CHAPTER TWO

Silva’s POV

I dragged my broken body across the cold floor, every inch slick with my own blood. My nails were cracked, arms trembling, but I didn’t stop.

If they were not going to listen to me, then I had to get out. I would scream until someone heard my voice.

I couldn't let them live so shamelessly, I had to expose their true faces.

“You’re murderers!”

I hissed through clenched teeth. “You killed my baby. You… you fed on my pain for years! I’ll tell everyone! The pack will—”

A sharp sting rattled my face before I realized what was happening. He slapped me, making my head whip to one side as blood trickled into my mouth.

I crumpled against the floor.

“Shut your filthy mouth!”

Liam said coldly, towering over me. “You have embarrassed me enough for today! And I won't let you humiliate me more, do you understand?”

He raised his foot, and for a second, I thought he would crush me right there.

“Enough.”

Emilia said softly, her voice slicing through the silence like a knife. “Let me talk to her.”

Liam paused. Then, with a final glare, he turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

I spat blood, turning my head weakly to look at Emilia. She didn’t look like a healer anymore. She looked like a queen savoring her victory.

She crouched beside me, her belly round, glowing with fake innocence. “You really didn’t know, did you?” she said with a smile. “You poor, stupid thing.”

I blinked. “Know… what?”

“That Liam and I have been together for three years.” Her voice dripped with satisfaction. “You were just the legal stand-in. He couldn’t marry me back then because I was just the illegitimate daughter of your noble father, remember?”

My heart thudded in my chest, numbness spreading like poison.

“I was nothing,” she continued. “The bastard child hidden from the world. But I was his first. We were already lovers when he married you. The plan was always to keep you around until his power was secure. And now… he doesn’t need you anymore.”

“You’re lying…” My voice cracked.

“Am I?” Emilia laughed.

“Why don't you ask your precious father, then? Because he knew all about it. In fact, he's the one who helped us the most! Don’t you find it strange how quickly he arranged your mating with Liam?”

She let the silence linger on for a few moments before whispering, “He wanted you gone. Dead, preferably.”

I felt something cave in my chest. Like the last thread of home, love and trust had been yanked from me and torn to shreds.

But as the dread settled in my chest, another damning realization sent chills down my spine. If both my husband and my father wanted me to die, then was Emilia's pregnancy just a convenient excuse?

I felt bile rising up my throat.

“You’re disgusting! Pure, pure evil… you killed my baby for nothing, didn't you! Be honest with me! Your child doesn't have a weak heart does he—”

“So what? Are you wishing bad for your nephew?!”

I stared at her.

“I was never sick, and my baby is a perfectly healthy boy, who can't wait to come into this world.”

She said, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. And then, within moments, her smile dropped.

“But I needed to see you in a desperate position. I needed to see you beg. You were always the golden child, loved, praised, and chosen by everyone. And me? I was the frail one, always staying sick in her own home… hiding in the shadows. I wanted you to crawl, Silva. And now, look at you!”

I clenched my jaw.

“You… you did all this... just for revenge?”

Her laughter was chilling.

“Yes. And oh, it was so sweet! How can I get you, I enjoyed it so much, watching you suffer. Knowing you thought this baby might redeem you. You begged like a dog to save him! And now? Now I’ll be Luna. Loved by the same pack that adored you.”

Rage flared inside me, making me tremble all over.

“You’ll never be the Luna!”

I hissed, trying to lift myself again. “I’ll kill you… you and Liam both deserve to–”

But before I could get to my knees, she stepped on me. Her heel dug into my back, sharp and merciless.

“You’ll do nothing like that… you can't!” She said, grinding it down, and I screamed. “The pack worshipped you for being their most powerful warrior. But tell me, what use is a warrior who can't even move her legs? You are trash, Silva! Accept it. And since you love truth so much,” she whispered, leaning down, “let me give you one more.”

I trembled beneath her.

“All those miscarriages you cried over?”

Her eyes gleamed. “They weren’t fate. They weren’t your body’s fault. Liam made me feed you birth control pills. Every month, the required number of pills were dropped into your tea, your food, even the herbal tonics you begged me for.”

I stopped breathing for a moment.

“That’s why you never conceived. Until this time.” She straightened with a sigh.

“And even then… you were only allowed because we needed your womb. But sadly, your little miracle wasn’t meant to last.”

Something inside me snapped.

With a cry, I lunged at her.

I didn’t care that my legs didn’t work. I clawed at the ground, at her dress, at her ankle, dragging her down as I used every ounce of fury left in me to grab her hair, to fight.

“You evil, lying bit— ah!”

Hot, white pain erupted in my stomach as a blade sank into me.

She had a dagger, and she didn’t hesitate before plunging it deep under my ribs. I gasped, the air knocked from my lungs.

“Just let go, Silva. Nobody wants you alive! Since Liam is an Alpha, he isn't legally allowed to divorce you. But look, how badly he wants to marry me!”

And said softly.

“I'm the one he has always wanted. So, you see… you have to die. So just let go of this desperate will to live!”

She twisted the blade, slowly, cruelly.

“This is your goodbye, big sister. Have a good time with your son in the afterlife, if you manage to reach him in one piece!”