Chapter 3

Kael didn't show up for the next few days, only sending a few messages daily.

[I've been swamped with pack business lately, can't get away.]

[Don't be mad. When you're discharged, I'll take you to the countryside to relax.]

[Does your hand still hurt? Take care of yourself.]

But right after each text arrived, Talia's messages would follow.

All photos of Kael by her side.

Pouring her water, massaging her shoulders, even using that self-defense knife he never let me touch to peel an apple for her.

That night, lying in my hospital bed, I suddenly felt an indescribable pain in my body and heart.

The pain kept me from sleeping. Sensing something, I called Kael.

The phone rang for a long time with no answer.

After I hung up, Talia's message immediately arrived.

[Hehe, guess what we're doing?]

Below was a video. Just the thumbnail radiated an intensely intimate atmosphere.

My hands trembling, I opened it. In the video, Talia was disheveled, flushed, leaning against the headboard.

She suddenly got up and tightly wrapped her arms around Kael's waist from behind, pressing her heated body against his broad back.

"Kael... don't go... I feel terrible... that wine... was too strong..."

"If you leave... something bad will happen to me... please..."

Kael's steps halted abruptly. He looked back at Talia's hazy eyes.

Finally, he gritted his teeth and hung up on my call.

He turned and helped Talia back onto the bed. "I can only stay until morning."

The video then plunged into darkness, with only a low growl and Talia's satisfied soft laughter.

I felt frozen to my core, clutching my phone, stubbornly dialing Kael's number.

All night long, over four hundred calls. Kael didn't answer a single one.

Not until the next day, when dawn broke, did I receive a few words:

[I was handling an emergency pack situation last night.]

I twisted my lips in a sardonic smile.

So his "emergency situation" was having sex with another woman.

The day I was discharged was my birthday.

Kael personally came to pick me up and threw me a birthday party at a restaurant.

The banquet hall was exquisitely decorated, and he stayed by my side the entire time.

After cutting the cake, he gently fastened a custom-made pure gold necklace around my neck.

It drew countless envious looks.

But all I felt was that necklace pressing on my chest like a mountain.

Midway through, I couldn't breathe and got up to go to the restroom.

Just as I reached the hallway corner, Talia blocked my path.

"Well, well, if it isn't tonight's happiest woman, Alicia?"

She leaned against the wall, arms crossed, her face full of mockery.

I didn't want to deal with her and turned to leave, but she quickly stepped forward to block me.

"Kael values you so much—throwing you a party, giving you such an expensive necklace. You must be feeling pretty smug, right?"

"But last time when you reported me to the Wolf Council, didn't he force you to sign a settlement and get me out?"

"Do you know how much Kael can't live without me? We've been through everything together over the years! And yet you still shamelessly cling to him. Tell me, shouldn't I hate you?"

These words were like poisoned blunt knives, repeatedly torturing my already shattered heart.

My face went pale. I just wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

But she wouldn't let it go, suddenly grabbing my hand, her nails digging into my flesh.

"You didn't die last time. Let's see if your luck holds this time!"