Gabriel’s POV

Perfect.

Everything was going exactly according to plan.

I sat in my shitty apartment—the one I could barely afford on my pathetic salary—and watched the chaos unfold through Emma’s carefully planted updates.

Sera had moved out.

Damien was falling apart.

The perfect couple. The perfect family. The perfect life that should have been mine.

All of it crumbling to dust.

And God, it felt good.

I leaned back on my stained couch and laughed. The sound echoed off the thin walls. My neighbors probably heard. I didn’t care.

Let them hear. Let the whole world hear.

Finally—finally—Damien was getting what he deserved.

My phone buzzed. Emma.

**Emma: He threatened me. Actually put his hand on my throat.**

I read it twice. Then smiled.

Good. That meant we were getting to him. Breaking through that perfect Alpha composure.

**Me: Did he believe it?**

**Emma: I think so. He’s desperate. Angry. Exactly where we want him.**

**Me: And the pregnancy story?**

**Emma: He hates it. Wants me to get rid of it. Offered me millions.**

My smile widened. Of course he did. Because Damien only cared about himself. His image. His perfect life.

Not the woman carrying his "baby." Not the consequences of his actions.

Typical.

**Me: Perfect. Keep pushing. Make him panic.**

**Emma: He’s already panicking. You should have seen his face when I told him.**

I wished I had seen it. Wished I could have been there to watch my perfect brother finally lose control.

But this was almost better. Knowing the damage was happening. Knowing I’d caused it.

And knowing it was only going to get worse.

I set down my phone and stared at the ceiling.

This apartment was a joke. One bedroom barely big enough for a mattress. Kitchen with a stove that only worked half the time. Bathroom with mold growing in the corners.

This was what I’d been reduced to.

While Damien lived in his mansion. With his perfect wife. His perfect kids. His perfect pack.

Everything that should have been mine.

Sera should have been mine.

We were together first. Before she ever met Damien. Before she knew what an Alpha even was.

Valerie had been the same. My wife. The woman I married.

One look at Damien and she forgot I existed.

"Gabriel’s so boring," she’d said once. When she thought I wasn’t listening. "Why can’t he be more like his brother?"

But it hadn’t been enough. Sera had still chosen Damien. Still become his Luna. Still given him everything I wanted.

And Damien? Damien had cut me off completely.

"You need to earn your own way," he’d said. Like some wise mentor instead of the brother who owed me everything.

I was family. His blood. And he treated me like trash.

So I’d tried to earn my way. Got a job at some corporate office. Pushed papers. Answered phones. Did all the meaningless grunt work nobody else wanted.

The wolves looked down on me because I was weak.

The women wouldn’t even look at me because I was Damien’s failure of a brother.

"Aren’t you the Alpha’s brother?" they’d ask. With that tone. That mixture of pity and contempt.

"Why don’t you have money?"

"Why don’t you have status?"

"Why aren’t you more like him?"

Always him. Always Damien.

The golden child. The perfect Alpha. The one everyone loved.

While I was nothing. Nobody. Just the embarrassment they tried to forget existed.

I’d thought about killing him. Hundreds of times. Thousands maybe.

But I was a coward. Always had been. And Damien was too strong. Too protected. Too untouchable.

Until Emma.

Beautiful, ambitious, desperate Emma.

She’d approached me six months ago. At some pack function I’d crashed hoping for free food and alcohol.

"I need your help," she’d said. Her eyes calculating. Cold. "And you need mine."

I’d laughed. "What could you possibly offer me?"

"Revenge." She’d smiled. "Against your brother."

And just like that, I was interested.

Emma was brilliant. Twisted. Exactly the kind of person I needed.

She’d been in love with Damien for years. Watching him. Waiting. Hoping he’d notice her.

But he never did. He’d only ever had eyes for Sera.

"I hate her," Emma had confessed over drinks. "I hate how perfect she is. How everyone loves her. How he looks at her like she’s the only person in the world."

"So we destroy them," I’d said simply. "We take everything they have."