Ava’s POV
Back home, I locked the bedroom door behind me, hands still shaking as I plugged the lipstick-shaped USB drive into my laptop.
Files flooded the screen.
I clicked the first folder, titled “My Love,” and my stomach instantly dropped.
Dozens, no, hundreds, of photos and videos loaded at once.
Every single one starred Damon and Sylvia.
There were shots of them back in college, standing way too close with awkward smiles; pictures of them kissing under the moonlight on pack territory; and…
vacation photos.
Full-on family trips.
The three of them together, like some perfect little world I had never been allowed to see.
One photo caught my eye.
The timestamp said last Christmas.
In it, Damon held Leo on his shoulders beside a massive Christmas tree, while Sylvia leaned into his chest with that soft, blissed-out smile.
They looked ridiculously happy, like a magazine ad for “perfect family of the year.”
And where had I been then?
Oh, I remembered.
I had spent those exact days alone in a freezing office, pulling three all-nighters, racing to meet the deadline on a proposal for Damon’s company.
Damon had called me, sounding oh-so-busy, telling me he had an “important Alpha meeting” and couldn’t spend the holiday with me.
Turns out that “important meeting” was him chilling on a tropical island with his mistress and their secret son.
I kept scrolling, my hands trembling, each image drawing blood from my heart.
When I was scrubbing their villa spotless, they were cuddling in another beach house.
When I was working myself to exhaustion for the pack, they were laughing on roller coasters at Disney.
I felt like the world’s biggest joke.
I slammed the laptop shut.
Either way, I’d already copied my research data.
When I was ready to start over, I could pick it right back up.
After laying everything out, I felt like my entire body had been drained.
I lifted my head, exhausted, and my eyes landed on the nightstand.
There it was, our wedding photo.
In the picture, I was wrapped in a white wedding gown, smiling so happily, so sweetly, leaning into my handsome husband’s arms.
It used to be my favorite photo; I’d look at it every night before bed, just to remind myself how “happy” I was.
But now?
I walked over, grabbed the frame, and tossed it straight into the storage room in the corner without a second thought.
Then I went to the study, pulled open the cabinet, and took out every album I had.
They were full of memories, from when I first met Damon at eighteen, to our wedding, to the day we adopted Leo.
All those carefully captured “happy moments.”
I gathered them, along with every cheesy love letter and gift Damon had ever given me, things that now felt more ridiculous than romantic, and carried the whole pile to the fireplace.
I lit a match and flicked the tiny spark into the heap that represented my entire youth and love story.
Flames shot up instantly, devouring the fake smiles and staged happiness.
In the firelight, our faces twisted and warped before crumbling into ashes.
I was only halfway through burning everything when the front door of the villa suddenly swung open.
Damon walked in, Sylvia right behind him with that smug little smirk, and Leo bouncing in after them.
“Ava! What are you doing?!” Damon’s face went pale when he saw the roaring flames in the fireplace and the album cover lying discarded by my feet.
He rushed over, his voice shaking.
“Nothing,” I said calmly, poking the burning papers with the fire iron.
“Just getting rid of some useless trash.”
“You witch! You deliberately stopped helping your dad work…you ruined our trip!” Leo’s eyes were vicious.
He screamed, snatched up a toy car, and hurled it at me.
“It’s all your fault! You’re horrible! And now you’re trashing the house!”
I stared at the boy I’d raised for four years.
His face…so much like Sylvia’s…was twisted with anger and blame.
The images I’d just seen on the computer flashed through my mind, pouring fuel on the fire already burning in my chest.
“What are you looking at?!” he shrieked, and lunged straight at me.
“Ava!” Damon gasped.
I was completely caught off guard.
I stumbled backward and fell to the right of the fire, barely a foot from the flames.
I had no wolf.
If I’d actually fallen in…God, I might not have lived to see tomorrow.
I fought through the searing pain in my wrist and glared at Leo.
He had no right to do that to me!
Not after everything…he’d been frail and sickly, catching a cold every month, and I’d spent seven straight days nursing him each time, barely sleeping.
And now?
He was trying to…kill me.
“It’s because you’re so weak. Even a warrior-class wolf could’ve dodged that.”
His words hadn’t even finished before Damon snapped at him, voice like a whip.
“Leo!
Watch your mouth when you’re talking to your mother!”
“She’s not my mother!” Leo spit back, his face twisted in disgust.
“I don’t have an Omega mom!”
That line hit me like someone striking a match in a room full of gasoline.
In an instant, every bit of anger I’d been holding down roared to life.
I stood up, slow and steady, and walked straight toward Leo.
Sylvia tried to block me, but I didn’t even pause.
I grabbed Leo and pulled him out of her arms with one sharp motion.
“What are you doing?! You can’t hit him!” Sylvia shrieked, lunging forward like she thought she could actually stop me.
“Back off.” I shot her a glare so cold it made her freeze mid-step.
“Listen up. I am his mother. My kid is being rude and running his mouth, and if I want him to grow into someone with real manners, a proper heir, then it’s my responsibility, and my right, to teach him.”
I tilted my chin slightly, locking eyes with her.
“I’m disciplining my own child. You may be his tutor, but you don’t get to tell his mother how to raise her own kid.”
Sylvia’s face twisted like she’d just swallowed something rotten.
Her lips trembled, opening and closing without a sound.
She had nothing, because by pack law, every word I said stood solid.
“Sweetheart, you’re an amazing mother.” Damon rushed over, trying to smooth things over.
He gently eased Leo from my grip, then turned to Sylvia.
“Sylvia, from now on, you’re only responsible for Leo’s riding lessons and shifting training. Everything else isn’t your concern.”
His tone made it clear, he’d just acknowledged my position as Leo’s mother, and at the same time, firmly shoved Sylvia back to her place.
Watching Sylvia’s expression collapse a little…
yeah, it felt good.
But I wasn’t fooled.
I knew exactly what Damon was doing, saying whatever he had to just to calm me down, to keep the “useful” wife in line a little longer.
Then, without hesitation, I smacked Leo hard on the backside, with everything I had.
Leo immediately screamed in pain.
It took everything I had to stop myself.
Damon handed Leo to Sylvia.
“Take Leo upstairs. If he ever insults Ava again, I’ll teach him a lesson myself. I mean it.”
Sylvia left, grinding her teeth.
Leo shot me a vicious glare on his way out, his eyes full of hatred.
I didn’t care.
After they left, Damon tried to come closer, but I honestly felt sick.
I fought down the nausea and looked at him.
“Honey, you should go check on Leo. He’s still a child, after all. You need to explain to him why he got spanked. I trust you’ll guide him right.”
I didn’t wait for Damon’s response and headed straight for the bedroom.