Semua Bab His Regret, My Rise: Bab 1 - Bab 10

CHAPTER 1: THE SCENT OF ANOTHER WOMANI walked in on my husband fucking another woman while our five-year-old sat on her lap, and my legs gave out before my brain could process what I was seeing.My knees hit the marble floor with a crack that should have alerted them. It didn't. Damian kept thrusting into her like nothing in the world mattered except the sounds she was making—sounds I'd never been able to draw from him in five years of marriage. The woman, some brunette with a face full of makeup and a body that belonged on magazine covers, threw her head back and moaned loud enough to wake the dead.And on her lap, perched like he belonged there, sat my son.Theo.Five years old. Blond hair like his father, hazel eyes like mine. He was munching a cookie, crumbs falling on the woman's bare thigh, his little legs swinging happily as he watched his father fuck a stranger on our living room couch.Our couch. The one I'd picked out. The one we'd made family memories on—or so I'd thought.

CHAPTER 3: THE PRICE OF BEING A DOORMATI stared at the text message for a full ten minutes, reading it so many times the words started to blur."I know who you are. I know what you can do. Come to Thorn Tower at 10 AM if you want a new life. Come alone."Thorn Tower. Kaelen Thorn. The name alone sent shivers down my spine—and not entirely from fear. Every werewolf in the region knew about the Thorn Alpha. He'd built an empire from nothing, transforming his pack from a struggling collection of nobodies into one of the most powerful forces in the city. His company dominated werewolf tech. His wealth was legendary. His reputation... well, his reputation was complicated.Some said he was ruthless, cold, calculating. Others said he was fair, just, unexpectedly compassionate. The one thing everyone agreed on? Kaelen Thorn didn't make mistakes. He didn't take risks. Every move he made was calculated, deliberate, part of some larger plan no one else could see.So why was he texting a rejecte

CHAPTER 5: THE MAKEOVER BEGINSThe woman in the mirror had dead eyes and defeated posture. I was done with her.I woke before dawn, the city still dark outside my twentieth-floor windows, and lay staring at the ceiling while my mind raced.Two days until the emergency custody hearing. Two days to become someone Ivy and Damian wouldn't recognize. Two days to transform from the doormat they'd discarded into the woman who would destroy them.The old Sera would have spent these days crying. Praying. Hoping someone else would save her.The new Sera reached for her laptop.First: the list. I typed it out with methodical precision, each item a promise to myself.Haircut and colorContact lensesNew wardrobe (work appropriate + killer outfits)Practice walking in heelsPractice speaking without apologizingPractice looking people in the eyeLiora stirred, curious. What is this?"Reinvention," I whispered.I checked my Phantom accounts. Nearly five million dollars, untouched for years while I p

CHAPTER 7: PRIVATE MEETINGHe cornered me against his desk, one hand on either side of me, and said the words that would haunt my dreams: "You have no idea what you're doing to me, do you?"The kiss ended as abruptly as it began.Kaelen wrenched himself away so fast I stumbled forward, catching myself on the edge of his desk. He was across the room in three strides, his back to me, one hand gripping the back of a visitor chair hard enough to leave dents."I'm sorry." His voice was ravaged. "I shouldn't have... that was...I'm sorry."I couldn't speak. Could barely breathe. My lips still tingled from the pressure of his, my body still hummed with the electricity of being so close to him.Liora was howling with joy in my mind. MATE. HE KISSED US. HE WANTS US. MATE.Shut up, I told her weakly. I need to think.But thinking was impossible when every nerve ending was still firing from that kiss.Kaelen turned, and the look on his face made my heart clench. He was tortured. Actually tortured

CHAPTER 9: THE RETURNSERA'S POVA knock on my door made me freeze.It was nearly one in the morning. I wasn't expecting anyone. Security in this building was supposed to be ironclad.Kaelen had guaranteed that the security here was excellent.My heart hammered as I approached the door. Peered through the peephole.A woman stood there.She looked older. Gray streaking her dark hair, my dark hair, the same shade I saw in the mirror every morning. The hair was matted, dirty, hanging in greasy strands. Her clothes were ragged, stained, looking like she'd been dumpster diving for weeks. Maybe months.But her face.Her face was etched with lines I didn't recognize, weathered by years and hardship. But beneath them, beneath the dirt and the exhaustion and the impossible reality of her standing there…Eyes that I'd seen in photographs my entire life.Eyes that couldn't be real because she died when I was twelve.My mother.I stumbled back from the door, my hand flying to my mouth. Liora surg