Chapter 3
“I’m alive.” I locked my eyes on Derek. “Disappointed?”
His pupils contracted, slightly, but I saw it.
Then he crushed that flicker down.
His whole face went cold as ice.
Six years, and he looked the same like time had stopped on him.
The same brows, the same features, the same build.
But those eyes…
The eyes that used to smile at me were hollow now, giving away nothing.
“Y-you’re… Mom?” Anna’s voice trembled.
She threw herself into my arms, sobbing her heart out.
“Mom… they said you died… Dad burned your pictures… I can barely remember your face anymore…”
My heart clenched. I stroked her hair gently and let her spill every ounce of hurt into my chest.
I lifted my head.
“Derek, these six years, you forgot our mate bond and married another. I’m not even blaming you for that.”
My eyes burned, hate and grief surfacing on my face.
“But what did Anna do wrong? What gives you the right to treat her like this?”
Derek’s throat bobbed.
His gaze skimmed Anna and jerked away, like he couldn’t stand to look.
“Anna is my daughter,” he said evenly. “No matter how I treat her, you don’t get a say.”
The crowd stirred.
“Is she really Derek’s ex?”
“Ex? Does Sophia know…”
“Sophia hates people bringing it up. Last time a Gamma accidentally said ‘former Luna,’ he got sent to guard the border the next day.”
Sophia, the aristocratic Pack princess, wasn’t she?
Derek’s jawline tightened.
“Sever the mate bond,” he said. “Now.”
I ignored the noisy murmurs and took a slow breath.
“Fine. But I have two conditions.”
Ruby jumped in immediately: “You little bitch, trying to extort him? Who do you think you are—”
“Shut up.” Derek didn’t raise his voice, yet Ruby shrank back instantly.
He looked straight into my eyes. “Talk.”
“First, give me back my mother’s pendant.”
Derek’s hand paused.
He reached into the inside pocket of his suit and pulled out the dark, ink-colored pendant, holding it in his palm.
My mother had fastened it around Derek’s neck herself, on her deathbed.
She’d made us promise to stay together, to build a stronger Pack side by side.
Derek stared at it, a trace of memory flashing in his eyes.
In the end, he only gave a slight nod and tossed it casually at my feet.
I snatched it up fast, carefully wiping the dust away.
It still carried the warmth of his body.
“Second,” I said, “Anna’s custody belongs to me.”
“No.” Derek rejected it instantly. “Anna is my daughter.”
“Your daughter?” Hatred split me wide open; I nearly shouted the words.
“You watched your assistant bully her. You watched your son humiliate her—this is your attitude to your daughter?”
“Jack isn’t—”
“A bastard.” I cut him off. “Derek, at least have the spine to admit what you’ve done.”
Derek’s face sank. He swung his hand and slapped me across the face.
Anna screamed as she dropped to her knees. “Dad, don’t hit Mom! I won’t go! I’ll stay here!”
I hauled her up.
“Anna, remember he’s not your father anymore.”
I looked her in the eye. “That man doesn’t deserve your knees.”
Derek’s hand hung in the air.
He stared at his own palm like he didn’t recognize it.
Then he lowered his hand and smoothed the cuff of his suit.
A delicate little gesture, the kind of polished elegance Sophia would like.
But that slap had shattered whatever thread of affection we had left.
