Chapter Three
Maeve's POV
I sent Ronan my resignation the same night I cut off the pack link.
Back then, several nearby packs were competing for business at the port. The Blackthorn Pack didn’t have a single long-term supply contract, so Ronan and I started the company together.
Ronan went to the docks to find suppliers while I went to neighboring packs to negotiate deals. I landed our first deal.
The night we delivered the goods, we crouched on the docks, checking the cargo crate by crate until dawn.
When the company first turned a profit, Ronan told everyone, “Without Maeve, this company wouldn’t have made it through its first winter.”
Now he treated my resignation as another part of the game.
He sent back a single message.
“Approved. Your job will be waiting when you cool off.”
Vanessa’s fifth day as Luna happened to be the company’s anniversary. It was also my last day there.
I went in to return my badge and finish handing off my work. The anniversary video was playing on a screen in the lobby, but my name wasn’t in it. Every photo of me from the company’s early days was gone, too.
I remembered how the video used to open. I was crouched on the docks, opening a crate. When I noticed Ronan filming me, I reached out to block the lens.
Every year, he’d laugh when that part came on. This year, even that clip had been cut.
The video ended on a still of Vanessa standing beside Ronan.
The caption read, “Thank you, Luna, for always being there.”
Ronan knew the anniversary invitation had originally been meant for me. He still let Vanessa wear the dress that should have been mine.
She wore the Luna’s moonstone bracelet and stood beside him, cutting the cake and raising a glass with him. Whenever someone called her Luna, she blushed and looked at Ronan.
He never corrected anyone.
“We’re already five days in. Ending it now would spoil everyone’s fun.”
I didn’t go into the banquet hall. I stayed in the office, handing off the rest of my work one task at a time.
As I was leaving, an employee who’d been there since the company was founded recognized me.
“Luna,” he called.
He looked back at the stage and froze. “Then who’s that standing next to the Alpha?”
The banquet hall went quiet.
The guests turned toward me at the sound of his voice. Only then did they realize the woman onstage wasn’t me.
People immediately started whispering.
“Then why is she wearing the Luna’s bracelet?”
“And she smiled and answered to Luna when everyone called her that?”
While people were talking, someone pulled out a phone and played a video Vanessa had posted.
“You’ve got it wrong. Watch this video. Maeve’s the one refusing to give up the title.”
“The Alpha and his parents all think Vanessa should be Luna. Maeve thinks she can stick around just because she helped him start the company, doesn’t she?”
The phone was passed around the crowd before someone finally handed it to me.
The video showed me crying as I snatched back my nightgown, standing outside the master bedroom telling Vanessa to get out, and leaving the family dinner alone, my eyes red.
Every clip had been edited to make me look like the problem.
What it didn’t show was Ronan saying it was all just a game, or holding me afterward and telling me not to take it seriously.
The caption read, “Some people just don’t know how to quit while they’re ahead.”
I stared at those words, remembering everything they’d done over the past three years.
Every time I broke down, they kept pushing until I admitted, “I take it so seriously because I love him so much.”
They’d even set up a separate betting channel to track each incident: how many minutes I cried, whether I threw things, and how many days it took me to apologize to Vanessa.
Only then did I understand. For three years, they’d been recording my breakdowns just so they could laugh at them later.
Before I could say anything, Ronan came over and lowered his voice.
“We’re already this far in. We might as well finish the game. Vanessa meant well. I can’t let this ruin her reputation.”
I looked at him and couldn’t help laughing. “What about my reputation?”
He frowned. “You’ve dragged this out too long. None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t taken the game so seriously.”
I ignored him and left my badge and resignation paperwork at the front desk.
“The handoff’s done.”
I walked past him and got into the elevator.
That finally made Ronan lose control. In front of all the guests, he called in a council legal officer.
“Draw up a bond dissolution agreement. We’re doing this through the Council. On the tenth night, I want her to make her own choice in front of the whole pack. Let’s see if she can keep this act up.”
