Chapter 2

"Chloe is in her third trimester. I can't leave her living alone."

"Tomorrow, I'm bringing her to live here at the manor."

With the mask torn off, he grew utterly shameless.

The very next day, he brought her in, exactly as he promised.

Chloe's belly was swollen round and high, and her face beamed with triumphant joy.

Meeting my gaze, she offered a venomous, taunting smile.

"Vivian, which room is mine?"

I stared at her, gritting my teeth so hard they nearly shattered.

I would never forget the sunny afternoon she and my stepmother first set foot in my family's house. Back then, Chloe had called my name with that exact sweet, poisonous tone.

Moments later, my mother was a mangled heap of flesh and blood on the lawn below.

"Vivian, keep your eyes open in the future. Don't make the same mistake I did."

After saying those final words, my mother leaped right before my eyes.

What followed was an endless, waking nightmare.

And now, Chloe was wrapping her arms around my mate, standing in my home, smirking in my face.

"Vivian, the guest bedroom is a bit cramped. I want the master bedroom."

She never intended to ask for my permission.

The moment the words left her lips, Mason waved his hand dismissively. The servants swarmed in, tossing all of my belongings out of the master suite.

Everything I owned clattered and scattered across the hallway floor.

He supported Chloe gently, guiding her to the bed and helping her settle in.

A Moon Goddess talisman resting on the nightstand caught Chloe's eye.

It was carved from lustrous jade, smooth and cherished over the years.

She picked it up, rolling it between her fingers, and a second later, her hand slipped as if by accident.

I lunged forward on instinct, but I was one step too late.

The sharp crack of shattering jade exploded in my ears.

I froze, staring at the floor as tears fell drop by drop onto the carpet. My wolf gave a mournful howl deep in my chest. That talisman was the very last piece of my mother's scent I had left in this world.

Blind rage flooded my skull. I swung my fist toward Chloe.

"That was the only thing my mother left me!"

Before I could even touch her, Mason stepped in, grabbed my arm, and shoved me backward with brutal force.

I crashed onto the sharp, broken shards. Under my full weight, the jagged edges sliced deep into my palms, drenching them in blood.

Back when a tiny scratch on my finger would make Mason worry for hours, he would blow on it endlessly. But now, his brows were knitted in irritation, his tone as light as if he were discussing dinner.

"It's just a talisman. I'll buy you a better one next time."

"Lashing out at Chloe over a rock isn't worth it."

I pushed myself off the floor, cradling the bloody fragments in the hem of my shirt.

Just then, a servant carrying luggage stumbled and bumped my back, sending the shards clattering across the floor once more.

I couldn't hold it together any longer. I collapsed onto the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

After enduring blow after blow, a raging fever consumed me that very night.

In my haze, I felt a hand gently wiping away my sweat, placing a cool, damp cloth against my burning forehead.

When I was fourteen, I was made to kneel in the freezing snow simply because I hadn't scrubbed the stairs clean enough.

My stepmother's face had twisted with spite.

"We raised you this whole time, and you can't even handle a chore like this."

My father deliberately looked away from my pleading eyes, pretending not to see.

Halfway through my punishment, a bucket of rancid, icy water was dumped over my head, chilling me to the bone.

Chloe had stood on the second-floor balcony in a thick winter coat, her gloved hands holding the empty bucket.

"You looked sleepy. I just wanted to help you wake up."

In the end, it was young Mason who carried me back to his home, forcing bowl after bowl of fever medicine down my throat to pull me back from the brink of death.

He had held my swollen, frostbitten fingers, his eyes overflowing with heartbreak.

I forced my heavy eyelids open. But the boy from my memories was gone, replaced by the cold, distant stranger standing before me.