2. This hurts too much

“You broke my heart, Jess,” he says, and I can only weep more when I recall his incessant voicemails back then pleading that I come home.

The death of my mother had shaken him as much as it had to me. And his life instantly revolved around me. I really broke his heart when I ran away.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong about everything. He never loved me,” I close my eyes and sniff back more tears.

There is a brief pause.

Then he speaks again with a sigh: “Jess... you didn’t deserve any of it.”

“I’m sorry, Dad.”

“Sweetheart,” he continues gently, “you don’t need to apologize. Just come home. I can’t wait to have you back.”

My dad’s words break something open in me, and I bite my lip to keep from sobbing.

He

tries to break the heaviness: “By the way, your credit card still works.”

I let out a shaky laugh through my tears.

“Thank you so much, Dad.”

“No need to thank me, sweetheart,” he said softly. “You are my daughter, and I’m only doing my responsibility.”

We spoke a little more before ending the call.

It takes me almost thirty minutes to get back to the house. Stepping onto the front porch, I get that sick feeling of nostalgia as memories of the first day I moved in here come flooding right back.

Dominic insisted that I live here with him because, according to him, I'm his woman and I'm not allowed to live just about anywhere.

I remember the first day he said that, I literally had butterflies in my belly from excitement.

During the early stage of our relationship, he was sweet, an obsessed and caring lover.

Maybe all of that was just him protecting his only reminder of his ex-girlfriend.

Who knows…

Lydia, the homely housekeeper we stay with, opens the door before I can even knock.

She is a kind older woman who has been with Dominic way before I came into the picture.

“Miss Jess, welcome back,” Lydia says warmly and gives me a curious look. “Are you alright, dear? You seem a bit pale.”

“I’m fine,” I lie. My voice comes out steadier than I felt.

“The chicken soup you prepared earlier is still on the warmer. Should I serve it as dinner for you and the Alpha?”

“Yes, please. I’ll get the Alpha right away.” I tell her.

“All right, Miss Jess.”

I give Lydia a small nod before heading back to Dominic’s home office to check on him and call him down for dinner. But he and his friends were no longer there.

I stare sadly at the picture frame of Dominic and me on his office table. We took that picture on our first trip to the Bahamas during the first year of our relationship.

I remember that day vividly. He had told the cameraman that I was his soulmate. I melted and prayed for nothing but to spend the rest of my life with him.

Shutting the door to his home office, I head upstairs to check if he’s gone up to his room.

At the top of the stairs, his bedroom door is slightly ajar, so I push it open. The sound of running water greets me. He’s in the shower.

His phone is on the nightstand, lighting up with a constant flurry of notifications.

For a moment, I stare at it. I'm never the type to snoop, but the name on the screen catches my attention. "Rosie".

I pick up the phone and stare at its screen, which is requesting a password.

I input his birthday, wrong password

Our anniversary date, still the same.

Then I recall what happened during one of Dominic's drunken nights when he mistook me for the real Rosie. That night, he was weeping, asking why I had left him.

That was the day I found out about his ex-girlfriend, Rosie. I had to coerce his friend, Nathan, for more details and realized that the night my boyfriend got drunk was actually Rosie's birthday, and she had uploaded a picture of herself on her social media, vacationing on an island with an unknown man, whom she only showed his hand and captioned the pictures “HE SPOILS ME SILLY”.

So, I input Rosie's birthday as his password; it worked.

The messages read;

ROSIE: "I'm about boarding."

ROSIE: "My flight will land at Westwood Airport at 10:00 pm tonight."

ROSIE: "Can you pick me up at the airport?"

ROSIE: "I know I shouldn't be bothering you with my problems, but everyone seems busy. I have no one else to ask."

ROSIE: "Never mind, I know you already have a mate, I probably shouldn't be asking anything of you."

DOMINIC: "You know I'll always help out, mate or not. But… do you still feel anything for me at all, Rosie?"

ROSIE: "Yes, I still love you, with all my heart."

DOMINIC: "I'll come pick you up tonight."

I stare at the screen for a long moment.

Dominic told me he loved me this morning. He kissed my forehead before leaving to attend to early morning Pack matters.

And yet here he is, asking another woman if she loved him.

I’ve been blind.

Carefully, I place the phone back exactly where it had been.

This pack is no longer my home.

And he is no longer my problem.

The bathroom door opens, and Dominic walks out, a towel tied low around his hips.

When he sees me, he smiles that same charming, practiced smile that used to have me melting.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he says, walking over to pull me into his arms. “Didn’t see you in the kitchen. I thought you were in there, cooking up a storm as usual. Where were you?"

The casual expectation in his voice freezes me.

I was so wrapped up in loving him that I didn’t see he was just treating me like a servant.

My wolf snarls inside me, demanding I rip his throat out.

I force her down. I stand there, stiff as a statue, letting him hug me while my wolf recoils further.

“Uhmm, something came up. But dinner is ready downstairs."

"Hmm," he hums, letting me go and grabs his phone. Staring at the screen, he sighs, “Dinner is the least thing on my mind right now.” He plants a kiss on the side of my head. “I need to review some documents with the Pack council.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes. It’s really important that I get it done tonight.”

A big, fat lie.

I force a fake smile. “Alright. Will you be back tonight at least?”

He shakes his head. "There's a lot to be done, but let's see how it goes." Then he cups my chin. “You’re amazing, you know that, right?”

The compliment now tastes like shit. I don't bother giving him an answer.

I watch him quickly change into his clothes, grab a jacket, press a quick kiss to my forehead, and leave.

The front door closes downstairs a moment later, and the silence that follows is suffocating.

My phone vibrates in my hand… A message from a familiar phone number, which I haven't contacted ever since I left my Pack.

FROM ALLISTER:

[Skybloom, I heard from your father that you're coming back. Would you like me to personally pick you up?]

Lycan king Blackwaters, my childhood friend. What I could remember is that he is a big brother, always treating me with careful protectiveness.

ME:

[Is it okay if I get back in a week or two at most. I need to sort out a few personal matters. I can't leave Westwood Pack just yet. I need to submit my resignation letter at the Pack hospital and wrap up all my pending projects.]

ALLISTER:

[Okay, reach out to me anytime you need me.]

ME: [Thank you, Allister.]

My tears fell uncontrollably as I read Allister's message.

I left the pack ignoring every attempts to stop me from my father and Allister.

I never expected that, after all these years, they would still be the first to worry about me.

I will return to my father’s pack as soon as possible.

The Westwood

Pack, Dominic, Rosie...

None of it has anything to do with me anymore.