Warmth.
Comfort.
Isla blinked against the sunlight pouring through the windows.
For once, she had woken without dread pressing against her chest.
No shouted orders waited beyond the door.
No one would drag her from bed or punish her for sleeping too long.
She was safe.
Then memories of the night before rushed back.
Logan’s mouth against her neck.
His hand beneath her nightdress.
The rough promise in his voice when he said his heat wasn’t gone.
Her cheeks burned.
‘Someone is remembering last night,’ Serena teased.
‘Don’t start.’
‘You certainly weren’t complaining when he—’
‘One more word, and I’m shutting you out for the rest of the day.’
Serena laughed.
Isla looked around and discovered that she was alone.
Relief mingled with a strange disappointment.
She wasn’t ready to face Logan.
Not after begging him to touch her.
But without him, the enormous bedroom felt cold.
Empty.
‘You miss him,’ Serena said.
‘It’s the pregnancy hormones.’
‘Of course.’
A knock interrupted them.
“Come in.”
A young woman entered wearing the simple gray uniform of the Vale household.
Her gaze remained lowered.
“Good morning, ma’am.
The Alpha asked me to inform you that he left for his office early.”
“You don’t have to bow to me.”
The maid looked up in surprise.
“I’m an Omega too,” Isla added.
“Please, call me Isla.”
Alarm crossed the woman’s face.
“I couldn’t.
You’re the Alpha’s wife.”
The title felt like borrowed clothing—beautiful, expensive, and made for someone else.
“Thank you for telling me,” Isla said.
The maid bowed again before leaving.
Isla pushed aside the covers.
She had already straightened the pillows and reached for the tangled blanket before realizing what she was doing.
No one had ordered her to clean.
No one would hit her if the bed remained untidy.
Slowly, she lowered her hands.
A flash of red near an armchair caught her attention.
Isla crossed the room and pulled a lace bra from beneath its leg.
Her heart sank.
A woman’s sweet perfume still clung to it.
Someone had been here last night.
While Isla slept. The source of this chapter is g.com.
The woman had removed her bra in Logan’s bedroom, which left little doubt about why she had come.
Isla dropped it onto the chair as if it had burned her.
Of course Logan had other women.
He was wealthy, powerful, and devastatingly attractive.
Their marriage certificate didn’t erase the life he had lived before her.
And it didn’t give Isla the right to demand fidelity.
Their marriage was a transaction.
One year.
One baby.
Two billion dollars.
Nothing more.
So why did it hurt?
Serena growled.
‘Give me her scent.
I’ll find her.’
‘We are not hunting anyone.’
‘She came into our room.’
‘Logan’s room,’ Isla corrected.
‘And I’m not jealous.’
‘Liar.’
Another knock spared Isla from answering.
The maid returned with a breakfast tray piled with eggs, buttered toast, fruit, and warm milk.
Isla’s stomach growled.
“Thank you.”
The maid hurried away, and Isla ate with an appetite that surprised her.
She had almost finished when the bedroom door opened.
Logan’s Beta entered, then stopped.
“My apologies.
The door wasn’t fully closed.”
Isla set down her fork.
“Is something wrong?”
“Alpha Logan ordered us to recover your belongings from the Spencer estate.”
A young male Omega entered behind him carrying a faded canvas bag and a worn wooden box.
Isla rose so quickly that her chair scraped the floor.
“My things.”
“Everything registered in your name,” the Beta said.
“My father let you take them?”
“He objected.”
“And?”
The Beta’s mouth almost curved.
“He stopped.”
Isla knelt beside the bag after they left.
Everything she owned fit inside it.
A few dresses.
Several beloved books.
Old photographs of her mother.
Research papers and a provisional patent certificate were packed inside the wooden box.
Cassian had called her work a useless Omega’s hobby.
Even after Isla developed a serum that stabilized distressed wolves without suppressing their instincts, he had refused to fund the final testing.
But she hadn’t stopped working.
She pulled out one journal, then another.
Her relief faded.
The blue journal was missing.
It contained the final formula and every correction she had made over the past year.
Isla searched the bag again.
Either Cassian had kept it—or someone else had taken it.
She held the patent certificate against her chest.
One year from now, Logan might want their marriage dissolved.
He might even try to control how often she saw their child.
She couldn’t allow herself to leave this place as helpless as she had entered it.
She would reconstruct the missing formula.
Complete the patent.
Build something that belonged only to her.
If anyone tried to remove her from her baby’s life, she would have the power to fight.
Darkness had fallen when Logan returned.
Isla was sitting against the headboard with a journal open in her lap.
He entered wearing a perfectly tailored suit, but exhaustion shadowed his eyes.
His gaze found her immediately.
Then it moved to the red bra still lying on the chair.
Something unreadable crossed his face.
Isla looked back at her journal.
“About last night,” he began.
“You don’t need to explain.”
His expression hardened.
“I wasn’t going to apologize.”
“Good.” She turned a page she hadn’t read.
“Neither am I.”
Silence stretched between them.
Logan watched her as if trying to solve a problem.
Isla refused to look up.
“My family learned about the marriage,” he finally said.
Her fingers stilled.
“How?”
“Nothing involving the Vale name stays secret for long.
They want to meet you.”
The cold knot in her chest tightened.
“The Vales aren’t going to approve of an unknown Omega marrying their heir.”
“I never asked for their approval.”
Some of her fear eased, but not enough.
His phone rang.
Logan answered, and a woman’s sharp voice carried through the silent room.
“So the rumors are true.
You’ve been ignoring my calls because of that new Omega toy.”
Logan’s eyes flashed gold.
“You will refer to her as my wife.”
Isla’s breath caught.
The woman laughed coldly.
“Don’t be ridiculous.
You don’t take Omegas as wives.
You use them.”
Logan ended the call.
“Who was that?” Isla asked.
“My grandmother.”
“What does she want?”
“To meet you tomorrow night.”
Before Isla could respond, his phone lit up with a message.
She saw it before he turned the screen away.
*Bring the carrier.
We need to discuss what happens to the child after the divorce.*
All the warmth drained from her body.
The Vales didn’t intend to welcome her into their family.