Chapter 6

Damon got up heavily and walked out of Enforcement. He called Serena.

"Meet me. I miss you."

On the other end Serena sounded light, happy.

"Damon! Finally. You figured it out!"

Damon curled his lip in a cold smile.

Yes. He'd figured it out. Who killed his Ivy. Who killed their pup. Who made him suffer five years.

Today he was going to break her into pieces.

After Damon left, I walked out of Enforcement carrying my pup.

Callum looked at me. His eyes were complicated. In the end he didn't try to talk me out of it.

I bowed to him and took a ride to my father's company.

My father had gone into a coma a year ago. The company was being run by my cousin Reid. I didn't know finance. I only held a few shares.

When Reid saw me, his eyes went red.

"Sis. Are you really leaving this Territory? This is where your dream started. Everything you built — the relationships, the work, the life — are you really walking away from it?"

I didn't want to.

But I had to lose to gain.

I looked at the pup asleep, his face peaceful. And I remembered that afternoon — I had already known Damon and Serena were inside doing what they were doing.

I'd guessed they would move on the pup.

So I got there first. Before I walked in, I took a detour to Pack Enforcement. I asked Callum to help me stage my death.

Callum moved fast. Between the time I walked into that room and got up to the Tower's 28th floor, under an hour, he'd put everything in place.

The abusive nurse Serena had hired had already been swapped out for someone else.

The pup wasn't dead. He was asleep. To sell the fake, I'd stepped up onto the window ledge and let myself drop.

Through an angled view, I slipped down to the 18th floor window and stayed there, hidden.

I came back to the moment. Reid pressed black cards and deed papers into my hand.

"I know. You suffered here. Go. That's three hundred million. I own five properties in Blackwood Territory. All under your name. Use them freely. As for Serena and Damon — I won't let them go."

I took the cards, thanked him, and boarded a flight to Blackwood Territory.

Meanwhile, Serena showed up at Thorne Manor in a sheer provocative outfit.

The second she pushed the door open, a dozen of Damon's Pack brothers were on their knees. Helen Thorne, who always called her "dear daughter," had a face like winter.

"Shameless bitch. Wearing filth like that. I hate that I didn't see your poison sooner!"

Serena blinked, lost. "Damon, what's going on?"

Damon lifted the corner of his mouth, picked up a teacup, and smashed it into her forehead.

She screamed.

Serena grabbed her bleeding forehead, shaking.

"Damon, what did I do?"

Damon didn't answer. He grabbed the hot teapot and poured it over her.

Her scream got worse. She covered her ears, heart slamming.

"Serena. I know everything. Everything you did to Ivy. Every lie you told her and me."

"Ivy treated you like a true sister. After her mother died, you were the most important person to her. And this is what you did."

"She knew you gave up our position to the warlord to save yourself. And she still forgave you for five years."

"You killed her. Every single thing you did to her, I will give back to you — ten times."

The moment he finished, a few large men hauled Serena outside.

They took wooden boards and struck her body, arms, back, over and over.

Her shoulder blade cracked. Tendons tore. Her wrist snapped.

Damon didn't blink once.

That was when Serena finally tasted fear.

Damon wasn't a man. He was something you don't cross.

An hour later Serena was carried out a bloody mess, sent for medical care. Three days later, when her wounds had almost closed, Damon shipped her without mercy to the worst corner of the Dead Lands.

That place was patrolled day and night. Not even a fly made it out.

Serena clawed at the door with her manicured nails, begging, hair and dirt and tears smeared on her face.

"Damon! I know I was wrong. I won't do it again. You said you loved me. Ivy heard you. You said I was the only one you loved in your life!"

Damon let out a cold scoff. Dark hate crossed his eyes.

He had never loved Serena. Sleeping with her, kissing her — all of it was just to make Ivy feel something. He'd only wanted Ivy to know what it felt like to be thrown away.

He had been wrong.

He still wanted to hold Ivy and apologize. Tell her he was wrong.

But he wouldn't get one chance to do it.

Three years later, in Blackwood Territory, with Reid's help and everything I'd built, my design work took first place at one international competition after another.

Prize money and honors kept piling up.

I never let up. With the Pack Nurse's help, the pup grew up sweet and steady, and still had a child's innocence.

He never asked about his father. I was afraid he'd feel the absence. But he said it himself.

"My dad's a useless seed. I hope he never finds us."