Chapter 1

Elana POV

Choking back tears, I rush out of the Midsummer Pack Courthouse. The day finally came: my marriage is over. All that is left is for Victor to break the mate bond between us. Five years of my life are over with a simple strike of a pen.

I brace myself on the railing of the stairs before I descend them.  My best friend, Alexis, is at the bottom, playing with my daughter.  Pulling a small mirror out of my purse, I check my makeup.  Mascara is beginning to run down my cheeks, but I quickly wipe it away.  

Someone bumps my shoulder, and I see my husband walking away.  Victor pretends he didn’t just bump into me and doesn't spare me a second glance. He does this when he has a topic in mind but wants me to talk first. He is not a man of many words. But there is nothing to talk about between us. At least I can’t think of anything. Not anymore. We are done.

For a fleeting moment, I think he is headed for our daughter, Gabby, who is waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.

She wiggles out of Alexis’s arms and wraps her tiny body around his leg. I watch the scene from afar, and tears sting my eyes because she looks so much like him. How will I look at her every day and not be reminded of him?

I wait for Victor to pick her up, but he looks down at her with disinterest. He pries her from his leg and walks away.  An audible gasp leaves my lips.  How could he be so cold to his child?  His own flesh and blood.

Gabby, forever a Daddy's girl, throws herself onto the ground. She kicks her feet and screams for her daddy, but Victor doesn’t even turn to regard her. He wasn’t the warmest father or lover before this, but he’s colder than ever today. Why is he acting up now that he has the divorce he wanted? Was he just playing the father’s role, and now there isn’t even a reason to pretend?

Both rage and sorrow fill me as I rush down the stairs to my child.

Alexis is trying to pull her off the ground, but it is only making matters worse.  Gabby is causing a scene outside the courthouse, and everyone is stopping to look.  I bend down next to her and swipe her hair out of her very red face.

"You can be mad," I tell her.  “But you can’t scream on the ground.”

"Daddy doesn't love me anymore," she sobs as she throws her arms around my neck.

"He does love you," I try my best to heal her broken heart. "Daddy is just having a bad day."

"Because you got 'vorced?" She asks me.

"Who taught you that word?" I ask her gently, glaring at my best friend.

Alexis shrugs her shoulders. "She was going to figure it out sooner or later."

I roll my eyes at my well-meaning friend and lead Gabby to the car waiting for us.  Victor is parked just a few spaces away.  My eyes are drawn to him like a moth to a flame.  They always have been. 

Stopping by his car, he pauses when he reaches for the door. My eyes pause with his movement. But the next second, he suddenly wheels around, catching me staring at him. In panic, I dart my eyes away.

He wants a talk. That much I’m sure.

Could it be? After the courthouse, he now has regrets? Our divorce was a rather quick one. Out of nowhere, he just came back one day with divorce papers, and I was rushed to where I’m now, as if carried by a dark tornado.

He slams his door closed, turns, and glares at me. I look away.

Even if I knew what’s bothering him, I won’t make it easy for him today. Not after he hurt Gabby’s feelings like that. He has the right not to love me, but what has Gabby ever done but love her Daddy like he was the greatest hero in her life?

But he doesn’t walk towards me. He stands by the road, watching the red sports car pull up.

The sports car pulls up behind mine, and a bubbly blonde steps out.  My mouth drops open as I watch the woman step out. By instinct, I push Gabby behind me when I’m still working on believing what I’m seeing.  I don’t want her to get caught in the crossfire of this fight.  I haven’t seen my sister in exactly five years, and the last time we spoke, it was not pleasant.

Gabby is trying to peer around my legs to look at my sister, but my eyes are on Victor.  He is looking in my direction with a provoking smirk. Is this why he hasn’t left, to demonstrate his ex to my face?!

“E!” Lara squeals loudly. Five long years didn’t cure me of feeling sick at hearing her phony voice.

She rushes toward me and gathers me in her arms.  My arms hang lifelessly at my side as my sister embraces me.  I look over at Alexis, and she is hiding her laugh behind her hand.  She knows the tumultuous relationship between my sister and me.

“Lara,” I say, pulling away from her.  “You are back in town.”

Of course she is. He knew. Not only that. He divorced me for her.