Chapter 4
The tires of Elias’s Maybach crunched against the gravel driveway of Moonlight Valley. This was supposed to be our sacred sanctuary. Our absolute private escape.
I pushed the door open.
The scent hit me first. The sickly, overwhelming stench of lilies—Vivian’s absolute favorite. They had completely replaced the dark red roses I had planted myself. I stepped into the living room. The blue velvet curtains I picked out were gone, replaced by a nauseating baby pink.
Right next to the fireplace, sitting shamelessly in the open, was a custom wooden wolf-pup rocker.
I said, keeping my face completely deadpan. "I'm here to grab the vintage photo album. I'll be quick."
I walked right past him, heading straight for the wooden stairs.
I pushed open the door to our master bedroom and walked over to the bottom drawer of the mahogany dresser. I pulled out the heavy leather album. I sat on the edge of the bed and flipped the thick pages open.
My breath instantly hitched.
These weren't our memories.
Page after page, it was a meticulously documented timeline of his betrayal. There was Elias, Vivian, and their two wolf-eared toddlers. I stared at a photo of them posing in the exact Provence lavender fields where he had proposed to me. I flipped the page. There they were, kissing under the Eiffel Tower, right where we spent our honeymoon. Another page. The four of them smiling brightly in a hot air balloon over Cappadocia.
He had taken his secret family to every single place that was supposed to be ours.
Heavy footsteps approached the bedroom door. Elias walked in, he crouched down in front of me, his golden eyes filled with concern.
"Everything okay, sweetheart?" he asked softly. "You look pale."
I slammed the album shut. I looked down at him and forced a smile. "I'm fine. Just feeling a little tired. Actually, I want to go home now."
Before he could respond, his phone vibrated loudly in his pocket.
He glanced at the screen, and I caught a micro-second of panic flashing across his eyes. He quickly stood up. "Work emergency. I need to take this in the bathroom. Give me a minute, okay?"
He turned and practically sprinted into the master bathroom, clicking the lock behind him.
My intuition flared up instantly.
I stood up, walked over, and pressed my ear dead against the cold wood of the bathroom door.
Female giggles leaked through the thin crack.
"I told you to take the kids and get out of here!" Elias hissed, his voice tight and frantic. "Why the hell are you still here?!"
"I wanted to play a little game, Alpha," Vivian’s sultry, mocking voice cooed. "We’ve done it on your marital bed before, staring right at her giant wedding portrait. But knowing she's literally just downstairs... doesn't that make it so much hotter?"
Fabric tore. A heavy thud echoed as someone was slammed against the tiled wall.
"You little minx," Elias growled.
The unmistakable sounds of violent, frantic mating immediately filled the air. Skin slapping against skin. Animalistic grunts. The pure, unchecked wildness of a werewolf giving into his base instincts.
I stood absolutely still in the hallway. There was no sadness left in me, only pure, icy disgust.
This was the man who swore to me, on his life, that he wasn't like the other promiscuous Alphas. He had broken centuries of pureblood rules to marry a human, painting himself to the entire world as the ultimate, devoted lover. He made me believe I was his only exception.
It was all a pathetic joke. The loyalty of the wolf pack was a lie. No one escapes their dirty, inherent nature.
Memories flashed through my mind. The freezing, abused thirteen-year-old girl I was in the Appalachian mountains.
Elias had crashed into my life like a blinding light, pulling me out of a living hell. He healed every single wound I had. And now? He was the one personally shoving me into an abyss infinitely darker than the one he saved me from.
Ten minutes later, the bathroom door clicked open.
Elias stepped out. He was adjusting his expensive platinum cufflinks, his hair slightly damp.
"Sorry about that," he lied smoothly, walking toward me. "The board is losing their minds over the European merger."
I raised my left wrist, letting the braided leather bracelet he made for me years ago dangle loosely in the air. "Elias, the leather on this is fading." I stared dead into his lying eyes. "Will your love fade like this too?"
He didn't hesitate. He grabbed my hand, pressing a deeply fervent kiss to my knuckles. "Never, Molly. My love for you only grows stronger every single day. You are my entire world."
A cold, wicked smirk curled in the back of my mind.
Just an hour ago, I wanted to quietly disappear. I wanted to fake my death and just let him be. But standing here, smelling his mistress on his skin while he swore his eternal love to me? I changed my mind.
I wanted blood. I wanted psychological destruction.
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug. "Our marriage anniversary is in two days," I whispered against his chest. "I ordered a very special custom gift from Europe. I'm flying out tonight to pick it up personally."
I pulled back and reached into my tote bag, pulling out a sealed manila envelope. I pressed it flat against his chest.
"I'll be back with our baby to celebrate," I said, making sure my eyes shined with excitement. "But you have to promise me something. Do not open this envelope until the exact minute of our anniversary. Promise me?"
He took the envelope, holding it like it was made of gold. "I promise, baby. Whatever you want."
He had no idea. Inside that envelope was the official abortion record from the Chicago clinic, stamped and dated. Right behind it was a stack of high-resolution screenshots from the penthouse security footage, showing him tearing Vivian's clothes off.
I was going to let him believe he was getting everything. And then, right after I was "dead," that envelope would detonate his entire life. He would find out his precious heir was flushed away, and his perfect facade was completely shattered. He was going to live the rest of his immortal life choking on guilt.
"Let me drive you to the airport," he offered, reaching for his car keys on the dresser.
"No need," I replied quickly. "Poppy is already on her way to pick me up."
He opened his mouth to insist, but his phone lit up on the nightstand. I casually glanced over. It was a picture message from Vivian. She was hiding in the bathroom, taking a selfie wearing the black lace lingerie I had bought for our honeymoon.
Elias swallowed hard. His Adam's apple bobbed as his eyes darkened with immediate lust. He dropped the keys back onto the wood.
"Alright," he said, his voice dropping an octave. "Have a safe flight, sweetheart. Text me the second you land."
I picked up my bag and turned my back on him. I walked down the stairs and stepped out into the freezing night air.
"Never again," I muttered into the wind.
Hours later, the moon hung high over Moonlight Valley.
Elias had Vivian pinned aggressively against the headboard of the master bed. He was entirely consumed by his wild instincts, the human facade completely stripped away.
Suddenly, his phone began ringing aggressively on the nightstand. It wasn't a normal ring. It was the absolute priority emergency tone for his executive assistant, Mark.
Elias growled in heavy frustration, not breaking his rhythm as he snatched the phone off the table. "This better be a matter of life and death, Mark!" he barked into the receiver.
"Alpha..." Mark’s voice came through the speaker. He was trembling violently, entirely out of breath. "We... we just got the news from the aviation authority. Madam Molly... her private jet..."
Elias froze. His entire body went rigid. "Spit it out!"
"The plane... it just left domestic airspace." Mark choked on a sob. "It went off the radar. It crashed straight into the Atlantic Ocean. Coast Guard is on site but... Alpha, there are no survivors."
The heavy silence in the bedroom was deafening.
The phone slipped from Elias’s hand, hitting the hardwood floor with a sharp crack. His golden pupils constricted to tiny pinpricks. The blood in his veins turned to absolute ice.
"What..." Elias whispered, his voice violently shaking. "...did you just say?"
