Chapter 2

AMELIA

As I made my way out of the hall, I could still hear the shocked whispers of the pack's elites but luckily for me, I didn't care one bit about their gossip.

I didn't look back, even when I heard footsteps hurrying after me on the stone path.

"Amelia, please, think about this! Damian didn't mean it!"

Cecilia's voice cracked on the last word. I could hear how badly she wanted me to turn around and beg the way everyone expected.

I ignored her and kept walking instead but after a while, she finally caught up to me. I spun around to meet her and I noticed that she was panting already.

"Mrs. Everdale," I started. "I've already taken the cheque. From now on, Natalia is your son's mate. There's nothing left to discuss."

I pitched my voice just right - not exactly a shout, but loud enough so the elites lingering by the entrance could hear me.

At my words, Cecilia's face went ghostly pale, like all the blood had drained out of it at once.

Behind me, Robert's furious roar echoed through the hall.

"You disgrace! The Everdale name is ruined today and it's all because of you!"

I turned just enough to see Damian square his shoulders. Of course he was going to play the part of the noble Alpha right to the end.

"What's wrong with me protecting Natalia?" he snapped back at his father. "She's genuine and a hundred times better than some pack-bred slut playing perfect little mate."

The words should have hurt. In my first life, they definitely would. Now they just sounded pathetic, the excuse of a man who needed to believe his own lie.

"You... you..." Robert's voice shook with rage, his face reddening with every passing second.

Then, without warning, his eyes rolled back, and he dropped, hitting the floor hard. Guards rushed toward him, someone screamed for a healer, and the whole hall ran into panic behind me.

I didn't go back to help or even feel a shred of guilt. The chaos was rather satisfying. It was a small taste of the ruin I intended to bring down on all of them, one piece at a time.

I walked out through the gate and hailed the first cab I saw. Then, I gave the driver the address. It was the address of an apartment my mother had bought years ago at the edge of the city. It was a safe haven that no one in the pack knew about, and I had prepared it specially for this day.

As the cab pulled away, I heaved a sigh of relief for the first time all night. My mind replayed the whole scene over and over — Damian's arrogance, the pretence in Natalia's voice, and the way the crowd had gasped like I was the one who'd done something wrong.

I was going to make them regret every second of it. I just had to be patient.

After a short drive, the cab pulled up at the apartment. It was nothing like the mansion I'd spent the last two years in, but at least, it was something.

I stripped off the mating gown first. That fabric was once everything to me but now it was just a costume.

I shoved it into the bottom of a closet where I wouldn't have to look at it, then pulled on something plain and comfortable — jeans and an old sweater.

Next, I laid all out all my jewelry across the bed — the earrings, the bracelets, the gold chain Damian had given me on our first anniversary, back when I still believed his lies. I didn't need it anymore and so, I was going to sell them off.

But first, I needed air. I left the apartment and walked without any real direction, just letting my legs carry me while my head slowly settled. The streets near my mother's building were quiet at that hour, mostly empty storefronts and streetlights.

And it was there that I saw him — a man crouched at the corner, half-hidden in the shadow of a doorway. He was digging through a trash bin probably in search of scraps.

His fingers were thin and bony as they sorted through the garbage for anything edible, and something about him tugged at me.

Maybe it was the look of exhaustion in his eyes or even because I understood, better than most people ever would, exactly what it felt like to be discarded like thrash.

I crouched down close, careful enough not to startle him.

"Here," I said, sliding a diamond bracelet off my wrist. "Go buy yourself something to eat."

I set it gently into his battered hat instead of pressing it into his hand. The soft clink of the metal against the hat made him jolt upright, and when he lifted his face toward me, I finally saw him properly.

Half his face was scarred, the skin pulled tight in a way that made me wonder if it had healed wrongly.

It was when his gaze failed to actually land on me, drifting somewhere just past my shoulder, that I understood.

He was blind.

"Thank you," he croaked. "Thank you, kind lady."

I didn't say anything else. I just nodded, and walked away with an odd feeling settled in my chest. I told myself it was nothing. He was just a stranger and it was just a moment of pity I had for him.

Back at my apartment, I turned on the television to hear the latest news. I knew that the story of my failed mating ceremony would be all over the news. However, what I didn't see coming was my family's reaction to it.

"...And the breaking news just reaching us is that the Roberts family has decided to cut all ties with the sole heiress, Amelia Roberts after publicly rejecting Alpha Damian Everdale at their mating ceremony..."

The last part of the news put a smile on my face. To hell with my family and their conditional loyalty.

My own father hadn't so much as sent a message to find out what happened. Instead, he had decided to disown me. I wasn't surprised one bit and I was definitely not letting them ruin my mood.

Over the next several days, I sold the jewelry piece by piece at a small pawnshop two streets over. Little by little, I watched the numbers add up slowly and when I finally sold all the jewelry, the money I had was more than enough for a new life.

With everything I now had, I left Everdale territory behind for good and found a small space to rent in Ravenswood, a stretch of neutral ground that belonged to no pack. Nobody there cared who my mate had been or what scandal I'd walked out of and that suited me perfectly.

I spent the next two weeks turning the empty space close to my new house into a business of my own. I scrubbed floors until my hands ached, and stayed up too late more nights than I could count, picturing exactly what I wanted this place to become - a café, and the best in town at that.

The first few days were slow, but I was not worried because I knew that with the scandal brewing around myself, Alpha Damian and Natalia, it was only going to be a matter of time before people started flocking around.

And when they did, I was going to use it to my advantage.