Chapter 3

I walked out of the banquet hall without a single change in expression.

I was used to this by now. No matter what I did, it wouldn’t change anything.

Eric’s heart would always belong to Edna.

And Ann would always see me as the criminal who stole her mother’s place.

“Did you really have to cause such a scene today?”

My stepfather strode up to me, his face tight with anger and disappointment.

“Father, what else do you want from me? Haven’t I done my duty for nine years? Isn’t that enough?”

I was tired of repeating the same explanations over and over again.

“You and Edna were twins,” he snapped. “Isn’t it only rightful for you to look after her child? If Edna were still alive, she would never be as unreasonable as you!”

I shrugged, completely out of patience for this farce.

“That’s a pity. Edna is dead.”

My stepfather raised his hand, about to strike me.

I caught his wrist before it could land.

“Father, you were the one who changed the marriage alliance. Edna’s death was also what forced me to step in and help you maintain this alliance. So what exactly are you still unhappy about? Why do you insist on pushing me into doing something that would harm the Pack’s interests?”

He yanked his hand back, glaring at me with undisguised disgust.

“Do whatever you want, Ashley! This is exactly why no one will ever love you, even your own mother doesn’t want you!”

With that, he turned and walked away.

A sharp pain stabbed into my chest, leaving me momentarily frozen in place.

I hadn’t seen my mother in nine years.

Ever since her favorite daughter, Edna, died, she never came to see me again. She hadn’t even shown up for that family dinner back then.

The pain was unbearable. No wonder people believed I was jealous of Edna.

I really did have nothing.

“I’m sorry. I prepared a gift for you.”

A childish voice sounded behind me.

I turned around and saw Ann standing there, an innocent smile on her face, a neatly wrapped gift box in her hands.

Seeing how much she resembled Eric, my heart softened despite myself. “You don’t have to do this,” I said gently.

Ann giggled. “I’m happy to give you a gift. Hurry up! Open it!”

I took the box and lifted the lid.

The stench hit me instantly. Inside lay the corpse of the little bird I had been raising. Holes torn clean through its body by sharp claws, lifeless now.

“If you don’t leave my dad and me. You’re the next.”

She smiled as if it were nothing more than a childish joke.

My legs nearly gave out. I could feel the cold seeping into my bones, the same dead chill that clung to the bird’s body. I wanted to touch it, to hold it one last time, but my hand trembled and froze midair.

It was the only thing in this House that had ever truly belonged to me.

For nine years, I had poured all my loneliness and sorrow into that small, fragile life.

“Don’t mess with me,” Ann snapped, her voice suddenly vicious. “And don’t make my dad angry!”

She stomped away, revealing her true face at last.

My gaze lingered on the holes pierced through the bird’s body.

I had taught Ann how to hunt.

I had even hired a private instructor to come to the house, just so she could learn properly.

All my attempts to please her, to make peace, had turned into the sharpest weapons used against me.

Looking at the bird’s ruined body, I could no longer hold back my tears.

“Why are you standing out here in the cold?” Eric’s voice came from the door. “Ashley, you’ll get sick.”

He walked up behind me and draped his coat over my shoulders. I flung it off at once.

“What’s wrong?”

He asked, confused.