Aria’s POV

Then I turned my back on Richard.

I walked away with Amelia and Logan without another glance, leaving him standing there like a patch of poisonous fog that hadn’t yet realized the wind had changed.

As soon as we got into the car we had arrived with, Amelia turned to me. "Alpha Richard, that cunning businessman is your childhood friend?" she scoffed, buckling in. "How shameless."

"Yeah...Very shameless. I don’t know what he’s really after," I said, leaning back against the seat.

After my release from prison, Richard had clung to me relentlessly, circling like a scavenger. Once I moved into Hemsworth Villa, his had taken a step back. I heard he traveled. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Now he was back, bold, invasive and revolting.

I lifted a hand and rubbed my temples, trying to ease the pressure building behind my eyes.

The car started. The window slid down a third of the way, and cool night air streamed in, brushing my face and carrying the distant scents of concrete, ozone and faint salt.

I blinked slowly.

Outside, half-lit streetlamps stretched like tired sentinels. The city was asleep. Inside the car, silence settled thick and heavy.

Amelia, exhausted from days without rest, leaned her head back and fell asleep almost instantly. Logan focused on the road, only occasionally glancing at me through the rearview mirror.

I don’t know when it started, but my emotions suddenly felt too close to the surface, raw and exposed.

I couldn’t even clearly explain how things had come to this between them and me.

Margaret was my biological mother, yet ever since I was a child, she had always asked me to give way to Sophia. Again and again. As if surrendering was stitched into my bones.

Sophia stormed into the Darvin family like an invading pup, and from the moment she arrived, she took everything...Margaret’s affection, her care, the warmth I had never truly tasted.

Richard...he had been my childhood friend. My first safe place. And over a year ago, he was the one who drove the blade deepest.

Sometimes, when the nights were too quiet, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering if I was simply born with a cursed fate, if I was meant to be miserable, meant to be the one discarded, the one sacrificed.

My wolf stirred uneasily at the thought, a low, wounded growl echoing through my chest.

But then...Rowland, Amelia, Jonathan, Chloe, Williams and even Kara.

Their appearances in my life were like lanterns being lit one after another, pushing back the darkness that had ruled me for so long. They didn’t look at me as something to be used or replaced. They stood beside me, chose me. Even though we were all from different packs.

My wolf felt it, responding instinctively to the quiet strength of bonds forming around my wounded soul.

I let out a long, slow breath, the kind that steadied both me and my wolf.

And despite myself, my thoughts drifted back to Richard’s words.

I can help you clear your name. Even what happened a year ago.

Why?

That question gnawed at me. Cowen Group might have risen quickly this past year, but it still wasn’t powerful enough to crush Hemsworth Group. Even Nathan had promised more than once to clear my name, yet nothing had come of it.

So what gave Richard such confidence?

My claws curled unconsciously against my palm.

I might not know every detail of the trap that had been laid for me back then, but I knew one thing with absolute certainty: Sophia and Richard were involved. There was no other explanation.

They had turned on me.

When I was arrested and thrown into prison, the shock hadn’t lasted long. What followed was hot, suffocating hatred, burning in my veins like silver poison.

I wondered why? Why did they treat me the way they did?

No matter how many sleepless nights I spent clawing through memories, I couldn’t understand it. Sophia had taken everything from me since childhood. I had stepped aside for her every time. Yielded every time. Letting her have all the care and affection and gifts. Why wasn’t that enough?

And Richard... he said he loved me. Yet when power and gain stood in front of him, he didn’t hesitate. He stabbed me clean through the back and watched me fall.

The prison had been cold and empty. A place where even my wolf had curled in on itself, wounded and silent. If Lana hadn’t come along later, I wasn’t sure I would’ve survived with my mind intact.

Somewhere along the way, the hatred burned itself out. All that remained was disgust, rejection and distance.

And now, facing them again, I felt nothing but indifference.

The truth would be dragged into the light. Every lie stripped bare. Everyone who had harmed me would pay the price they were owed. That was the reason I kept moving forward. That was why my wolf still stood tall inside me.

I forced myself out of the past. When I opened my eyes again, I noticed we had arrived Shevron estate.

"We’re here." Logan lowered his voice and reminded us quietly, then got out first to open the car doors for both of us. He had driven us home with the help of a map.

I slipped an arm around Amelia’s waist and helped her out. She was still half-asleep, her movements sluggish. As we started toward the house, I glanced back and, just as expected, I met Logan’s unmistakably pleading eyes.

My wolf sighed before I did.

"Come on in," I said helplessly.

He had followed me all the way from Duckspire to Asterfell, alone. Far away from his country and pack. Abandoning him on the street would’ve gone against every instinct etched into my bones.

"Let me help!" The anxiety on Logan’s face instantly melted into bright excitement. He hurried forward and took Amelia’s other side, supporting her carefully.

The three of us entered Shevron Estates gate together and headed straight to my apartment.

The moment we got in and I flicked the living room lights on, my wolf bristled.

Someone was lying on the couch.