Ava’s POV
I clenched my fists before I even realized it, my nails digging hard into my palm.
I didn’t yell or make a scene.
Instead, I pushed through the crowd, step by step, heading straight for the woman wrapped in everyone’s admiration like she owned the whole place.
“Hi.” I stopped in front of her, meeting her eyes, curious, but with that tiny bit of condescension that made my skin crawl.
“Mind telling me if you’re really the heir of the Crawford Pack?”
The chatter around us died on the spot, like someone had just hit mute.
Every pair of eyes swung toward us.
The woman calling herself Bella clearly had no idea who I was.
She scanned me from head to toe, then lifted her chin in that snobbish way people do when they think they’re untouchable.
“Of course.”
Vivian snorted, loud enough for half the room to hear.
She looked at me like I’d just asked the dumbest question on earth.
“Where did this stray Omega crawl out from? And you think you can question Bella’s identity? Seriously, who do you think you are?”
She bounced to Bella’s side, looping her arm through hers like they were lifelong besties.
“Bella, don’t bother with her.
She’s just some cheap little nobody who snagged herself an old man to climb up the ladder.
Oh, right,” she added, suddenly grinning at me like she’d scored a point, “that old man you’re clinging to won’t be able to help you for long.
Oswald, the butler, is Alpha Adrian’s most loyal Beta.
And this Bella here is Alpha Adrian’s real fiancee.”
Laughter rippled through the room.
I didn’t flinch, and I didn’t waste a second on Vivian’s trashy taunts.
My eyes stayed locked on Bella.
“That so?” I stepped in closer, refusing to back down.
“Quite the impressive background Bella has.”
My calmness threw her off for a second, but she quickly snapped back into her arrogant posture, chin tilted higher than before.
“Since you’re Mr. Thorne’s fiancee,” I kept going, my voice low but clear enough that the whole room heard every word, “why didn’t you show up with him tonight?”
Bella’s expression froze.
“And,” I added with a light smile, “could you maybe call him? Right now? I’m sure a lot of people here would love to meet this powerful, mysterious Alpha they keep hyping up.”
The moment the words left my mouth, Vivian jumped in like she’d been waiting for a cue.
“Yeah! Even though this low-class wolf girl is worthless, she’s actually got a point this time! Bella, just give him a call! Let us all see for ourselves!”
The crowd erupted with agreement, eyes gleaming with excitement and gossip.
Color rushed to Bella’s face.
She marched right up to me, voice dropping to a harsh whisper, her glare full of venom.
“What are you trying to say?
Are you questioning who I am?”
“My identity is not something you get to doubt!” she snapped.
She jerked up her right hand and shoved a ring with a totem design inches from my face, raising her voice so everyone could hear.
“Take a good look! This ring is the Crawford family’s heirloom, passed down for generations! Isn’t that enough to prove I’m the only rightful heir?”
I got it in that instant, the reason that totem looked so damn familiar.
But then another thought struck me.
Where did she even get that ring?
Even I never had one.
People in the crowd immediately chimed in, one after another.
“Exactly!
I once saw Elder Crawford wearing that same ring at an auction.
It’s identical!”
“And look at her dress!” another lady, clearly someone who lived and breathed fashion, spoke up.
“That’s the final piece by the mysterious designer ‘Z’.
Only two exist in the entire wolfkin world!
One stayed in the designer’s private collection, and the other, well, rumor has it Crawford Manor bought it for a sky-high price.”
With these so-called “witnesses” backing her up, Bella looked even more pleased with herself.
She stared at me like I was some clown putting on a bad show.
Vivian seized the chance instantly, her voice sharp and dripping contempt.
“Did you hear that? You clueless little Omega! You’re picking a fight with the future Luna of the Bloodmoon Pack! My advice? Get on your knees and apologize to Bella right now. Otherwise, not even that old man behind you can save your ass!”
As she spat those words, she casually picked up a glass of red wine from a passing waiter’s tray.
I opened my mouth, ready to snap back, ready to expose exactly where that damn ring and that dress came from.
But I didn’t get the chance.
Vivian stepped right up to me, raised her hand, and dumped the entire glass of wine straight over my head.
The icy liquid slid down my scalp, streaked across my cheeks, and soaked into my expensive Galaxy Gown.
The dark red stain bled into the deep blue fabric like some ugly smear of humiliation.
The whole room went silent.
I stood there like a wreck, hair dripping, makeup ruined, thick wine trailing down my chin and onto my chest.
“Oh my god! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Vivian shrieked dramatically, but the triumph flickering in her eyes exposed every word as a lie.
Around us, laughter erupted, unfiltered, merciless.
I had become the punchline of the night.
And then I saw him.
Damon stood at the edge of the crowd with Sylvia right beside him.
From their angle, they’d obviously seen everything from start to finish.
My eyes moved to him on instinct, helplessly, stupidly, because even now, a part of me still hoped.
Even after everything he’d done to me, cheating, using me, tearing me apart, some pathetic, laughable spark of hope still clung to me in this moment when I was at my lowest, standing there drenched in humiliation with nowhere to hide.
We’d known each other for years.
Even a random friend would’ve stepped up right now.
I saw his brows tighten, and for a second, he actually looked like he was about to move toward me.
My stupid heart…
skipped a beat on its own.
But the very next moment, whatever hope I had left was crushed without mercy.
Sylvia reached out, curled her fingers around his arm, leaned in, and whispered something in his ear.
Then she rose on her toes and pressed a possessive, intimate kiss right on his lips, boldly, shamelessly, in front of everyone.
And Damon Ashford, my oh-so-noble Alpha husband, didn’t push her away.
He didn’t do anything.
He just stood there, letting his mistress kiss him, and stared straight at me with this cold, almost vicious indifference.
Watching his legally wedded wife get mocked, get humiliated, get torn apart in public, and he didn’t even blink.
Wow.
I couldn’t believe how ridiculous I was.
Even now, I’d actually dared to hope he might choose me for once.
My heart felt like an icy hand had wrapped around it, squeezing it tighter and tighter until it crumbled to dust.
Damon Ashford, you make me sick.