Chapter 6

BIANCA

On the way home, I went over everything I would need to prepare to leave Matthew.

Divorce documents.

Pack obligations.

Hospital duties.

Everything had a process. Everything could be handled.

But when I stepped inside and saw Theo’s innocent, adorable face, my chest tightened despite myself.

Was I really going to make Theo live the rogue life I once had?

My fingers clenched tightly at my side.

Then Theo ran up to me, slipping his small hand into mine. The warmth of his touch made my grip loosen. With his other hand, he tugged at my clothes, proudly showing me his new score on his assignment.

"Mum, look, I got a 10 out of 10. I'm the only student that got it all." I was taken back by the change in Theo, he was actually noticing me.

I smiled at him as I ruffled his hair and said, "I'm so proud

of you, Theo, I knew you could do this." I said as he giggled before continuing,

"Does this mean that I can ask you for anything? A gift for doing a good job? I worked extra hard on this, you know."

He said looking nervous, unsure of his request as I held his shoulders and said, “Absolutely, what do you want from me, tell me and I'll agree." I said as he searched my face to see if I was lying and then beamed when he saw that I was being serious.

"It is a wish, but I will use it later. Come on mum, come play with me, I'm building a castle all alone." He said pulling me, towards his room as I realized something.

Mia wasn't around which was why he was giving me his attention, just like before. Theo wasn't doing anything wrong, he was being influenced by Mia when she was around, and this gave me hope.

Mia didn’t look like someone who has contracted feral Lupin disease. Some of the symptoms doesn't match, with the textbook diagnosis of such disease. If I could make Matthew see that she was faking it, perhaps there was still a chance to save this marriage. But if he chose to stay with Mia anyway, then he could, but Theo was my son and I would die before giving him up easily.

Emboldened by this, I spent the next three days researching everything that I knew about Mia's case.

The first breakthrough came from the hospital archives. I had access to patient records—not Mia's specifically, since she wasn't my patient, but I had colleagues who worked in the same system as me. Nurses who owed me favors. And I had called in, every single one that I had.

"Just need to verify some test results," I told Sarah from records. "In case we missed anything before starting treatments to avoid being sued for negligence in the future. You know how it is."

She did know. Some Karen's have done this in the past, despite being at fault and hiding critical medical knowledge from us. So she didn't think twice about it. She pulled the files without question.

Mia's original blood work from thirteen months ago told a very different story than the one Matthew had been fed. The initial tests showed normal ranges across the board. Healthy.

But then there was a second set of results, dated one week later. Same tests, same patient ID number, but these showed the feral lupin phase 2 Markers. The decline was sudden and literally impossible. Feral Lupin was genetic. You were born with it or you weren't. It didn't suddenly appear in your blood work like magic or a contracted sexual disease.

Someone had doctored Mia's records.

I printed everything.

The question was why. Why would she do this? What did she gain from—

But I knew the answer before I even finished the thought. She gained Matthew. She gained my son. She gained my life, that she was enjoying living in.

She'd weaponized compassion from the two people that had everything she wanted. Mine and Matthew's both.

And it had worked perfectly.

I heard Matthew come home around midnight on the third night. I'd been sitting at the kitchen table for hours, the evidence folder in front of me, rehearsing what I would say.

He looked tired when he walked in, his tie loosened, his jacket slung over his shoulder as he looked ready to collapse and call it a night.

"You're still up," he said, surprised. Then his eyes landed on the folder. "What's that?"

"Sit down, Matthew. We need to talk."

Something in my tone made him pause. "Bianca, if this is about Mia staying—"

"It's about Mia, yes. But not about her staying." I pushed the folder across the table. "I need you to look at this. All of it. Before you say anything, before you dismiss this, I need you to actually look."

He opened the folder, and I watched his face as he scanned the first page. Then the second. His expression shifted from confusion to anger once he realized what he was looking at.

"Where did you get these?" His voice was cold.

"From the hospital records. From our own lab. These are Mia's actual test results, Matthew. The real ones. Not the ones Dr. Hartwick is using as a guide to treat Mia."

"This is a violation of patient privacy—"

"She's not sick." I leaned forward, interrupting him, my voice steady as I continued speaking.

"Look at the dates. Look at the metadata. Her original blood work was completely normal. Then suddenly, a week later, she has Feral Lupin Phase 2 markers? That's not how genetic diseases work. They don't appear overnight. Someone altered her records. Someone created this diagnosis."

Matthew was staring at the papers now, his jaw tight. Then he suddenly looked up, his eyes narrowing at me. “Why did you suddenly need to look into this?”

I straightened in my chair, giving a sad little smile. “For Theo, for our marriage.” I took a deep breath, continued, “I heard everything—you and Dr. Hartwick.”

He pushed the folder back across the table, standing abruptly from the chair shaking his head. "So you fabricated this to avoid responsibility?”

“No! I'm showing you proof.” I couldn’t believe Matthew would think this of me. What had Mia done to him?

“This isn’t evidence, Bianca. This is you trying to discredit a dying woman because you’re jealous. You’re avoiding your responsibility as a healer!”

I stared at my husband in disbelief. Hearing his words, I looked at the man who was so desperate to save his first love that he couldn’t see the truth literally printed in front of him.

I shook my head, bitterly. This is the man you’ve loved for so many years, Bianca.

I spoke again, my tone calmer than before. “I’ll say it one more time. She doesn’t have any disease. She’s not dying.”

Matthew's face was red now, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "Bullshit! You're too selfish to help her."

"I'm not selfish for refusing to die for a lie!"

"You're a healer! You took an oath! And you're my Luna—you have a responsibility to this pack, to use your abilities to save lives when you can!" Matthew slammed his hand down on the table. He had never been like this before.

"My responsibility is to my son first. To be alive for him. To not leave him motherless because his father asked me to sacrifice myself for a woman who isn't even sick!"

"Enough!" The Alpha command in his voice made the windows rattle. "You will undergo the treatment. Dr. Hartwick will begin preparations next week. Bianca. Mia is running out of time..."

"She has years! Even if Feral Lupin Phase 2 were real, Dr. Hartwick said she has years with proper management. This cure isn't urgent, Matthew. But you're so desperate to give her everything that you're willing to risk my life for her comfort."

"I'm willing to help someone in need, yes. I'm willing to use the resources available to us—including your abilities—to cure someone rather than force them to live with a disease. Why is that so wrong?"

"Because you didn't ask me!" My voice broke. "Because you're treating me like a tool instead of a person. You just decided, and now you're ordering me to comply."

"I'm asking you to do what's right."

"No." I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly cold. "You're asking me to prove my worth by nearly killing myself. You're asking me to earn my place in this family by sacrificing everything for the woman you actually love. And I can't—I won't—do that anymore."

Matthew's expression tightened, impatience flashing across his eyes.

"Bianca, you're being dramatic—"

"I want a divorce."

Matthew stared at me like I'd struck him. "What?"

"I want a divorce," I repeated, my voice steady now. Clear. "I'm done, Matthew. I'm done risking everything for a man who will never value me the way he values her. I want out.”