Chapter 2

I had just stepped out of the estate's side door when Cecilia started screaming at the bottom of the steps.

Shrill and thin, like nails scraping against an iron railing.

My footsteps halted, and fury shot straight up my chest. What act was this woman putting on now?

Seeing me, Cecilia lunged forward and seized my wrist, pressing it against her own chest as she threw her entire body backward toward the rockery wall.

Her skirt flew up, her hair came loose, and tears were already pooled perfectly in her eyes.

Damien caught her around the waist.

"Cecilia, are you alright?"

The sheer heartache in that voice gave me goosebumps.

Cecilia pressed against his chest and flicked a glance up at me.

The provocation flashed for a single instant before she immediately slipped back into that wet-eyed, startled-fawn look.

"Damien, I'm fine... Evelyn, you're not hurt, are you?"

Before I could get a word out, Lucas and Julian clamped down on my wrists from either side, dragged me away from where I stood, and shoved me viciously into the pool beneath the rockery.

Freezing water swallowed my head in an instant. I choked, the water flooding up my nose. I had barely struggled to the surface when Lucas grabbed a fistful of my hair and forced my head back under.

"Evelyn, what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you so vicious?"

His voice came down through the water, muffled and warped.

"Can't stand seeing us treat Cecilia well, is that it?"

I thrashed desperately, my nails digging into the moss at the bottom of the pool, but it was all slick and slippery, giving me nothing to grip.

Suffocation closed in inch by inch, and my vision began to whiten. Just as I was about to give out, Lucas finally hauled me up.

I gasped frantically, the cold air ripping into my lungs, coughing so hard my whole body shook.

Lucas crouched by the edge of the pool, staring at me.

"Do you know what you did wrong?"

I scanned my surroundings. Someone had sent the servants away—the courtyard was completely empty, just the three of them circling me like predators around a lone stray.

I swallowed the hatred surging up my throat and nodded through my tears.

Lucas wore the expression of someone granting charity, and let go.

"Apologize to Cecilia."

He paused.

"Otherwise you'll drown right here today."

And he moved to shove my head down again.

I didn't want to die. At the very least, not at the hands of these ungrateful wretches.

Lucas frowned.

"Drop that high-and-mighty attitude of yours and apologize to Cecilia right now."

I gritted my teeth and looked at Cecilia. She stood by the rockery, her hand held by Damien, maintaining her look of terror without a single crack in it.

"Cecilia Ward,"

I said, word by word.

"I'm sorry. Rest assured, they're all yours. I will never marry any one of them."

Cecilia's lips curved in satisfaction, yet the feigned terror on her face only deepened.

"Evelyn, how could you say such a thing?"

Her voice was soft as melted honey.

"I'm nothing but a low-born Omega. How would I dare ask for your apology? Lucas, pull her up this instant. If anything happens to the young lady, none of us can afford the consequences."

The moment she finished speaking, a black SUV came down the tree-lined drive, its tires crunching harshly over the gravel.

Mom pushed the door open and stepped out. Spotting me soaking in the pool from a distance, her face changed in an instant.

"What do you think you're doing?"

She was practically roaring as she charged over with her people.

"Who gave you the nerve to leave my daughter soaking in freezing water?!"

The three brothers' faces drained in unison. They scrambled to haul me out of the pool. Damien reacted first, tearing off his coat and wrapping it around me.

"Evelyn, you really are careless. Falling in and not even calling out to us."

Mom shoved him aside and pulled me into her arms, immediately ordering someone to fetch the healer.

I couldn't hold on any longer. My vision went black, and I passed out.

When I woke again, Damien was sitting by the bed, a layer of frost over his face.

"I heard from your mother that you decided on your own to get engaged next month?"

I nodded, too tired to speak.

The disgust in Damien's eyes practically spilled over.

"You're resorting to even this kind of trick just to force me to bow my head?"

I shook my head hard, my throat dry and aching.

"Don't flatter yourself. The person I'm engaged to isn't you."

Damien shot to his feet, and a note of panic I had never heard before crept into his voice.

"Not me? Then who else do you intend to ruin?"

I looked at him coldly.

"None of your business."

He took a step closer and gripped my chin, so hard it felt like he meant to crush the bone.

"Is it Lucas or Julian? Evelyn, what game are you playing?"

I reached up to pry his hand off and couldn't break his hold. I could only endure the pain and gasp through my tears.

"None of you three are worthy."

Damien let go, then let out a sudden laugh. That smile sent a chill down my spine.

"Still playing hard to get?"

He leaned in, his voice dropping low.

"Everyone in Greyhaven knows you're madly in love with me. If you want this ridiculous engagement party of yours to go off without a hitch, then keep your mouth shut and let what happened in that pool today rot in your stomach."

He straightened up and looked down at me the way one looks at a bug that can be crushed at will.

"Otherwise, I wouldn't mind letting your fiancé see exactly what kind of trash you are at the engagement party."

With that, he turned and strode out, the door slamming shut behind him.

The tears came all at once, impossible to stop. But hearing mom's footsteps in the hallway, I wiped my face dry in a hurry.

Mom pushed the door open and pulled me into her arms with a pang, guilt and confusion flickering through her eyes.

"What exactly happened today? How did you end up falling into the pool?"

She cupped my face, her thumbs brushing the damp tracks at the corners of my eyes.

I bit my lip, the truth right on the tip of my tongue. But then I thought of all the years of effort mom had poured into those three, of the satisfaction in her eyes every time she mentioned them.

I couldn't bear to break her heart.

"I was too excited yesterday. Thinking about getting engaged to the Ashford heir, I got distracted and accidentally fell into the pool."

Mom sighed and didn't press further, only telling me to rest well. She said she had to go to the northern border to handle a territorial dispute and wouldn't be back for about a week.

Before she left, she specifically instructed Damien and the others to take good care of me. They stood at the door and answered in unison, each expression more sincere than the last.

But the moment mom's car rolled out of the estate gates, Cecilia appeared at my door.

Carrying a bowl of hot soup, wearing that same submissive smile that made my skin crawl.

"Evelyn, I stayed up all night specially to brew this tonic soup for you."

"There's no one else here. Drop the act."

The smile vanished from her face in an instant, replaced by undisguised malice churning in her eyes.

"I hear you're going to marry that living corpse from the Ashford family?"

"That's right. The young Alpha of the richest pack in the North. Even if he's lying in a coffin, he's still something a low-born Omega like you couldn't touch in your wildest dreams."

Cecilia's face twisted for a second. The next moment, she hurled the scalding soup straight into my face.

"You just got lucky being born into the right family! What's so special about you?!"

The hot soup streamed down my forehead, my cheeks feeling as though they'd been licked by tongues of fire. The pain ripped a bloodcurdling scream from my throat.

"Help!"