Chapter three

Third Person POV

Margaret glared at Maya, her eyes burning with pure hatred.

“Really, Margaret? That’s the best you could come up with?” Maya asked, a bitter smile tugging at her lips. “That I don't have anybody?”

“Oh, shut the fuck up, Maya!” Margaret snapped. What were you expecting? That I’d call you my daughter?”

She scoffed.

“Come on, Maya. That’s a position I will never give you.”

Maya folded her arms across her chest, her fingers digging into her skin.

Surprised, her mother's words still hurt.

No matter how many times Maya told herself she didn't care, no matter how hard she tried to bury the little girl who had once craved her mother's love, Margaret always knew exactly where to strike.

And somehow, those words still reached that wounded part of her.

Maya swallowed the lump in her throat and forced the smile back onto her face.

“What happened in the kitchen? Between you and Adrian?”

Margaret demanded, her eyes darting nervously toward the doorway before snapping back to Maya.

Maya remained silent. She simply held Margaret's gaze

Margaret's eyes searched her face, looking for an answer Maya had no intention of giving her.

A small smile tugged at Maya's lips. She could see the fear Margaret was trying to hide.

“And just so you know, Maya…” Margaret said, stepping directly into Maya's space. Maya could smell the expensive perfume barely covering her mother's anxious sweat.“I knew something was off the moment you demanded a room close to Adrian.”

Her voice dropped.

“Stay away from him.”

“Really, Margaret?” Maya asked. “Scared?”

Margaret's expression tightened.

“Scared that this filthy human you said could never be loved might steal your Adrian away?”

Margaret swallowed before forcing out a laugh.

“Don't flatter yourself. Adrian isn't like Lucian.”

“If you're here to sabotage my relationship just as I did yours, then I'm sorry to break your heart.”

“Adrian is an Alpha. And an Alpha can only be moved by his true Luna.”

Margaret lifted her chin proudly and touched the Luna mark on her neck.

“I bear his Luna mark.”

“So don't think for one second that he'll ever want you. Or crave you in any way.”

Maya's lips curved into a knowing smile.

“Why do I feel like you're trying to convince yourself rather than me Margaret?”

Margaret's jaw tightened.

For a moment, neither woman spoke.

Margaret turned sharply and stormed out of the kitchen.

Margaret stormed into her room and slammed the door and leaned against it.

She walked to the mirror and touched the Luna mark on her neck. Her heart was still racing, but her mind was clear.

Adrian was a smart, ruthless Alpha. After what happened in the kitchen, he would be suspicious of Maya. He was probably ordering his men to run a background check already.

A cold smile touched Margaret's lips.

Let him search.

She was already a step ahead.

The moment she saw Maya standing at the gate with her luggage, Margaret knew the girl was a threat. She hadn't wasted a minute.

Margaret opened her vanity drawer and pulled out a burner phone. A message waited on the screen.

The job is done. There will be nothing left for them to find.

She read it twice before locking the phone away.

Adrian's Enforcers would find nothing. On paper, Maya was exactly what Margaret had claimed—a human orphan with no ties to anyone.

Margaret's confident smile slowly faded.

Destroying records was easy.

The real problem was sleeping in the bedroom beside the Alpha.

As long as Maya remained inside the Blackwood villa, she was a threat to 

Margaret's crown.

Margaret's eyes darkened.

She had erased Maya's past.

Now she just had to find a way to erase Maya entirely.