All Chapters of FAKING IT WITH THE ALPHA CAPTAIN RIVAL : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I pushed through the crowded hallway, keeping my head down. My left shoe was a disaster. The sole flapped against the wet tile with every step. It made this sad, slapping sound that followed me like a bad joke. I was so tired. My legs felt heavy, like they had weights tied to them. All I wanted was to get to the bathroom and splash cold water on my face. Maybe that would wake me up a little.I had worked an all-night shift at the diner. My hands still smelled like greasy burgers and old oil. Before that, I cleaned floors at the school. Three jobs in total. That was my life now. Work, work, and more work. And then worry about Mom.My stomach growled loud enough that I worried someone might hear. I had not eaten since yesterday afternoon. But food could wait. Everything could wait except Mom. She was in the hospital again. Her heart was getting worse. The doctors said she needed surgery soon. Sixty-eight thousand dollars. That number kept spinning in my head like a bad song I could not

Every pair of eyes in the VIP suite was fixed on me. My real dark hair was out in the open. The cold air hit my skin and made me shiver. Phones flashed all around me. The laughter started low then grew louder and meaner. It felt like knives in my ears.Ryder stepped back from me. His face went hard like stone. The warm bond that had felt so good in the suite now twisted painful in my chest. He looked at me with cold eyes.“You really thought you could trick an alpha?” he said out loud. His voice was full of venom. “Pathetic. I should have known it was not her. A girl like you would do anything for attention.”“Ryder, please,” I said. My voice shook badly. Tears burned my eyes. “I can explain. It is not what you think. The bond... you felt it too, right? When we were together. It was real.”“Save it,” he snapped. He turned his back on me and pulled Victoria close. “She is obsessed. Unstable. Get this janitor out of here.”The words cut deep. I felt the mate bond scream inside me. He ha

RyderThe words never came. I felt them die in my throat the second Marcus Hart's hand closed around my arm.He didn't drag me. He didn't have to. One look from him and the crowd around us folded backward like water breaking around a rock. Victoria grabbed my other sleeve, her nails digging in through the fabric, and together the three of us moved through the arena tunnel and into a room I'd only ever seen used for press interviews. Marcus shut the door himself. The click of the lock sounded louder than the whole crowd outside.“Sit,” he said.Nobody sat.His voice was calm. That was the part that scared me. My own father yells when he's angry. Marcus Hart just got quiet, and quiet from a man like that was worse than any shout I'd ever heard.“Do either of you understand what almost happened out there?” he asked. He wasn't looking at Victoria. He was looking at me.“Marcus, I can explain—” Victoria started.“I am not talking to you yet.” He still hadn't raised his voice. He didn't ne

ElenaMy phone woke me up before my alarm did.I fumbled for it in the dark, half-convinced it was Ryder again, still apologizing, still drowning in his own mess from yesterday. It wasn't. It was a number I didn't recognize, no name, no contact, just ten digits and a single message sitting there glowing in the dark.Everyone's talking about you this morning. You should see it before you leave the house.No signature. No explanation. Just that, and then nothing else, the little gray bubble sitting there like it was waiting to see what I'd do.My stomach dropped before I even understood why.I sat up too fast, heart already hammering, and opened my messages. Twelve missed notifications overnight. Then twenty. By the time I made it to the bathroom mirror, the number had climbed past forty, and every single one of them traced back to the same thing.Someone had gotten a screenshot of the wig moment.Not the party photos everyone had already seen, the ones of "Victoria" dancing with Ryder

ElenaI read Victoria's name in that text so many times it stopped looking like a word.She's the one who made sure the review board got an anonymous tip.I didn't sleep again. By the time I dragged myself into the girls' bathroom before first period, running on nothing but two hours of shallow, useless rest, I told myself the worst of it was already behind me. I'd survived the wig, the engagement announcement and the letter so whatever today brought, I could survive that too.Then I looked up at the mirror.Someone had written across it in thick black marker, right at eye level, impossible to miss.HOMEWRECKER GOES HOME.My stomach turned over. I stood there staring at my own reflection warped behind those four words, feeling exposed in a way that had nothing to do with clothes or wigs or cameras. This wasn't rumor anymore. This was someone standing in this exact spot, marker in hand, deciding I deserved to see it the second I walked in.I grabbed a paper towel and scrubbed at it un