Chapter 3

Alexander ripped the contract to pieces on the spot.

Shreds of paper drifted from his fingers. He stared at me with a look cold enough to kill.

"You want out that badly?"

"Fine. I'll give you what you want."

"But the dissolution terms will be rewritten by me. I'll make sure you leave with nothing. You'll be the laughingstock of the entire pack."

His jaw was clenched, every word laced with fury.

"And I'm going to make sure my mother sees exactly what kind of person her precious daughter-in-law really is."

"A vile woman who used her own mother's death to extort money. Who harassed the Elder Council. Who persecuted an innocent healer just to line her own pockets."

Through the storm of paper scraps, I saw the viciousness in his eyes. And I saw Claire, head bowed, with a flash of triumph she didn't quite hide.

I said nothing.

I turned and walked out of the pack affairs hall.

Back at the house, I packed my things in silence.

The engagement was dead. There was no reason to stay.

But the moment I stepped outside with my bags, a crowd of pack members came pouring in from every direction.

Phones out. Cameras pointed at me.

"That's her!"

"The woman who coached her own mother into faking a treatment accident, then got her killed in the process!"

"After her mom died, she still wouldn't quit. Used her status as the Alpha's fiancée to pressure the Elder Council for compensation three separate times!"

"Claire just became a trainee healer and this woman nearly drove her to a breakdown. She's been having panic attacks for weeks!"

"Thank God Alexander is a principled Alpha. Even though it's his own fiancée causing trouble, he refused to cover for her!"

"Now she can't get Alexander to back her up, so she's threatening him with a bond dissolution. Trying to run!"

The accusations hit me from every angle.

I looked up. Through the crush of bodies, I saw Alexander and Claire standing in the back.

Both of them watching with detached, satisfied eyes.

I finally understood.

This was Alexander's retaliation.

He wanted to destroy my reputation. Make every wolf in the pack believe I was a monster who'd exploit her own mother's death for money.

The footage spread across every pack channel within minutes.

Strangers started piling on.

"Using her own mother's death for cash? This woman is pure evil."

"Her mother must've been cursed by the Moon Goddess to end up with a daughter like this."

"With a daughter this rotten, maybe the mother dying was divine punishment!"

"Exactly. If the mother wasn't trying to scam compensation, why didn't she tell the healer about her allergy?"

More and more pack members gathered.

Someone picked up dirt and rotten fruit from the ground and hurled it at me.

I walked through the filth, step by step, until I was standing in front of Alexander.

"Alexander, do you really have to take it this far?"

Before he could answer, Claire stepped out, eyes brimming.

"Selena, I'm begging you, please let me go."

"Your mother's gone, and I've been living with the guilt every single day. I really didn't mean to kill her."

"Why won't you stop coming after me?"

She cried so beautifully. Like she was the one being cornered.

Pity flickered in Alexander's eyes.

The next second, he pulled Claire behind him and looked at me, cold as stone.

"Selena, you brought this on yourself."

"Your mother died because she hid her own allergy. Claire had nothing to do with it."

"You refused to accept the ruling. You appealed to the Elder Council over and over, and now the whole pack is turning on Claire because of you."

"And then you tried to use the bond dissolution to blackmail me into dropping her?"

His voice got colder with every word.

"Your mother's death was meaningless. She did it to herself."

"Don't expect another cent from me. And don't even think about touching Claire."

I looked at this man. The man who was protecting, with everything he had, the woman who killed his own mother.

I let out a cold laugh, done saving his face.

I was about to open my mouth right then and there and expose the truth in front of everyone.

But just then, a voice no one expected came from the back of the crowd.

"Who did you say is dead?"

Every head turned at once.

My mother, Margaret, pushed through the crowd and stepped into the open.