Rebuked

While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

Katie Oettgen

As I lay on the floor of our manor, bleeding out from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, I used my last ounce of strength to call my husband, Cole. I begged him for help, my vision blurring. But the only thing I heard was the clinking of champagne glasses and his mistress's giggle in the background. "Stop the drama, June," Cole snapped, his voice cold. "We're about to go on stage. Don't call again." He hung up, leaving me to die alone on the Persian rug while he accepted an award with another woman on his arm. I woke up in the hospital days later. My baby was gone. They had removed my fallopian tube. Cole finally arrived, smelling of expensive scotch and his mistress's perfume. He didn't hug me. He didn't cry. Instead, he leaned over my hospital bed, pressing his knee into the mattress until my fresh stitches tore open and bled. "You embarrassed me by calling an ambulance," he hissed. "My mistress, Alycia, says you're faking it. Clean yourself up." He left me bleeding again to go announce a $10 million donation to Alycia's "groundbreaking" medical research. I stared at the TV screen, numb. The research Alycia was taking credit for? It was mine. I wrote that patent years ago under a pseudonym. They thought I was just a poor, orphan housewife who needed Cole's money to survive. They had no idea I was actually a billionaire scientist hiding my identity. I pulled the IV needle out of my arm. A drop of blood fell onto the divorce papers I had been hiding. I didn't wipe it off. I signed my name right over it. Then I walked into the bank, reactivated my dormant account with $128 million, and bought the penthouse directly overlooking Cole's house. The mourning widow is dead. The avenger is born.

Romance Crime Revenge Pregnancy Enemies to Lovers Pregnancy Personal Growth

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LYRIC

"You used me!" I sobbed, crying to my mate who just rejected me. "Mating with me was your ladder to power, Roderick! Your Pack climbed the ranks because of me! Now that you've achieved your ambition, you don't need the ugly girl anymore, is that it? But you were willing to mate with me a year ago!"

"Oh, spare me!" Roderick rolled his eyes. "Don't act like you didn't know I'd have left you at some point. Hold on, did you really think I'd have made you the Luna of my Pack? I can barely stand the sight of you, Lyric. How do you expect me to take you to Alpha meetings and present you to others? You are disgusting!"

"But I did not give this scar to myself!" I cried bitterly. "And you promised you'd take me to the best doctors. You didn't do any of that, Roderick! It'd have helped!"

"What? Even your own family doesn't care enough to take you to doctors, and you think I would? Quit, dreaming, Lyric and get out of my Pack!"

Tears blurred my vision. It wasn't the first time I was being called ugly, but it hurt more each time it came from Roderick.

I knew Roderick had no love for me when my family paired me with him a year ago. For a year, we lived like strangers despite being mated. I was still a virgin as he could not even bring himself to touch me.

It wasn't my fault I was ugly. I was burnt with a silver-base branding iron when I was a kid, leaving a huge scar by the side of my face. I still didn't know who was responsible for it, but I've had to grow up with this sting of rejection. Even my own family hated me and were embarrassed by my appearance.

But I thought Roderick would be different. I thought he'd love me. Apparently, in a world where ranks mattered the most to Pack Leaders, deceit was bound to happen.

I glared at him. I'd truly loved this man and wished he'd love me back. But now, I wish he'd suffer for what he did to me.

"You are a monster," I gritted the words. "And I hope you pay for this someday."

He threw back his head and laughed, a hollow sound. "Cursed Lyric, how exactly is that going to happen? I am currently the third most powerful Alpha now. My Pack is up the ranks while your family is beneath me! There is nothing you can do to me anymore. You have always been and will always be worthless!

"Listen, I have rejected you already, and you have accepted. Although, there is one final formality left, but as far as I'm concerned, you're not longer anything to me. So, get your disgusting face out of my pack! This instant, before I have the guards throw you out!" His glare was icy, and before I could respond, he walked out.

.........

After I managed to pull myself together, I left Roderick's Pack and decided to head home-to my father's Pack. I hadn't been home since I moved into Roderick's Pack, and I hoped they'd be willing to take me in.

My family had never really liked me. Everything started falling apart after my mother left-abandoning me when I was four. My father chose a new mate and suddenly didn't have enough time for me. Then, I got my scar and he became even more distant.

The guards let me through the gate, but when I rang the bell of the lounge, my stepsister and her mother opened up. To my surprise, they wouldn't let me in.

"Go back to Roderick and beg him some more, Lyric. There is no room for you here," Nora said after I explained everything to them.

Despite my attempt to get them to pity me, letting them understand I had nowhere else to go, they ordered the guards to see me out.

They've always taken me to be a disgrace to the family and were happy when I left for Roderick's Pack. Now, they didn't want me back.

.........

By evening, I was seated in a bar, my favorite bar-Faceless Drunk. Over here, they mixed portions strong enough to get a wolf drunk, and you didn't have to worry about being recognized and judged as every customer made use of masks.

It had been my favorite bar for years. If people had to see my face, they'd think I was getting drunk because I was ugly.

"You're too ugly." I'd heard those words too many times, I could recite them in my sleep without missing a beat.

But above all, it was Roderick's betrayal that cut deep. It was even more painful that I could not do anything for him. His Pack was very powerful now, and I was an ugly, rejected girl who didn't even have a family to return to. Nobody could ever want me. What was the point of living?

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