carrying into the night. "I want us to build a home together. I want to finally have the children you keep telling me we should wait for. Please, say yes."

Ezra stared down at me. He did not blink for a long second. He did not say a word. He just looked at me kneeling on the floor.

Then, he laughed.

He did not let out a nervous chuckle. He let out a loud, cruel roar of laughter. The sound echoed into the quiet night sky. A terrible wave of nausea hit my stomach before he even opened his mouth to speak.

"How bold of you, fat pig," Ezra said.

He wiped a tear from his eye. He looked at me like I just told the funniest joke.

"Did you really think I was gonna marry you?" he asked, pointing a finger directly at my face. "You actually got down on your knees like one of those stupid humans in the movies. Look at yourself, Ondina."

My jaw dropped. The cold night breeze bit into my skin.

"Ezra, what are you talking about?" I whispered, looking around in complete confusion. "We have been together for seven years. You said you loved me. You promised we just needed time to figure things out."

He laughed again, louder this time. He stepped closer and looked down at me with pure disgust in his eyes.

"I never loved you, Ondina," he spat. "I never even liked you. You honestly think an Alpha like me would mate with a fatass like you?"

His words made my head spin. I tried to stand up, but my knees felt too weak. I stayed on the floor, staring at the man I worshipped for almost a decade.

"You are lying," I cried out, my voice breaking. "You stayed with me. You stayed by my side for seven years. You took me on dates. You bought me gifts. Why would you do all of that if you never loved me?"

"You bought me a ring for my birthday last year," I continued loudly. "You told my father you would take care of me forever. Why would you go to such lengths? Why would you lie to my own family?"

"Your father is just as pathetic as you are," Ezra snapped back instantly. "He practically begged me to take you off his hands. Everyone in this pack knows you are a heavy burden. The ring was just to keep you quiet. It was a cheap piece of trash, just like your hopes for this relationship."

"You slept in my bed," I screamed, my voice echoing loudly off the stone walls. "You held me every single night. Was that a lie too?"

"I closed my eyes and imagined Ivy," he said with a sick smirk. "Every single time I touched you, I pretended you were her. Your body disgusted me from the very first day. I had to get drunk just to tolerate being in the same room as you."

"Ivy?" I asked, my voice shaking uncontrollably. "What does my sister have to do with us?"

"She has everything to do with us," Ezra said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Eight years ago, Ivy and I realized we were meant for each other. But she felt sorry for you. She knew you were pathetic. She knew you were completely lonely. She told me to date you first. She told me to keep you from getting hurt."

"No," I gasped, shaking my head violently. "Ivy would never do that to me. She is my sister."

"She did exactly that," he said, his voice loud and clear. "She begged me to stay with you until it was kind enough to end things. We agreed we would be together later. Tonight is later, Ondina. I am done playing house with a fat pig just to please the woman I actually want."

"You are a monster," I yelled, tears finally escaping my eyes. "You wasted seven years of my life. You made me believe you cared. You made me believe I was special."

"You are only special because you are incredibly gullible," he fired back. "You believed every lie I fed you. Did you really think I enjoyed holding your hand? Did you really think I enjoyed taking you out in public? It was a tedious chore. Every single day was a chore."

"I hate you," I screamed, hitting my fists against the hard floor. "I hate you so much."

"Good," Ezra sneered. "That makes this much easier."

I could not breathe. My lungs burned as I gasped for air. I looked past his expensive suit and noticed something near the balcony railing.

A small light blinked in the dark.

Red. Off. Red. Off.

It was the microphone for the main banquet hall. Someone left it on. Someone placed it right near the open doors of the balcony.

Every single word I screamed in love went straight through the hall speakers. Every single word he screamed in mockery played out loud to the hundreds of pack members below us. The entire pack heard me beg for marriage. The entire pack heard him call me a fat pig. The entire pack heard about the fake relationship.

"You planned this," I said, my voice barely a whisper now. "You turned the microphone on."

"I wanted everyone to hear the truth," Ezra mocked, stepping away from me. "I wanted them to know I am finally free from you."

Footsteps thundered from inside the building. The grand doors of the balcony burst open with a violent crash. A massive crowd of pack members flooded onto the terrace. They left the banquet music behind, drawn entirely by the sound of my public heartbreak.

They surrounded us in seconds. They pointed at me. They whispered harsh things to each other. Some of them laughed out loud behind their hands. I stayed on the floor, humiliated and completely destroyed.

"Look at her," one woman whispered loudly to her friend.

"I cannot believe she actually proposed to him," a man replied with a loud scoff.

"She really thought she had a chance," another voice chimed in from the back.

Then, the crowd parted perfectly in the middle.

Ivy stepped out from the large group of laughing faces.

She looked exactly like the kind of woman an Alpha would proudly claim as a mate.

Ezra walked right past me. He did not even bother to look down at my crying face. He reached out and grabbed Ivy by the hand without a single second of hesitation.

"She is the one I want," Ezra announced loudly to the entire pack, raising their joined hands up in the air. "Not you, Ondina. I choose Ivy."

Ivy held his hand tightly. She stood tall right beside the man I thought was mine.

I opened my mouth to scream at her. I opened my mouth to ask her why she betrayed me in the worst way possible. But my throat closed up tightly. Nothing came out. I just stared up at my own sister.

Ivy looked down at me on the floor. Her eyes met mine directly. They looked glassy in the bright moonlight. They held something that looked exactly like unshed tears.

Ivy opened her mouth to speak.