(This novel is a mix of 1st and 3rd POV)
AMELIE
I had always imagined it happening, but I had never thought I'd be so crushed when it actually did.
The moment I pushed the door to our bedroom open, there he was––my husband of three long, miserable years, Sam Crane––fucking another woman on the bed sheets we'd actually picked together not so long ago.
"Sam?" My voice came out as a pathetic whisper.
To my shock, neither of them rushed to cover themselves. Instead, the other woman's red lips curled into a sneer as she brushed my husband's brown hair from his face.
"You're home early," Sam noted carelessly, throwing me a brief, uninterested glance as he finally moved away from his lover.
He sat up in the bed, while the blonde woman pinned me with a sharp glare. I recognized her immediately—Miranda Johnes, heiress to one of our city's wealthiest families and one of the most desirable Luna candidates among the packs.
"So this is the useless wife you were talking about?" Miranda said with a chuckle, looking me up and down like I was a smear of dirt stuck to her shoe. "You didn't tell me she looked this... simple."
My whole body trembled as I heard those stinging words.
Three years. Three years I'd spent in this house and this pack, enduring continuous bullying from everyone, including the servants. All I'd ever heard was how I was nothing but a charity case, accepted into the Crane family because Sam's grandfather saw something special in me.
And all for what?
"How long has this been going on?" I asked, my voice steadier than I expected.
Sam laughed, the sound like glass shattering in my chest. "Does it matter? What number will make it better? A month? A year? Come on, don't tell me you never suspected anything. You only became my wife because that was my Grandpa's last wish. Now, I see no point in keeping someone as useless as you by my side, Amelie. And I would definitely not want someone like you as my luna."
Each word felt like a punch in the face.
I had spent three years working hard to earn my place in this family, hoping that one day my husband would finally love me back and see my true potential, but now that it had turned out this way, I could finally see how foolish I actually was.
"Darling, you shouldn't be frowning so much, there are already enough wrinkles on your face," Miranda mocked, sliding out of bed and pulling on a new silk robe with deliberate slowness.
"Did you really think someone like Sam Crane would want someone like you? With all the important deals the Cranes are scoring right now, it will be simply embarrassing to watch him stick to you as if you actually mean anything."
I took a step forward, anger finally breaking through my shock. "How dare you... Get the fuck out of my home!"
Miranda's face darkened with unconcealed malice. "Your home? You're just a miserable charity case, Amelie Gilmore. Nothing here belongs to you!"
She moved with unexpected speed, her palm connecting with my face before I could react. I stumbled backward, tasting blood as I bit on the inside of my cheek.
"Miranda, don't," Sam sighed, as if his lover's violence was merely an inconvenience rather than a real assault.
"You're right, darling," the woman smiled at her before pointing at the door. "You! Get out of here before I ask the guards to handle you!"
My head went blank, and when I finally came back to my senses, I was rushing down the stairs, my legs barely holding my weight.
At the bottom of the staircase stood Amanda Crane, my mother-in-law and the current Luna of Riverstone, her face contorted into a mask of pure disgust.
"I see you've met Miranda," she said, sliding her manicured fingers over her pearl necklace. "We were planning to have this conversation more... civilly, but since it has already turned out this way, I guess there is no point in beating around the bush. I want you out of this house, Amelie. The sooner the better."
"Just like that?" I asked, clenching my hands into tight fists. "Three years of hell just to end up being replaced by someone better?"
"What are you even talking about?" Amanda scoffed bitterly. "Do you even know what kind of money and connections Miranda will bring into this family, not to mention the power of her blood? You were never anything but a temporary indulgence of my father's superstitions. But I hoped that you'd at least have enough brains to realize that you could always be replaced."
"Now, get out!" She nodded at the butler, who shoved me toward the door. "Your things will be sent to whatever pathetic hole you end up in. And be grateful I'm this generous, otherwise you'd already be torn apart by rogues!"
"What are you saying? This is my home!" I protested, though I already knew that it was useless.
"Goddess, how pathetic––she is still not getting it!" Miranda called from the top of the stairs, her arms crossed at her chest. "Your marriage is over––you no longer have any right to be here!"
I shifted my eyes in her direction, but it was Sam whose face I wanted to see. My heartbeat slowed down, the world fading into a blur. He looked so cold and distant––like a foe whose heart knew nothing but hatred.
Had he always looked at me with those cold eyes of his? Had I really been so blind not to see it?
"Fine," I said at last, a strange calm washing over me all of a sudden. "I get it. I'll leave."
I turned and walked out, dignity the only possession I had still left with me. The heavy door slammed behind me, cutting me off from the life I'd desperately tried to build.
The sunlight outside was blinding, too bright for the darkness spreading inside me.
Three years. I had wasted three years of my life on someone who saw me as nothing but a speck of dust. I was an orphan picked up by Alpha Constantine Crane, whose marriage arrangement between me and his grandson seemed like a saving grace for me.
I had never belonged anywhere, but I was set to earn my place in that pack. I was set to earn Sam's love.
How foolish.
Both the inside and the outside of my left cheek stung, but the ache in my heart was far more agonising.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed with a notification sound, and as I looked at the screen, my heart contracted with another bout of pain.
Today was my grandfather's birthday. He was the only family I knew I once had––the golden locket with his photo inside was the only keepsake I was left with, and I cherished it like a part of my own soul.
Instinctively, I took the locket from my neck and opened it, my fingertips sliding over the old, black and white photo jammed into the round frame.
Strangely, the second part of the locket had always been empty. Without even realizing it, I pressed my thumb against that empty space, not really knowing what I was doing.
My eyes widened as I felt something round and hard hidden under the small velvet cloth. Had it always been there? Had I simply never paid any attention ot it before?
Driven by curiosity, I tore the velvet barrier away from the frame, momentarily freezing as my eyes landed on the secret hidden underneath it.
"A... pill?"
It was exactly that––a small, flat, round pill tinged with purple color. There were no markings or carvings on it, just a surprisingly smooth surface, slightly chipped at the edges.
I didn't know what it was, nor did I have any idea what it meant, but for whatever reason, I felt enchanted by its sudden appearance in my life.
Was it a sign? Was it my means out of this miserable existence? Moon Goddess, I wish I had a wolf. I could have used a little guidence right now.
I was helpless––I had nowhere to go and nothing to do, so would it really be so horrible?
I didn't want to grasp at straws of hesitation. With the locket back on my neck, I popped the purple pill into my mouth and lowered onto the ground near the road, hoping that everything would end peacefully.
Little did I know that instead of putting an end to my life, I had set onto the path of the real beginning.