Aria’s POV

The moment Rowland and I stepped out of the hotel doors, the night air hit me, it was sharp and charged. My wolf bristled beneath my skin, ears twitching at the hum of voices gathering like insects.

A crowd lingered outside. They were curious bystanders who had just witnessed Sophia’s forceful removal from the hotel. Surpisingly, Collins hadn’t protected her reputation.

I folded my arms, catching the familiar scent of Sophia’s mother, Clarence.

She soon approached me, her fingers latched onto my wrist like a trap, cold and trembling.

"Aria? How are you here? You left the restaurant immediately after Sophia did...this is your doing, isn’t it?!"

Patrick stood at her side, his eyes gleaming with anger.

Clarence’s grip tightened on my hand demanding answers. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Behind us, Sophia’s voice pierced the air as she was dragged to a cruiser, her scent full of fear and humiliation.

"Aria! You bitch...!"

Her words dissolved into screams.

Patrick’s composure cracked. "What have you done to your sister?!"

I turned to them, my eyes cool and voice steady. "Margaret never gave me a sister."

My wolf huffed in approval. That was a cold and clean truth.

Their rage simmered. Clarence lunged again, desperation thick in her scent. "Bring her back! Whatever you did, undo it!"

My patience snapped like bone.

"Let go!"

The words rumbled with a growl I couldn’t hold back. Clarence eyes widened.

Patrick stepped forward, trying to overshadow me with that worn-out arrogance. "You will go to the station. You will bail Sophia out. You will admit guilt. Or your little new company will die before sunrise."

I laughed. It was a bitter laugh, sharp as broken glass. My wolf’s tail flicked within me, amused. This man still thought he held power over me.

Before Patrick could bark again, a shadow moved.

A hand gloved by a silk handkerchief clamped around his throat. His feet left the ground as he choked, his eyes bulging.

"Who," a cold voice drawled, "are you threatening?"

It was Rowland.

Clarence shrieked. I twisted, breaking her grip with a swift turn of her wrist. She screamed..they were music to my ears.

"Care for a little cake," Rowland murmured, holding out a box to me with his free hand. The scent of raspberry and chocolate hit me. He must’ve picked it up before they ambushed us.

Despite myself... I smirked.

He could be infuriating...playful one second, lethal the next. I took a little from the box.

Rowland straightened, his voice turning venomous.

"Sophia tried to seduce Nathan," he spat, glaring at Clarence. "Guess she learned from you. Mistress."

Their faces paled. Rage, shame and hypocrisy stinking off them like rot.

"Alpha Rowland!" Patrick wheezed, still dangling. "I respected you as Alpha Nathan’s nephew...how dare you insult my woman?!"

Clarence leaned pitifully into him. "Let it go, Patrick... I can bear it..."

I scoffed. It was blatant and loud enough for them to hear.

"You still think Sophia is going to become Nathan’s luna when I no longer hold that title?" I stepped close enough that Clarence flinched. "She tried to seduce Nathan tonight but failed. Collins had her thrown out. And Hemsworth Group may press charges."

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

I didn’t wait for the next round of threats. I turned and headed towards Rowland’s Rolls Royce which was parked a little distance away. Rowland let go of Patrick who staggered, massaging his throat.

He rushed towards me and opened the door to his Rolls-Royce Phantom.

I slid into the seat without looking back.

The engine roared, and the crowd parted, instinctively stepping aside for us to go through.

Nathan’s POV

I was restless all day, unable to shake everything that had happened. Sleep would not come, and neither would peace. I had betrayed Aria...sent her to prison, where she had suffered for a crime she did not commit. Then, as if fate itself wanted to carve the lesson deeper into my bones, she had seen me sitting at a table with the very woman she believed had orchestrated her downfall.

As though that humiliation wasn’t enough, she had also found my drunk, worthless self in a hotel room with her.

The truth was undeniable. I had failed Aria in every way that mattered.

My wolf snarled inside me, raw and unforgiving. We don’t deserve her. We never did. His voice was heavy with shame. We must atone. We must make ourselves worthy again. Look at how much pain we’ve caused her.

He was right.

That evening, I grabbed my car keys and left Hemsworth Villa with only one destination in mind.

The night pressed down on me as I drove, thick and suffocating, like the weight of my own sins settling on my shoulders.

Streetlights streaked past the windshield, their pale glow useless against the ache hollowing out my chest. My wolf paced inside me, claws scraping against the walls of my mind, restless and wounded. He knew where we were going. He had known from the moment I turned the car toward her street.

We were going to Shevron Estate...Aria’s home.

Every mile felt like a punishment. With each turn of the wheel, I crossed another line I had no right to cross. I was an Alpha, feared and respected by many, yet tonight I felt like nothing more than a trespasser approaching sacred ground.

I stopped outside her house a couple of hours to midnight.

I stayed in the car, my fingers locked around the steering wheel, my knuckles white, my heart pounding like it was bracing for a battle it already knew it would lose.

I had come with the divorce papers. The one she had sent me.

I had come to beg for forgiveness. To ask her to give me one last chance. I had told her that I would give her time to think about the divorce, to figure out if it was truly what she wanted.

If in the end, she insists on divorcing me, I will give her what she wants. It will hurt me real bad, but I have done wrong by her for so long I am willing to do right by her from the sidelines until she forgives me and accepts me back.

My wolf lowered his head, a quiet whine echoing in my chest, as if he understood this might be the end.

When I finally stepped out of the car and got through the gate, I knocked on her door, the sound shattering the silence of the night.

My wolf flinched, dreading what was to come.

The door opened.

Aria stood there, staring at me with cold eyes.

Instinct screamed at me to pull her into my arms, to bury my face in her neck and swear that I would fix everything. Reality slammed into me just as hard, reminding me I had no such right.

"Why are you here, Nathan?" she asked.