The phone disconnected and my palm rubbed small circles on my belly.
Three years ago, when you were captured by the enemy pack, Zyan, it was I who surrendered in exchange for your freedom.
I remembered the chains.
The cold.
How I told myself it was worth it.
How naive I had been to give my heart to a monster like you.
It's time I collect my debts one by one Zyan.
Two days passed in blur when I returned to the Blood Moon estate, the world felt foreign…too beautiful and clean for someone whose soul was dipped in tar and simmering with rage.
I knocked on the study door.
"Come in" my mother-in-law said, her tone slightly dismissive.
I pushed the door open and saw her writing a proposal-
[PROPOSAL FOR CO-WIVES]
Primary Luna: Victoria Hale (child bearing)
Secondary wife: Lianna Rose (children born will be illegitimate)
I stared at those lines for a long time.
Strangely, I didn’t cry.
Only a hollow space opened in my chest….so I had already been erased from their future so strategically.
“Illegitimate.”
I suddenly remembered an evening years ago in the healer’s ward.
Zyan stood inside the room, holding a practice newborn doll in his arms.
His movements were stiff, overly careful.
When I caught him, he laughed like a child who had been discovered doing something embarrassing and pulled me into his arms.
“I have to learn Lianna” he said. “When our baby is born, I can’t afford to be clumsy.”
Back then, I truly believed him, believed that he would love our children even more than me.
Only now did I realize..the future had always existed.
It simply didn’t include me.
"Lianna Rose, I heard you disappeared for days, I had told Zyan not to mate with a lowly girl. One day she is serving him, another day warming the bed of another man."
Her insult landed like ash on a corpse.
"Shut up. "
Her pen slipped as stared at me in shock.
"Y-You dare speak to me like this! I-I will have Zyan skin you alive! "
My bloodshot eyes looked at her emotionless.
"Years ago, you gave me an offer-Name my price and leave Zyan forever. Today I am here to take that deal. I want all the northern territories to be named after my child. "
She inhaled sharply. "You greedy orphan-"
"I am not here to negotiate. "I held her gaze without flinching. "I am here to end this farce. Sign the agreement and me or the child will have no ties to Zyan or the Blood Moon Pack. "
"…Fine"she said tightly. "But Zyan must never know you are leaving.”