Betrayal

Scarlett 

Anger courses through me remembering everything she did to me. I prowl toward her.

“You should've told me you were Zachary’s true mate instead of waiting until my wedding eve to destroy me. What did I ever do to you? Why did you do it?” I yell.

She scoffs, unaffected by my words, which is a side of Rosalia I've never seen. “Why did I expose you? Or why did I set you up with that mysterious man?”

I freeze in shock, then involuntarily shuffle backward. “What?” I mutter in disbelief.

“You don't remember because I spiked your drink. And when you woke up after that bliiiiiisssful night in the hotel suite, you saw yourself in your bedroom.” Her eyes crinkle with a cruel smirk.

My breath seethes, tears blurring my sight as I glare at her, feeling only rage.

I knew that something was wrong. But I didn't think for a second that my sister had anything to do with it.

“How could you be so heartless, Rosalia? Have you always hated me this much?”

“You’ve been between Zachary and me since I discovered he was my fated mate. I had to get rid of you,” she yells in one breath, shocking me with her revelation.

While I was thinking Zachary was mine; he loved me as much as I loved him, Zachary has been fucking Rosalia for three whole years.

“Rosa?”

Only hearing Zachary’s voice behind me, I feel like I've been given a chance to redeem myself. He doesn't have to take me back, I just want him to know I can't hurt him.

I trot toward Zachary, hesitating a little before taking his hand.

He's no longer mine all of a sudden. He's no longer a friend or a lover to me, but only an alpha.

“Thank goddess you're here. Rosalia’s responsible for everything. She set me—”

He pulls his hand away as if I burned him. “It was Rosalia and me who set you up.”

Shocked, I stare into his eyes in disbelief, not buying his words. He lied. “It’s not true. You… you didn't—”

When I see the truth sitting blatantly in his eyes, my heart shatters. I stumble back on unsteady legs, fingers tangled in my hair as the tears burn and fall.

How could Zachary—Zachary, of all people, do this to me?  He doesn't even show an atom of guilt for it.

“You made me think you loved me, but you didn't hesitate to ruin my life. Why?” I yell through tears, devastated.

“Being with you felt like a weight on me. Our parents kept forcing the alliance. So Rosalia and I came up with a plan to get rid of you.”

All that love he gave me was out of a secret alliance?

“You didn't even tell me there was an alliance, and you fooled me completely.” 

They don’t see the magnitude of what they've done to me. Or they just don't care.

Zachary sighs exaggeratedly, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Stop making me look like a bad person, you bad woman. Is it my fault that I found my mate?”

“Is it my fault that I'm wolfless? Or is it my fault that I loved you so deeply it hurt, Zachary? You ruined my life, yet you call me bad when it's you who’s on the wrong,” I yell furiously.

Rosalia stands between us and the next thing I hear is the crack of her palm against my face, then a burning pain consumes my face. 

“You’re talking to an alpha. Not your friend. Not your lover.”

I stare at her in disbelief, my hand on my burning cheek. Are these the same people I grew up with? 

“You can't relate to what it feels like for someone else to claim your mate because you're wolfless. We did what we had to.”

“By ruining my life?”

“You’re cruel, Scarlett. You and that abomination you're carrying are supposed to take this as a sacrifice for me if you truly love me. At least with you gone, I'll become the CEO of Ledger Inc.”

I watch as he smoothly guides his hands around Rosalia from behind and pulls her close, kissing her better than he's ever kissed me.

That doesn't hurt me anymore.

“Is that all I've been to you? A piece on your chessboard?”

All the same, I'm glad that being with him got him what he wanted. But he rejected the only thing I got from him.

Zachary grabs my wrist and pulls me to him in a patronizing manner. “I’m not heartless like you, Scarlett, and that is why—” he cups my chin softly. “—I ask you to be my mistress.”

Rage coils through me, my hands clenching on my sides.

“You can live at my beach house rent-free, and you'll have everything you need. But first you have to get rid of that thing because it's not mine.”

I frown. “It’s your baby. We had sex a month—”

He grabs my face. “You see those photographs of your horniest night… they were taken the same day we had sex.”

His revelation leaves me in cruel shock, tears blurring everything. The day I’d always thought was special wasn't special at all. “What?”

“C’mon now, Scarlett. I'm offering you something many wolfless she-wolves can't have. You're wolfless, and I'm the only person who can accept you.”

He dares to say that! I push him away, glaring at him.

“That’s so thoughtful of you, Zack. But I can't have another dose of a despicable prick like you,” I bite out.

“Scarlett,” he warns. “No male shifter will agree to mate with you.” His eyes darken. “I’ll destroy anyone who dares. Because you're still mine.”

“Not after I've made you pay for ruining my life.” I glance at Rosalia. “Two of you. And that asshole in the photograph.”

Rosalia scoffs mockingly. “What can a pathetic wolfless thing do?”

She caresses her flat stomach. “Just before you go, I thought I should tell you. I'm carrying Zachary's heir. Not an outcast from another man.”

Zachary steps closer and hugs her from behind, kissing her cheek while he caresses her stomach. 

My heart constricts painfully, but I won't let them see my tears. While I was thinking of a future with Zachary, he was fucking my elder sister behind my back. 

“Congratulations. At least your pup won't be a product of a one-night stand like you.”

Rosalia frowns in anger.

“You asked what this pathetic wolfless she-wolf can do. Let me guess, Zack. You don't know that I still have the video of how your brother truly died.”

Zachary surges forward, his hand locking around my throat as he shoves me into the railing. I struggle wildly in pain, but his grip only tightens, his eyes dark with menace. 

“You wicked bitch.” 

Zachary lets go. I'm yet to catch my breath when Rosalia lunges closer and pushes me.

My breath catches somewhere between a scream and silence, my heart pounding wildly as gravity pulls me faster, harder, leaving no room for thoughts. Just fear.

The rooftop shrinks into a distant blur above. Pain follows, and then, nothing.