CHAPTER 6

Marie’s POV

The Intervention 

The velvet upholstery of the armchair felt like sandpaper against my skin. I sat on the edge, my spine rigid, while my hands shook so violently the smartphone rattled against my ear. Every muscle in my body was locked in a battle against the urge to hang up, to hurl the device across the room and pretend this night, this entire life, wasn’t happening.

On the other end of the line, there was no greeting. There was only a heavy, rhythmic rasp of breathing that sounded like a predator pacing in the dark. The silence was a physical weight, pressing the air out of my lungs. My heart hammered a frantic rhythm against my ribs, a trapped bird desperate for escape.

I opened and closed my mouth several times, trying to say something, to start a conversation, but it was a total failure. Every attempt to speak to him again just felt like a new knock at death’s door. 

"Rie."

The name hit me like a physical blow. It wasn't just the word, it was the gravelly, low-frequency vibration of his voice, a sound I hadn't heard in five long years. In an instant, the sterile walls of the mansion I shared with Noah seemed to dissolve. For a heartbeat, I wasn't the polished wife of a rising political star and a perfect Alpha’s wife, I was Marie again, tangled in linen sheets and smelling of cedarwood and rain.

The nickname was a key to a room I had triple-locked and buried. Hearing it now, after half a decade of being "Marie" or "Luna Marie," made my composure, the composure I had built for years, shatter.

A sob wrenched itself from my throat before I could choke it back. I clamped my free hand over my mouth, squeezing my eyes shut so hard I saw stars. Keep it cool. Just breathe. "Don't," I whispered, my voice cracking. "Don't call me that."

"You’re shaking," Astance said. It wasn’t a guess, it was an observation. He always did have a terrifying ability to read the frequency of my soul through a speaker. 

"I can hear the phone hitting your earring, Marie. Why are you calling me at this time of night? Is your Alpha in support of this?"

“Astance..”

I took a shuddering breath, trying to summon the mask I wore for the gala cameras. 

"I need... I'm calling because of the pact, Astance."

The silence returned, colder this time. Five years ago, on a rain-slicked pier with our hearts in tatters, we had made a blood oath of silence. We had promised that we would never speak again, never cross paths, and never inhabit the same circles. We were a chemical reaction that had levelled a city, and for the safety of the world, we had to remain apart. But there had been one caveat, the Final Wish. A single, unbreakable favour that either could claim, no questions asked, before we vanished from each other’s lives forever.

"The Final Wish," Astance repeated, his voice devoid of emotion.

 "You're burning it now? After five years of silence? I thought you were happy in your golden cage, Marie. The papers say Noah Thorne is the man of the century."

"The papers lie," I snapped, the bitterness finally giving me the strength to stop shaking.

 "I’m calling because I want out. I want the wish, Astance. I'm claiming it."

"Tell me," he commanded.

I looked at the bruising on my wrist, hidden beneath the silk sleeve of my robe. I thought of Noah’s cold eyes and the way he used his influence to turn the world into a prison.

"I want a divorce," I said, the words tumbling out in a rush. 

“I already spoke to him about it except he’s not willing to let me go and this stupid tradition of ours, the Alpha has to reject the Luna. He’s not going to do it Astance. He’s not willing to.” A sob choked in my throat. 

"I want a clean break. No settlements, no year-long litigations, no 'reconciliation' periods. I want him gone from my life, and I want it handled by someone he can’t intimidate, someone he can’t buy, and someone he... he fears."

The silence on the line stretched, turning agonisingly thin. I could almost feel Astance’s mind working, the gears of the most ruthless legal and political fixer in the country turning. But there was a deeper layer to the quiet.

It was my marriage to Noah that had been the final dagger in my relationship with Astance. My union with the Thorne family hadn't just been a betrayal of our love, it had been a declaration of war. Noah Thorne was the antithesis of everything Astance stood for. They were two Alphas vying for the same territory, and I had been the prize that Noah had paraded in front of him for half a decade.

"You want me to dismantle Noah Thorne's domestic life," Astance said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, silky register.

 "You want the man who spent five years hating me to watch me walk into his home and take his wife away."

"I want to be free," I whispered. 

"That is my wish."

I heard the sound of a lighter clicking on his end, the faint hiss of a flame. He was thinking. He was savouring the irony of it.

"You realise what this looks like," Astance said. The professional mask was sliding back on, but there was a jagged edge to it. 

"The optics alone will be a bloodbath if he does not agree to do it my way and I do not hesitate in my bargains. You do know this is going to make it to the headlines, Marie. You are clinging to the Alpha your husband hates with his guts. The scandal won't just burn him, it'll singe you, too."

I stood up, the phone pressed so hard to my ear it bruised. I didn't care about headlines. I didn't care about the scandal or the wreckage of the Thorne name. I only cared about the man on the other end of the line and the power he held to end my nightmare.

"Would you do it or not?"