Chapter 2

“It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have shown up. I shouldn’t have disturbed you two…”

As she spoke, tears fell right on cue. “I’ll leave. Right now.”

“Ava,” Ethan said instantly, softening like someone flipped a switch, “I told you. I’ve got you.”

He was immediately heartbroken for her.

He wiped her tears with one hand, then looked back at me.

Whatever tiny crack there’d been in his expression was gone.

All that was left was disgust.

“Isabella, can you stop clinging and making trouble—”

I cut him off. “Canceling the mate ceremony is fine. Give my things back.”

Ethan froze. “What things?”

I lifted my hand and unfastened the Luna Moonstone necklace at my throat.

It was the token Ethan’s mother had given me when our two families settled the engagement.

My mother had given him something even more valuable.

“Take back your Luna Moonstone necklace,” I said. “Give me my Blood Moonstone.”

Ethan’s expression turned colder by the second.

His gaze locked on the necklace in my hand.

I’d worn it since I was fifteen. I’d never taken it off.

Everyone in the werewolf noble circles knew how much I cherished it.

“You think everyone’s as pathetic as you, licking boots for scraps?” he sneered.

He snatched the necklace from me. “What kind of trash do you carry around like it’s priceless?”

Then he shot me a final, icy look. “I’ll find your Blood Moonstone when I get home. After that, we’re even.”

When I got home, my brother William was waiting in the living room.

“Isabella, there’s something I need to tell you.”

He handed me several thick stacks of documents.

“This office building, I’m transferring it into Ava’s name so she can collect the rent.”

“She’s suffered enough. Now that she’s in our family, it’s time for her to finally have a good life.”

I glanced at the papers.

That building was Mom’s inheritance, an asset she brought with her from her own Pack.

Without expression, I took the documents and tore them in half.

“Isabella!”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

William pushed up his glasses, looking at me like he was disappointed in a child.

“The last time you shoved Ava down the stairs, I cleaned it up for you.”

“She endured that much humiliation. Giving her a building isn’t even a big deal.”

“Did you forget Mom’s dying words?”

William went silent.

Before Mom died, she’d gripped William’s hand so hard he couldn’t pull away, and made him swear—

Swear he’d protect me for the rest of his life. Look after me. Spoil me.

Swear no one would ever make me suffer.

Swear no one would ever take what belonged to me.

It was the heaviest vow an Alpha-bloodline could make—sworn to the Moon Goddess. Break it, and your wolf soul would backfire.

“I didn’t forget,” he said at last.

“But Isabella… since Ava is my sister now, too…”

“Is it really that outrageous if I share half my love with her?”

“Isabella, you’re too willful. Too domineering.”

He sighed. “Why can’t you learn from Ava?”

I wanted to laugh, but tears beat me to it.

“William.”

“Mom’s things, no one gets to take them.”

“If you want to give Ava something, fine. Give her as much as you want from Bloodmoon Pack.”

“Bloodmoon Pack doesn’t have anything worth—”

William cut himself off mid-sentence.

Yeah.

Bloodmoon never had anything worth loving.

Not people. Not things.

I tossed the shredded documents into the trash and went upstairs.

“In a few days, it’s Mom’s death anniversary,” I said over my shoulder. “Don’t forget.”

“How could I forget?” William forced a laugh.

“Get some rest. I’m going to work in the study for a while.”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t look back.

That night, I didn’t sleep.

I pulled out everything in this house that had anything to do with the three of us.

Photos, I burned.

Anything I could smash or rip apart, I did.

Anything that could be given away, I boxed up and sent to an orphanage.

And what was left was this small house, soaked in memories in every corner.

It was the only little villa Bloodmoon Pack ever gave my mother when she married in.

Later, Mom died, and William and I couldn’t bear to move out.

Later still, Dad moved out to live with Ava’s mother.

And William came back less and less.

Ethan used to come here every single day to see me.

But now… he hadn’t been here in forever.

On the terrace, I held my mother’s portrait and cried for a long time.

Then I fell asleep in the middle of it.

The day after my birthday was Mom’s death anniversary.

Back then, she’d forced herself to hold on until I finished my birthday, and only then did she let go.

I cried until I nearly passed out.

Ethan had stayed with me, twenty-four hours a day.

He stayed with me through eight birthdays after that.

This was the first one he missed.

But it didn’t matter anymore.

Ethan didn’t come.

Ava, on the other hand, haunted me like a ghost.

Her Instagram spammed my screen all night.

And some nosy people even livestreamed it to me.

“Couldn’t think of a reason to celebrate,” Ethan said with a laugh, “so tonight we’ll celebrate your tablet’s birthday!”

“Honestly, I just wanted an excuse to eat cake,” Ava giggled.

A gorgeous, expensive two-tier cake. A champagne tower.

A little princess in a crown, surrounded by designer bags and pretty dresses.

Smiling with curved eyes, gazing up at the man beside her like she belonged there.

Ethan looked back at her just as gently.

They looked perfect together.

I exited the app and set my phone face-down on the table.

I closed my eyes, faced the candle, and made a wish.

“Mom, please bless me everything go smoothly.”

“Mom, please bless me… let me stay far, far away from these rotten people. Forever.”