Chapter 3

Elara's POV

"Elara, you are out of your damn mind!" Callum’s head snapped up, his previous panic instantly vaporized by sheer rage.

"Seraphina drew a little blood from Tessa, what could possibly happen to a perfectly healthy kid? You’re not just petty; you’re completely venomous!"

I stared dead at him, a tragic, broken laugh scraping its way out of my throat.

"Callum, your precious daughter was already dead on that freezing operating table the exact moment you walked out with your arm around Seraphina."

"Shut up!" Callum recoiled as if burned. A flicker of panic flashed through his eyes, though he forcefully shoved it down.

"How could taking a little blood kill someone? Stop fear-mongering!"

He whipped out his phone, slammed it on speaker, and dialed Seraphina right in front of me.

It rang three times before she answered, her lazy, sultry voice echoing through the dead-silent living room. "Callum? Calling me this late... regretting you didn't stay the night at my apartment?"

Callum shot me a guilty glance before speaking frantically. "Seraphina, Tessa’s trial... she’s fine, right? Elara just said Tessa is dead!"

A dismissive, mocking laugh came through the speaker.

"Mr. Thorne, you call me in the dead of night just to question my professionalism?" Seraphina’s voice turned icy, putting on an act of a wrongly accused victim. "If you can't even give me basic trust and would rather listen to the ramblings of a madwoman, then we are done here."

"No, Sera, that's not what I meant—"

She hung up.

Callum clutched his dark screen.

"Did you hear that? Seraphina said she is perfectly safe!" He charged over and grabbed me by the collar. "You're so desperate for attention that you taught Tessa to hide and actually made up this toxic lie just to trick me!"

I looked at his hypocritical face, my stomach churning with pure disgust. "Tessa is dead, Callum. She was murdered by you and your mistress."

"Drop the act!" Callum completely lost it.

With a violent swing of his arm, he hurled me across the room. I crashed hard into the glass coffee table.

Sharp shards sliced through my forehead and arms. Blood immediately welled up, dripping steadily onto the floorboards.

Callum stood over me, looking down at my bleeding wounds with a cold sneer. "Stop with the pity act! I order you to bring that little liar Tessa back right now! Otherwise, I swear to Moon Goddess, I will act like I never had a daughter!"

In that single moment, looking at the man I had been tied to for five years, my heart completely, irreversibly died.

I pushed myself up from the shattered glass, swaying on my feet. Blood was dripping into my left eye, but my smile was terrifyingly calm.

"Callum, let's break the mate bond."

The words were spoken as softly as a sigh, but they struck like lightning.

"You're obsessed with your Dr. Cole, so go be with her." I pulled a tissue from my blood-stained pocket, wiping my face with zero emotion. "After the divorce, I will dedicate every breathing moment to getting justice for my daughter. Even if I have to turn the entire Silver Pine Pack upside down, I will make you both pay."

"You are being utterly unreasonable!" Callum paced the living room, pointing and shouting. "You’re going to destroy this family and ruin my career over one meaningless experiment?!"

Meeting my dead eyes, his endless stream of curses suddenly jammed in his throat. "Elara... even if you're mad at me, you can't lie about our daughter's life! As long as you take it back right now, I can forgive—"

The television on the wall, which had been playing a late-night talk show, suddenly emitted a piercing blast of static.

The screen flashed, forcefully hijacked by the Silver Pine regional emergency news broadcast.

"Interrupting with urgent local news," the anchorwide's sharp, severe voice blasted through the empty living room.

"Half an hour ago, an anonymous tip was submitted regarding the underground laboratory at the Silver Pine Central Infirmary. Investigations confirm that the facility has been conducting illegal human experiments, resulting in the death of an innocent victim earlier today."

"The victim has been identified as a four-year-old female pup. The pup suffered extreme blood rejection and was nearly entirely drained of blood, dying on the scene."

The screen cut to a new image.

It was a photo of Tessa. She was hugging her little teddy bear, smiling so sweetly at the camera.

Beneath the photo, stark white text read:

[Victim: Tessa Thorne]

Callum stared dead at his daughter's smiling face on the screen. It was as if every bone in his body had been yanked out. He began to shake violently.