Chapter 5

I sat curled up by the hotel’s floor-to-ceiling window, the pale moonlight spilling across the cold tile floor like a ghost of the life I used to have. Outside, the city hummed with a world that kept turning—uncaring, relentless. But inside, my heart ached in quiet devastation.

I kept thinking about the way Alpha Carl used to hold me after we made love. How he'd kiss my shoulder and murmur, “Fiona, darling, your skin is too delicate. I always have to hold back—I don’t want to hurt you.”

I used to blush and nuzzle into his chest, asking, “So... you’re not satisfied?”

And he’d chuckle softly, pulling me in tighter like I was something precious. “I love you too much to be rough with you. I respect your heart. I respect your body.”

But now I know. That wasn’t love. That was the performance.

Because men don’t just suddenly fall for someone else. That kind of betrayal doesn’t happen overnight. Somewhere along the line, maybe long before I ever noticed—he had already begun craving the thrill of someone else. Someone new. Someone easier.

I had blamed the dull ache in my chest on my heart condition, the one I’d been managing with meds for years. But now I wonder if maybe it wasn’t the illness at all. Maybe it was him. Slowly poisoning me with his lies.

I didn’t want to think about it anymore, but my mind wouldn’t stop replaying the truth like a broken record. How many nights had he laid with another woman—Bonnie—only to come home and touch me with the same hands, kiss me with the same mouth?

It made me sick.

All the years I gave him—my trust, my loyalty, my body—meant nothing. And when I discovered the truth, when I saw the evidence of him with her... it shattered me. The pain was so violent it felt like my heart had been ripped open from the inside. My wolf howled in anguish, clawing at the bond that tethered us together.

Alpha Carl knew. He knew what it would do to me. Rejection doesn’t just bruise a she-wolf’s pride—it breaks her. And yet, he didn’t care. Maybe he thought I was too fragile, too sick to fight back. That I’d be easy to manipulate, easy to keep quiet.

But that’s where he was wrong.

Once the shock wore off, the sadness faded too. In its place came something colder. Sharper. Resolve.

I didn’t want his pity. I didn’t want his lies. I just wanted to cut the bond and escape the wreckage of what we once were. If I died because of it... maybe it would finally set me free. He might grieve—for a day. But then he’d waltz right into Luna’s chambers with Bonnie on his arm, like I never existed.

And the only ones who’d truly mourn would be my parents.

By the time the sun began rising, streaks of light painting the sky in quiet gold and pinks, I had made up my mind. Today will be a new day. A day without him.

After a quick shower, I dressed and headed to the company. Two weeks of medical leave meant I had a mountain of paperwork waiting for me. Bond or no bond, Alpha or not—my life had to go on.

Not long after settling in, Anna strolled in, a thick file in her hands and mischief in her smile.

“Director Taylor,” she teased, placing the documents on my desk. “How was Disneyland? You look a little... off. Your eyes are swollen. Did you cry over Mickey Mouse or something?”

I forced a small laugh and rubbed under my eyes. “Probably just exhausted. I haven’t been sleeping well.”

She patted my shoulder, cheerful as ever. “Girl, you need some fun. Let me treat you to lunch. Big meal. Lots of carbs. Come on, you owe me Disneyland gossip. I've never even been!”

I tried to wave her off, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Eventually, I agreed, if only to distract myself.

Then my phone rang.

The screen flashed Alpha Carl.

Of course.

He hadn’t called all night. Probably hadn’t even gone home. Maybe Bonnie had already been dragged into HR to explain the lace underwear they found in the office bathroom. Maybe she cracked and told him everything.

Only now, when things were slipping out of his control, did he remember I existed.

I hesitated, then answered—more curiously than anything.

His voice was frantic. Panicked.

“Fiona, I can explain! It’s not what you think, I swear! Bonnie and I—there’s nothing between us!”

I said nothing, letting the silence hang like a guillotine.

He kept going. “Eli took that photo! Yesterday was Bonnie’s birthday, and we stopped by the tutoring center. She hadn’t eaten, and Eli was hungry too, so we grabbed dinner. That’s all it was.”

Even now—with the evidence right in front of him—he chose to lie.

In his eyes, I must still be the same naïve girl he could fool with sweet words and half-truths. But I wasn’t her anymore. That girl died the moment I saw him wrapped around another woman.

The worst part wasn’t the betrayal. It was realizing that I had loved a version of him that never really existed.

I had given my heart to a ghost.

And now… I was done.