The Alpha Behind The Mask-Chapter 79: Next Woman

​Aurora’s POV

I stood frozen at the top of the stairs, my heart sinking into my stomach. Cassey was here. For a moment, I had completely forgotten about her.

"Oliver... you were involved in a plane crash, and you didn’t think to call me?" Cassey snapped, her voice echoing through the foyer. "I had to hear it from the news that my boyfriend was in a crash! People were calling me, asking if you were okay, asking what happened—and I had no answers. I looked like a fool!"

​The silence that followed was cold. Then, Oliver spoke.

​"First of all, Cassey, we are not dating," he said calmly, each word sounding like a drop of ice hitting the floor. "I have made that clear to you more times than I care to count. Second, I am not answerable to you. Keep your voice down; it is still early, and this isn’t my home. We are guests here."

​Cassey let out a bitter, sharp laugh that grated on my nerves. "Guests?" she scoffed loudly. "Or is this just a hiding place for your little pet?" Her voice became louder. "Where is she? Where is that wolfless slut?"

​I flinched, my fingers tightening around the railing.

​"Mind your words, Cassey," Oliver warned. I could hear the growl vibrating in his throat, a sound of pure Alpha authority.

​But Cassey was beyond caring. She ignored him, her voice rising as it echoed through the quiet morning. "You slut! Come down here! I know you’re up there, hiding in his bed!"

​"Stop it!" Oliver sounded truly angry now, the shift in his energy so powerful I could feel it from the landing. I couldn’t stay hidden any longer. I couldn’t let this escalate more.

​Taking a slow breath, I wiped the last traces of sleep from my eyes and started walking down the stairs. My legs felt heavy, but I kept my head high.

​As I rounded the curve of the staircase, I saw them. Oliver was standing near the fireplace, his jaw set and his eyes flashing with rage. Cassey stood in the center of the hall, her face twisted with grief and hatred. When her eyes landed on me, she looked like she wanted to lunge across the room and attack me.

​"There you are," she hissed.

​Oliver glanced up at me and frowned. "Aurora, please go back upstairs." His voice was strained, caught between the protective man I saw last night and the cold King standing before me.

​I didn’t move. I shook my head, my hand gripping the cold banister. "No."

​Cassey’s eyes snapped to mine, burning with anger, but I held my ground. She tried to move toward the stairs, but Oliver stepped into her path. He moved with speed, his massive frame blocking her completely.

​"Get out, Cassey," he growled. It wasn’t a request. It was an order.

​"I won’t!" she screamed.

​I looked around and saw the staff—the maids and a few guards—lurking in the shadows of the hallways. They were watching us, whispering. My face burned with shame. In their eyes, I was the mistress caught in the King’s bed, and Cassey was the rightful woman seeking justice.

​"Oliver, what is this?" Cassey cried, her voice breaking as she looked at him. "What are you doing? We have been together for so long. You can’t just throw me away for this."

​Oliver’s expression didn’t soften. If anything, it hardened. "Stop, Cassey. What we had was a sexual relationship. It was sex, and nothing else. I made that clear to you a thousand times. You were the one building fantasies in your head."

​Cassey let out a sob that sounded like it was ripped from her throat. "Building fantasies? Oliver, you bought me expensive shoes. Clothes. Bags. Jewelry that costs more than most people make in a year! I attend functions with you as your girlfriend. You come to my birthdays. I introduced you to my friends as my date. How can you stand there and say this meant nothing?"

​For a moment, the anger I felt for her vanished. A sharp pang of sympathy hit me in the chest. I knew that feeling—the feeling of thinking you mean more to someone than you actually do. She sounded like a woman who had given her heart to a man who only wanted her body.

​I looked at Oliver, my heart heavy. Was this who he was? A man who bought expensive gifts to replace the love he couldn’t give? I wondered if I was just the next "project," the next girl who would be left crying in a hallway while he moved on to the next girl.

​"Gifts are just gifts, Cassey," Oliver said, his voice quiet but brutal. "I never once told you I loved you or wanted a future with you. I was generous because you were sharing my bed. That’s all."

​He glanced briefly toward me, worry flashing in his eyes. "We’re done, Cassey," He continued. His voice was flat, final, and colder than the morning air. "Both of us. We are finished."

​Cassey’s face crumbled. The rage vanished, replaced by a desperate, ugly kind of panic. "Please, Oliver... you can’t do this to me. You can’t just end it like this! My friends will laugh at me. Society... they will mock me! Everyone is expecting us to get married. I am respected because of you. If you throw me away now, I will be shamed!"

​"Your social standing is none of my business, Cassey," Oliver replied, his eyes showing no mercy. "We were never what you told people we were. We are done. Now, get out."

​At that moment, I noticed footsteps. Alpha Oscar walked in, looking irritated. Behind him was Hailee—and a tall, annoyed man who could only be Oscar’s father. They stopped in their tracks, taking in the chaotic scene.

​Cassey didn’t even look at them. She kept her eyes locked on me, her gaze filled with agony and pure spite.

​"You think you’re special, Aurora?" she scoffed, her voice trembling. "You aren’t. He is only after you because you’re innocent. You’re pure, and most importantly... because you look just like his mother."

​I felt the air leave my lungs.

​"Once he is done breaking you, he will discard you just like me," she continued, a bitter tear racing down her cheek. "Oliver doesn’t have a heart. He can’t love. He only knows how to own things until he gets bored of them, and soon he will be bored of you."

​"Enough!" Alpha Oscar barked, his voice echoing through the hall. He looked at the guards standing by the entrance. "Guards! Throw her out. Now!"

​The guards moved quickly, grabbing Cassey by the arms. She didn’t fight them this time; she just kept staring at me with that haunting, pitying look as they dragged her toward the door.

​"You’re just a tool to him, Aurora!" she screamed one last time before the doors slammed shut, cutting her off.

​Silence rushed back into the room, but it wasn’t peaceful. It was suffocating. I stood on the stairs, feeling completely naked despite my clothes. I looked at Hailee, then at the man beside her, and finally at Oliver.

​Oliver wouldn’t look at me. He was staring into the cold fireplace, his jaw tight enough to snap. I thought about last night—the way he held me, the way he whispered to me—and then I thought about Cassey, and how he brutally dismissed her... no feelings... no remorse about it. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

​And suddenly a frightening thought crept into my mind.

Was I just the next woman he would eventually throw away?