[Mature Content]
[18+ Only] [Smut]


****
“Nathan…” Maddison murmured sweetly, her voice soft, almost playful. “Ashley’s been clinging to you over that mating ceremony lately… doesn’t it exhaust you?”

“Baby…” Nathan’s voice dropped, low and rough, laced with disdain. “Let’s not waste our time talking about someone so irrelevant while we’re enjoying ourselves.”

A cold smirk tugged at his lips.

“You know those promises I made to her meant nothing.” His tone turned darker, almost amused. “I said them just to watch her hope… just so I could rip it away from her tomorrow.”

His gaze hardened.

“I want her to stand there and watch it happen—watch with her own eyes who would become my Luna.”

His hand slid around Maddison’s waist, pulling her firmly against him, possessive and certain.

“It was always you. Only you.”

A flicker of anger crossed his face, sharp and unforgiving.

“I’ll make her regret the day she was born. If that disgusting woman she calls a mother hadn’t switched you at the hospital, none of this would’ve happened. You—the true Alpha’s daughter—wouldn’t have wasted eighteen years suffering while that impostor lived in your place.”

He let out a quiet scoff, thick with contempt.

“If things had been right from the start, you would’ve grown up beside me… as my future bride.”

Nathan brushed Maddison’s hair aside, his voice dropping into something darker, colder.

“All we’re doing now… is correcting a mistake.”

His lips curved faintly.

“She can drown in her misery while the entire pack turns its back on her…”

His grip on Maddison tightened slightly.

“…and you take the place that’s always been yours.”
***

After Ashley was exposed as the fake Alpha’s daughter, her world collapsed overnight. The people who once adored her turned cold, one by one—including Nathan, her childhood sweetheart and fiancé. 

He didn’t just abandon her; he played along, pretending to go through with the mating ceremony, only to use it as a stage to humiliate her and publicly claim Maddison—the true Alpha’s daughter—as his mate. It was his way of proving that without her title, Ashley was nothing.

They expected her to stay. To bow her head, accept the blame, and atone for a “sin” that was never hers.

But they forgot how far they had pushed her.

After enduring Maddison’s cruelty and torture, Ashley chose to run. She left everything behind and, in time, found someone else—someone far removed from the life that had broken her. By the time Nathan realized the truth of his own feelings, that it had always been Ashley, it was already too late. She had entered a contract marriage with the Monster Duke, and Nathan even took part in sending her to someone else's bed.

Nathan thought she would regret it. Thought she would come back.

But he was wrong, and regret drowned him.

Now, he wanted her back and would do anything to make it happen, but would Ashley's husband allow it?

She had drafted business models, planned future ventures, and handed over opportunities, all without being asked, because she felt guilty. Because she believed she owed Maddison.


They were already using everything she gave them... while tearing her apart behind her back.


A hollow, bitter realization settled in her chest.


She had been drowning in guilt this entire time, trying to make things right, trying to atone… while they were already conspiring to destroy her completely, leaving her no escape, no mercy, no way out.


She wanted to laugh at herself, at her blindness, and at her foolishness, but the pain was too much.


And she knew… she knew that crying would only satisfy Maddison even more.


Chapter 13 - Chapter 13 A Choice That Made Sense, Until It Didn't