chapter 2

Serena pov

Damon's gossip continued without end, the others encouraging him and adding their own comments until the noise became overwhelming. I couldn't make out what Adrian eventually said, for all I could feel was the violent twisting in my stomach—though even that physical pain couldn't compare with what was happening inside me.

October tenth: the same day I had suffered alcohol poisoning and lost our pup. While I had been fighting for my life alone, Adrian had been rekindling his relationship with his white moonlight.

"Serena, are you okay? Are you feeling sick?" A server passing by noticed me crouched on the floor, my face drained of color, and I asked her to call an ambulance.

By the time I was lying inside the ambulance covered in cold sweat, Adrian finally called. Normally, I would have answered him no matter how tired I was or how badly I wanted to sleep, but that day, the pain was too much. I didn't want to deal with anything or anyone—not even Adrian.

…

I spent five days under a healer's care because my stomach had become severely inflamed—the result of failing to recover properly after the alcohol poisoning and the loss of our pup. Throughout those five days, Adrian never contacted me once; he didn't even send a message. Maybe I had never been as important to him as I believed, or maybe I had always been someone he could live without, and I simply hadn't understood it before.

When Monday came, I returned to the pack office. My assistant, Chloe Parker, immediately pulled me aside, her eyes practically shining with gossip. "Serena, did you hear? Blackwood business is bringing in an air-dropped executive! And it's a she-wolf!"

"Air-dropped?" I repeated, frowning. Adrian was extremely strict when it came to recruitment—even I had started as the lowest intern—and the pack office had never made an exception like this.

But Chloe sounded completely certain. "It's true! I saw the appointment letter myself. Adrian signed it personally. She's going to be the director of Investment Department Three!"

My heart gave a strange jump. That was the position Adrian had once promised me.

Everyone in the pack office knew how much effort I had put into Blackwood business over the years, and according to the company's promotion requirements, I had been qualified to manage projects independently for a long time. But Adrian had told me he was too accustomed to having me as his secretary and couldn't find anyone capable of replacing me, so I remained in the secretarial department. He had also promised me that the director position in Investment Three would be waiting for me, and that once the company went public, he would personally issue my appointment.

"Really?" My eyelid twitched, but I forced my voice to remain steady. "What's her name?"

"Something like Elena…" Chloe admitted, having only glanced at the letter.

My fingers began to shake, and the cup in my hand slipped, sending hot water across the table.

Chloe jumped. "Serena! Did you burn yourself?"

"No." The water wasn't even particularly hot, yet somehow, I felt as though I had been burned. "Elena Sinclair," I said.

Chloe stared at me. "What?"

I inhaled slowly. "That's her name. Elena. The new director of Investment Three."

"Oh! Right, that's it! Serena, do you know her?"

"No." I turned away and went to refill my cup.

The news of the unexpected appointment spread throughout the office almost immediately, and one person after another came to ask me about it. I answered as long as I could until I eventually lost patience. "If you're that curious, why don't you ask Adrian yourselves?"

The moment the words left my mouth, the executive office became silent.

Then a soft, pleasant voice broke through the quiet. "Adrian, your pack office employees seem to have quite a temper."

I turned toward the voice, and the sight of the two wolves standing together left me momentarily stunned. After several days apart, Adrian's eyes passed over me without warmth before he introduced the she-wolf beside him. "Everyone, this is Elena, the new director of Investment Three. From now on, she'll be responsible for every project in that department."

The employees immediately welcomed her, and Elena smiled warmly. "I look forward to working with all of you."

She had even brought small gifts for her new colleagues, and Adrian was carrying the bags for her. I couldn't help giving a bitter little smile. Whenever I used to walk beside Adrian, I was the one carrying everything while rushing around after him, and he had never once offered to help; for Elena, however, he volunteered. Love and indifference really were two completely different things.

Elena handed me one of the gifts as well—a capybara wrist-rest set. "Oh, we have the same one," she said after noticing the identical wrist rest on my desk. She turned toward Adrian with a pleased smile. "Adrian, looks like we have the same taste." Then she looked back at me apologetically. "Adrian went shopping with me to choose these joint gifts. I didn't realize we'd pick the same one. If you don't like it, I can get you another."

"There's no need. I don't mind." I accepted the gift.

Adrian then instructed me, "Serena, show Elena around."

I had no legitimate reason to refuse, as one of Blackwood Business's basic rules was that the president's instructions came first.

Elena was easy to like: she was polite, gentle, and pleasant with everyone, and her appearance was equally striking, with a face that seemed almost flawless. Of course she was beautiful—she was the she-wolf who had become Adrian's white moonlight. How could she possibly be ordinary?

After I finished showing her around, Elena said she wanted to see her office. That office had only been completed two weeks earlier, and I had personally supervised the entire renovation—choosing the furniture, arranging the layout, and deciding every little detail according to my own preferences. More than anyone, I had wanted to sit in that room, just as I had spent years wanting to bind myself to Adrian forever.

Now I had neither: not the love, not the career.

"I really like this office," Elena said, looking delighted. "It's warmer than I expected. And it's so close to Adrian's."

She was so excited that she didn't even wait for me, hurrying into the neighboring office to find him.

Left alone, I stood there feeling ridiculous as I looked around the room I had spent so much time creating. The sight made something inside me collapse, and breathing suddenly felt difficult.

…

The Monday meeting was Blackwood Business's most important regular meeting every week. Everyone treated it seriously, and no one dared arrive late—neither had I.

Except Elena. Despite being the newest employee, she had already broken one of the rules Adrian himself had established. I expected him to be angry, or at the very least reprimand her, but instead, he said nothing. There wasn't even a mild warning; he simply instructed me in a calm voice to distribute the meeting materials.

I stood there in a daze, my mind suddenly returning to my days as an intern. Once, I had arrived late to a weekly meeting because I had a fever from the flu, and Adrian had criticized me in front of the entire office—uncaring that I had caught the flu while taking care of him. Afterward, I felt hurt and complained to him, but he explained that Blackwood's business was still establishing itself at the time and that he needed to create rules and make an example out of someone. I had been that example, and I convinced myself that he was simply separating his professional responsibilities from his personal relationship with me. It wasn't personal; that was what I told myself.

Years later, seeing Elena receive the exact opposite treatment felt like being struck across the face. So Adrian could make exceptions—he simply hadn't been willing to make them for me. Some wolves really were treated differently, just like love and indifference could exist worlds apart.