Chapter 1
Today was the anniversary of Corwin's death.
I knelt at his grave just long enough to set down a bunch of white lilies, then hurried off. I had a meeting with the manager of a lakeside resort, and I was already running late.
The manager had texted me a suite number. I was in such a rush that I misread it, and when I spotted a door propped open by a housekeeping cart, I walked straight in.
It was a presidential suite. I was three steps inside before I realized my mistake.
I was turning to slip back out when a voice drifted from the bedroom. A voice I knew far too well.
"God, babe, you're a genius. Move all the money out first, then 'die.' And Calla's still out there working herself to the bone to pay off your debts."
"That's on her for being so dumb." A man laughed. "She doesn't even know the baby she pushed out came from IVF. What kind of wolf can't sniff out whether her own pup is hers? Omega noses are useless."
Every hair on my arms stood up.
I crept back toward the bedroom and looked through the gap in the door.
My whole body went numb.
It was Corwin. My mate. The man I'd buried a year ago. He was naked in bed, and curled against his chest was my stepsister, Delphine.
"You're sure she won't figure it out?" Delphine asked, a little nervous.
"She's a nobody Omega. Even if she finds out, she won't have the guts to do anything about it." Corwin sounded bored. "Once the idiot clears my debts and raises the kid for us, I'll walk back in and take everything that's mine."
I'd given this man everything I had. My grief. My savings. Every sleepless night. And this was what he thought of me.
My chest hurt so much I could barely breathe.
"Relax. I planned my death down to the last detail." Corwin smirked. "Right now she's probably sobbing on my grave."
He rolled Delphine beneath him, and soon the room was full of moaning.
So that was why our mate bond had gone silent the night of the attack. I'd thought silence meant death. He must have found some way to choke it off.
Rage, grief, and shock crashed over me all at once. I gripped the doorframe until the worst of it passed.
I couldn't storm in there. I was an Omega. Against the two of them and whatever else they'd planned, I'd lose.
I couldn't even let them know I'd been here.
So I backed away without a sound, pulled the door shut behind me, and walked out like nothing had happened.
I even made my meeting. I sat across from the resort manager, talked numbers, and closed the deal with a smile.
Under the table, my nails dug so deep into my palms that they bled.
From that day on, I started planning how to make them pay.
Four years later, on Tobin's sixth birthday, Delphine let herself in with her own key.
"Calla, look! I made Tobin's favorite strawberry shortcake!"
She'd been dropping by all the time since Corwin's "death." At some point, she'd ended up with a spare key to my house.
"No work today?" I kept my voice light.
"I took the day off." She came up behind me and started rubbing my shoulders. "You're drowning in debt and raising a kid all by yourself. I just want to help more."
Before that day at the hotel, that would have brought tears to my eyes.
Now I knew better. She wasn't here for me. She was here for her son's birthday.
My palm itched to slap her. Instead, I smiled and sent her out to the backyard to help set up for the party.
A minute later, Tobin came tearing in from the yard and threw his arms around her.
"Aunt Delphine, you're the best! How'd you know strawberry shortcake is my favorite?"
"Because I know everything about you, sweetie." She kissed his cheek.
It had been like this for years. Delphine was always first in line to "help," especially when it came to Tobin. She never missed his birthday parties. She even went to his parent-teacher conferences.
She said she was doing it for me. I knew exactly who she was doing it for.
While the two of them were wrapped up in each other, the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find Tobin's teacher, Bastian, holding a gift box and a bunch of white jasmine.
"The flowers are for you," he said with a warm smile. "The present's for the birthday boy."
"Oh, thank you. That's really sweet of you."
I passed the gift to Tobin and put the jasmine in a vase in the living room. Jasmine was my scent. Bastian never forgot.
When I turned around, he was still watching me.
"You look beautiful today, Calla," he said quietly. "Have you thought about what I asked you last time?"
