CHAPTER 3

I stared at the black screen of my dead phone. The Vaughn Great-Pack? Six brothers? My pulse thrummed, a frantic, rhythmic heat.

“What kind of game are you playing now, Sierra?”

I didn't turn. I knew the weight of that voice. Cameron stood at the threshold of the Steele Residence, his silk robe hanging loose, chest still damp from the shower. He looked at the wreckage on the driveway—my cheap clothes scattered in the dirt like roadkill.

He stepped over a fallen sweater, his lip curling. “You didn't take a single piece of jewelry. Not one designer gown. You think playing the martyr is going to make me chase you?”

I gripped the plastic trash bag until my knuckles went white. I hadn't touched his blood money. Not after he told me to kill our pup.

“Is this for the cameras?” Cameron’s voice dropped to a predatory growl. “Trying to win back my grandmother’s pity? She isn't here to save you this time.”

I said nothing. My silence seemed to snap something in him.

“I was generous, Sierra. I gave you a seat at the Steele table for three years. I paid for your uncle’s failing heart. You’re leaving with enough gold to buy a small territory, and you’re standing there holding a literal bag of trash.”

Lexi limped out behind him, her arm draped over his shoulder like a victory flag. “Oh, Cam, I tried to stop her. I offered her a suitcase, but she insisted on the garbage bag. She’s trying to make us look like monsters.”

Kaleb, the head guard, nodded sharply. “She’s right, Alpha. She threw her own things in the mud just as you walked out. It’s a staged performance.”

I looked at Cameron. For three years, I had scented his skin, cooked his meals, and felt his weight over me in the dark. I wanted to see a flicker of doubt. Just one.

There was nothing but ice.

“Done?” I asked, my voice a jagged scrap of glass.

“Haven’t you had enough?” Cameron stepped into my personal space, his Alpha aura thick and suffocating. “What is the price, Sierra? What more do you want?”

I let out a harsh, jagged laugh. “You want to know what I want? I wanted to be the Luna you deserved. I spent three years in your kitchen while you were in the boardroom or in her bed. I’ve gone to the market and the hospital, and that’s it. You’ve drained three years of my life, Cameron. I’m not playing a martyr. I’m just taking what’s actually mine.”

“Are you finished?” he snapped.

“Not even close. But if you want the rest of the list, you’ll have to pay my consultation f*e. Alphas don't get my time for free anymore.”

Cameron’s eyes flashed a dangerous, midnight blue. “You’re a gold-digger to the bone, aren't you? Your greed is disgusting.”

He looked at me with such revulsion I felt it like a physical blow. He couldn't understand how a 'low-born omega' could have eyes this clear while being so 'materialistic.' To him, I was a liar who had finally stopped pretending.

Lexi smirked, her voice a poisonous honey. “Maybe she’s so eager to leave because there’s another wolf waiting in the woods? Is that it, Sierra? Did you find a new Alpha to leach off of?”

Cameron’s posture shifted. He became a hunter, his gaze searching mine for a flinch. “Is that it? Have you been stepping out on the bond while I paid your bills?”

I looked at the clothes in the dirt. My shirt was missing a button from the scuffle with Lexi. “I’ll return everything you bought me, Cameron. Right now.”

My fingers went to the top of my blouse. I unhooked the first button. Then the second. I felt the bite of the wind on my collarbone.

Cameron’s pupils blown wide. His breath hitched, his gaze dropping to the curve of my chest.

“Stop it!” he roared, his voice shaking the windows of the villa. “You’re the most shameless woman I’ve ever met. Get the hell out. If I see you on Steele land again, I’ll have you put down like a stray.”

He turned his back on me and stormed inside, his shoulders rigid.

Lexi lingered, her face twisted in triumph. “Nice show. Too bad nobody’s buying. Go back to the gutter where you belong, peasant.”

I pulled my bag tight and swallowed the lump in my throat. I looked at the sky, half-expecting a miracle, half-expecting to die in the cold.

Then, the air began to vibrate.

A heavy, rhythmic thrumming shook the trees. A sleek, matte-black helicopter with the Vaughn crest—a silver wolf's head—descended from the clouds, its blades whipping the dirt into a frenzy.

It landed right on the Steele’s pristine lawn.

Six massive men in tactical gear vaulted out. They didn't look like guards; they looked like executioners. They marched toward me in a phalanx, ignoring the Steele sentries who were scrambling for their weapons.

The lead man stopped three feet away and dropped his head in a deep, ancient bow.

“Princess Sierra,” he boomed over the roar of the engines. “We are here to bring you home.”

I froze. The Vaughn crest. The 'Princess' title. It wasn't a dream.

Lexi stared, her mouth hanging open. “What the hell is this? What extras did you hire, Sierra? You rented a chopper to try and impress Tim? You’re pathetic!”

The lead guard didn't even look at her. He backhanded Lexi so hard she spun and hit the gravel with a sickening crack.

“Keep your filth off the Vaughn name,” the guard spat.

Lexi shrieked, clutching her bleeding lip. “Cam! Help! She’s having me killed!”

Cameron was back at the door, his face a mask of shock. He watched as the guards surrounded me, forming a wall of muscle and silver.

“Sierra! Stay where you are!” Cameron yelled, starting to run toward us.

I didn't turn. I stepped onto the stairs of the helicopter, the wind whipping my hair across my face.

“Tim! She’s leaving with him!” Lexi wailed, grabbing Cameron’s arm to hold him back. “She’s been planning this! She’s a traitor!”

Cameron stopped at the edge of the rotor wash, his eyes locked onto mine as the door began to slide shut. For the first time in three years, he looked small.

I looked at him through the glass, touched my stomach, and watched the Steele Residence shrink into a speck beneath us.