“Enough.” My father’s voice boomed across the hall, carrying all the authority of Alpha Garry. “Avery, stop making a scene. This is a celebration, and you’re ruining it. We have our beloved daughter back, and instead of welcoming her, you’re sulking and crying.”
His words struck like a dagger. Beloved daughter. As if I had never truly belonged, as if I had only been a stand-in, a mistake—one they were eager to erase now that the rightful heir had returned.
“You always bring down the mood,” my mother, Luna Kierra, scoffed, her voice thick with disdain. “Every time you’re here, it’s like a dark cloud settles over everything. Go somewhere else if you want to cry. This night is about Maureen, not you.”
A choked sob escaped before I could stop it. The walls of my chest threatened to cave in. Leave, they commanded. Disappear.
So, I did.
I didn’t plead. I didn’t fight. I didn’t waste another second trying to explain myself to people who had already decided I was unworthy. My own parents, the ones who should have loved me unconditionally, had discarded me. And Harland—the man I had built my life around—had humiliated me without hesitation. There was nothing left here for me.