Rebecca’s POV
The morning sun struck my face, forcing my eyes open.
I groaned, every muscle in my body screaming as if I’d been beaten.
I sat up slowly and looked around, my brow furrowing.
I froze.
This wasn’t the tiny, pitch-black dungeon box that had been driving me crazy.
My breathing quickened as I sat up too quickly, my eyes darting around wildly.
The cell I was in now was much larger—a massive room easily big enough to hold fifty people.
There was a narrow bed in one corner, and even a simple toilet behind a small wall.
There was enough space.
Enough air.
I slowly pressed my back against the cold stone wall, my head spinning fast as I tried to figure out how I had gotten here.
How long had I been passed out?
The last thing I remembered was the sound of footsteps coming toward the dungeon.
After that… everything went blank.
But then, a strange memory flashed in my head.
It was blurry, but I saw myself kissing Enzo.
Kissing him hard.
His hands on me.
His fingers inside me.
His mouth between my legs while I moaned and begged like a crazy person.
My face burned with shame.
Between my thighs, I felt sore and sticky.
No.
That couldn’t be real.
I shook my head violently, trying to purge the image from my brain.
I was hallucinating.
I had to be.
The toxin from before must have completely messed up my mind, making me dream up a shameless, desperate fantasy.
Enzo hated me.
He was the cold, harsh Alpha who had watched the guards drag me away without showing a single shred of mercy.
There was no way he would look at me like that, and he would definitely never touch me with that kind of wild hunger.
I dragged a shaking hand through my hair and looked around the huge cell again.
My hand slowly lifted to my forehead, and I noticed the cut there had already been cleaned and bandaged.
Confusion twisted inside my stomach.
Who had brought me here?
A bitter thought crossed my mind.
Maybe Father had told the guards to move me here after I fainted.
Even in his anger, maybe my father couldn’t stand the thought of his daughter rotting in the pack’s worst solitary box.
Maybe he didn’t completely hate me.
Just then, the heavy sound of footsteps echoing down the hallway cut through the silence.
I froze, listening closely as the steps drew near.
I scrambled to my feet on shaky legs, rushed to the front of the cell, and gripped the iron bars tightly, leaning forward to see who was coming.
The person stepped into the light, and my heart instantly stopped.
It was my sister, Clara.
We just stood there, staring at each other through the thick iron gates.
Neither of us said a word.
Her eyes were red from crying, her usual perfect makeup totally gone.
For once, she looked small.
The silence between us felt heavy and suffocating, laden with all the secrets that had ruined my life in a single night.
Finally, Clara broke it first.
Her voice was small and shaking as she looked at my torn wedding dress, which was barely hanging onto my body.
”I’m sorry, Rebecca,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.
“This…
this wasn’t what I wanted to happen.”
A harsh, bitter laugh ripped from my throat, cracking in my chest.
My fingers tightened on the iron bars.
”Are you fucking kidding me, Clara?” I snapped, my voice shaking with the sheer weight of betrayal.
“You lied using my name.
You told everyone I sent killers to kidnap and murder you!
‘Sorry’ doesn’t fix a single thing.”
Clara flinched.
She took a quick step closer to the bars, looking around nervously before lowering her voice to a whisper.
”I never wanted things to go this far,” she said quickly.
“I was supposed to run away with Jackson.
We had it all worked out—the money, a new life far away from the pack.
But he…
he lied to me, Rebecca.
He set me up with his friends.
They took everything.
Every single dollar of the money I took out of my bank accounts.
They beat me black and blue, and just left me to die in some cheap motel outside the border.”
She sobbed, burying her face in her hands.
”I had nowhere else to go.
I had to come back.”
For a second, I just stared at her.
Suddenly, her bruises, her torn dress, and her injuries all made sense.
But my anger subsided for only a fraction of a second before crashing back even harder, wiping away the last remaining shred of love I had for her.
”So?” I shouted, my voice echoing loudly off the high stone ceiling of the massive cell.
“Is that supposed to make what you did to me okay?
You destroyed my life because your boyfriend robbed and dumped you!”
Clara’s face crumpled.
“Rebecca, I couldn’t tell the truth!” she cried, looking up at me with desperate, tearful eyes.
“Father will be so disappointed in me.
If the pack finds out I ran away with a man who beat and robbed me, they will laugh at me forever.
They’d never let me live it down.
I’d be ruined.”
”What about me?!” I screamed, slamming my hand against the iron bars with a loud, violent clang that made her jump.
Tears burned my eyes.
“Father looks at me like I’m trash.
Enzo hates me.
The entire fucking pack thinks I’m a monster and wants me dead!
They dragged me down here like an animal.
Do you have any idea what they did to me?!”
Clara swallowed hard, looking away quickly as she tried to calm me down.
”Don’t worry, sister,” she said, her voice dropping into a rushed, pleading whisper.
“All of this is just for a little while.
It’s just for a year.
Once the marriage is canceled, everything will calm down and things can go back to normal—”
”Don’t you fucking dare tell me that!” I exploded, hitting the bars again, harder this time.
The physical pain shooting up my arm was nothing compared to the anger and hurt ripping through my chest.
”I am rotting in a prison cell because of you, Clara!
And when they finally let me out—if they let me out—I’ll spend a whole year as a servant while everyone laughs at me!
A maid in my own pack.
Shamed.
Broken.
All because you couldn’t keep your legs closed and your mouth shut!”
Clara took a small step back, her eyes wide with guilt.
But then, her face hardened, and she wiped her tears away.
”I’m so sorry, Rebecca,” she said, her voice turning cold and selfish.
“But I have built a good reputation in this pack.
I can’t let it be ruined.
But you…
everyone already knows you as the repulsive daughter.
They think you are the one who doesn’t care about anyone.
The pack already expects the worst from you anyway.”
I stared at her, my mouth falling open in shock.
”Trust me, you will be fine,” Clara whispered, stepping back away from me.
“It’s just one year.”
Without another word, she turned on her heel and walked away.
I stood there, staring blankly at the empty hallway.
My hands shook violently as I gripped the cold iron bars, but inside, something shifted.
My heart didn’t break; it turned completely to stone.
Clara was right.
The pack already knew me as the repulsive daughter.
They already expected me to be the villain.
A dark, bitter feeling washed through my veins, replacing my pain.
If they already thought I was a monster, I wasn’t going to disappoint them.
I was going to be so much worse from now on.