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That’s the reason why he stretches his filthy hand toward my cheek, trying to give me false hope that everything is all right.

“J-Julian, please don’t do this. Please don’t–”

“Shh.” His voice is lax. I pull away from his touch like it scathes me. “Everything will be all right now that you are mine.”

“I’m not yours…Julian this is…insanity! Please let us go. I won’t ask you to help Lina. I won’t force you to help me heal her. If you release us, then I’ll…”

My words are cut off mid-sentence when he grabs me by my chin, his fingertips sinking into my skin painfully. My little girl clenches the fabric of my dress in her tiny fists firmly before her shrieks fill the room.

“Then you’ll go back to him? You think I’m that fucking stupid? Baby, I found you. You were mine first! That Alpha position? It was always mine because I found you!”

“Ju…lian.” I choke on tears, my entire jaw in pain.

“Shh, it’ll be over soon. Alaric knows I have you, he’ll come for you, peaches, and you know what you’ll say to him?”

He chuckles, his eyes turning stormy.

“You’ll tell him to give the Alpha position to me. You’ll convince him you want to be with me, because let’s be honest here, the pack will never allow me to be Alpha without you by my side. Otherwise, if you don’t…baby, I don’t want to hurt you or the kid, but desperate times call for desperate measures.”

Pain and confusion eat me alive, and at the end of the day, all I can think about is Lina.

“D-Don’t do this. Our d-daughter is…scared, Julian.”

For a minute, those stormy eyes of his pay attention to Lina’s screams, and for a foolish moment in time, I think he’ll be considerate just because Lina is his daughter. Instead, Julian’s words come like a punch to the stomach that I never saw coming.

“You really think that this annoying little brat is my daughter? Come on, peaches. Think for a minute. How could I have convinced you to come to me alone without having to force you? How could I have convinced you that I’m the only one able to save the kid? I’ll give you a clue…the paternity test.”

The paternity test? The one he knew about, even though I hadn’t told him about it. The one that convinced me that Julian was the only man who could save my daughter.

Before I can even ask what he means, the answer stares at me right in my face.

Alaric is Lina’s real father, not Julian. How could I…how could I have been so stupid and trusted a simple piece of paper, when the truth was right there in Alaric’s house? The way Alaricand Lina played together, the way they laughed together like they’d known each other their entire lives.

Goddess, Lina bonded with Alaric the first time they met at the hospital. That should have been the first sign he was her father! And I was blind to it all.

“You…”

“I tweaked the test. Two days ago, I found out you were Irene, the lost daughter of Alpha Chris, and you were already with my uncle. You know how that felt, Lila? That he had you and the Alpha position when you were mine first? I found out from a doctor friend that you carried out a paternity test, and I thought to myself, this is my chance! This is my chance to get back what was taken from me.”

I feel sick, like my insides are rotting. With the bile coiled so tightly at the back of my throat, I can taste it in my mouth.

The room spins. My jaw locks. My heart? It thunders with a fury I’ve never known before.

I want to spit on his face.

I want to claw his skin open until it matches the ruin he’s made of my life.

I want him to bleed the way I’ve bled.

But I can’t do any of that, not yet. Not while Lina is watching. Not while her life is in the hands of a monster who wears a smile like a mask.

“Alaric will never…agree to this.”

I know him, and the last thing Alaric would do is agree to hand over his Alpha position, even though Lina is his daughter.

I saw the documents. I love the man, but Aisha was right. Power comes first for the Hells. Being Alpha is all that matters to them.

“Yeah? Because this is a pretty sweet deal that I’m giving him. He relinquishes the Alpha position to me, lets me marry you, and in turn, he can get his daughter back alive. If he refuses,if you fail to convince him, then I’m not the only one who'll be at a loss, peaches. Little Lina will die before the disease takes her, because I swear to you, I will kill her. Think long and hard about what you want to do.”