Chapter 1

~Rielle

"She is pregnant, Rielle. At least be more sensitive." He said, in an exasperated tone that only made my stomach sink lower.

I was still clad in my wedding gown. The pearls around my neck were suddenly too tight, it felt like a noose. This was not how it was supposed to be.

I turned my gaze to Gloria, the woman who was pregnant with my groom's child. It was all so bizarre.

"You were sleeping with her?" My voice was shaky. It did not sound like me. "Months to our wedding?" My voice rose.

Jameson fixed me with a stare that I could not read. It was as though I was speaking to a stranger. "Yes, Rielle. It was a one time thing. It happened after that fight we had." He was explaining but I could not hear a single hint of remorse in his voice.

"Do you not realise the enormity of what you have done to me?" My voice grew even louder.

Gloria cringed as if my voice could burst her very sensitive eardrums.

"Rielle, be civil." Lucinda, my-would-be-mother-in-law said where she sat. "We are not animals here." She took a dismissive sip of her tea. She did not look me in the eye. It was as though I was an afterthought.

Why were they so calm? Why was I the only one panicking at this news. Unless…

I turned to Lucinda. I could not even conjure up rage, I was just hurt. "You knew…"

She cast her disinterested gaze on me. "So?" She raised a brow. "What did you expect me to do? Turn the mother of my grandchild away?"

The foundation of trust, painstakingly built over time, crumbled beneath the weight of betrayal, leaving me standing amidst emotional rubble.

I saw these people as my family. We had so many memories together. I convinced my father to invest in the pack because I could not watch them go down in ruin. I watched the pack grow with my father's assistance. They were there for me when my father died.

Lucinda was the mother I never had and Jameson was the love of my life. It was hard to think, to breathe. Every breath felt like I was being torn on the inside with blades.

"What about me?" I asked as I finally allowed my tears to fall. "After everything, I did for you. After everything my father…"

Jameson's expression went from detached to irritated in less than a second as though he had been anticipating me bringing up the elephant in the room. "There you go again. Everything I have done. Everything my father did for you." He mimicked and I could have sworn I heard Gloria chuckle.

"You hold that shit over me all the fucking time. Like I should be indebted to you and kiss your feet." He had never in all our years together spoken to me like this. "You were always nothing but a reminder that I had a debt to pay to that old geezer."

Finally, I saw red. "Don't you fucking speak of my father in that way."

A scornful grin made its way to his mouth. "Or what? He is dead, is he not?"

"Jameson…" I cracked.

He looked like he was fighting back the urge to roll his eyes. "Look Rielle…" His voice softened and my heart soared at the prospect that it had all been a joke. A prank. A sick, twisted one but a prank nonetheless. Everything would be alright. Jameson still loved…

"I never loved you."

I froze but Jameson was not done tearing whatever was left of my hope to shreds.

"I never for once loved you. I did this mostly because of the debt and partly because I pitied you. I made a deal with your father that I would make you happy and that's what I did Until, I could not take it anymore."

My heart was glass at that moment. It splintered and cracked before it shattered. I did not know that I had begun to sob until I tasted salt on my tongue.

I turned and fled. The doors were opened by stoic guards but I knew well that they heard everything. On the other side of the door, were guests who had been invited to the wedding. The moment they laid eyes on me they ceased whispering. They all looked at me like I was a performer at a circus. Maybe in some ways, my wedding was the circus that they had all been invited to but I was the only clown.

*****

By evening the next day, I had made up my mind. I knew Jameson was only trying to be responsible for the woman he got pregnant by mistake. We had been on way more rocky grounds when it came to our relationship. I could not let this deter me. I would compromise, like I always did. I was doing this for us. They were all I had left. I had no other person. Ever since my father died, they were the only people I could call family.

Going back to my father's estate made me realise I was not strong enough to take the loneliness. I would fell into depression like my father did before he died. The thought of suffering that same fate made my blood run cold with dread.

I convinced myself as I snuck into the Alpha castle. Humiliation forced me to do something so outlandish, I just could not take any of the maids seeing me. I heard whispering coming from the room that I used to share with Jameson and readied myself to enter. But their conversation stopped me in my tracks.

"Dense as a fucking rock," I looked through the key hole. It was Jameson who had spoken.

"She must have gotten it from her father," Lucinda snickered.

"But did you really have to lie?" Gloria's voice. "One time?" She raised a brow but she had a knowing gleam in her eye.

"If she isn't dumb, she should have figured it out by now, but it's Rielle we are talking about here." Jameson traced a finger over her lip.

They laughed. Every cell in my body told me to barge in and let them know that I heard them but I thought better of it. Who knew what else they would reveal.

"I even got her to write me as her sole benefactor if she so happens to die." Jameson said smugly.

I bit my lip until I tasted blood. I had been such a fucking fool.

"Then she'll have to die," Lucinda's cool voice filled the air. The hairs at the back of my neck rose. "I'll have it arranged soon like her old man's."