Riley’s POV

“How many times have y

on Peads

byou /bbmade /ba scene in the one bmonth /bsince you were released from prison?” Karl’s voice rang sharply. through the bhospital /broomb, /bcold and full of bjudgment/b. “The whole family has been spoiling you, tolerating you, loving you- yet you keep pushing us away, again and againb./bb” /b

His words were like bsharp /bneedles, pricking at my ears.

“Why did Mom inject you with the bsuppressant/b, huh? Wasn’t it because you attackeil Scarlett at the banquet like a feral roppan You shoved her in front of the whole Pack and disgraced our bfamily/b. Then you had the audacity to strike her again after we got home.”

“You were in the wrong, Riley. Don’t tell me ba /bmother doesn’t have the right to discipline her own daughter”

I sat there, staring at him in bsilence/b. My mouth curled into a slow, bitter smile, but my eyes remained icy. What was the point bin /barguing? In this house–this pack–bthey /bnever cared about the truth. Scarlett bwas /balways the saint in their eyes. The victim. The golden child.

bAnd /bme? I was the rabid white wolf no one wanted to im.

So I said nothing.

But someone outside the room bcouldn’t /bbear it an

The door burst open, and Mia stormed in. Her usually kind face was tight with fury, her eyes bloodshot, breath unsteady.

She shoved past Zara and bKael/b, heading straight for me. The insted container in her hands mmed down on the bedside table with ba /bsharp thud.)

“I’ve had enough,” she growled. “Enough of this cruelty.”

My chest clenched as I watched her trembling hands and the quiver in her voice. I knew what wasing–Mia never raised her voice. Not unless it truly mattered.

“Last night, if it weren’t for that kind gentleman who helped carry her out of the estate, your daughter would’ve died from infection band /bblood loss. bShe /bhasn’t eaten a bite, hasn’t sipped a drop of water since waking. bAnd /bwhat do you do? bYou /bshow up here to yell at her? To scold her for fighting bback/b?”

She looked like she might shatter from sheer rage.

b“/bWhat kind of Alpha bfamily /btreats their blood like this?”

bKaci /bopened his mouth, but she cut bhim /boff

“Don’t you dare. bYou /bthink the whole Pack loves her? That you’ve tolerated her? What a joke.”

“She bwas /btortured in prison for five years. I saw the scars on her back with my own eyes. Not one of you visited her. Not once.. And thest time your father beat her with a belt until she bled, who stopped him? No one.”

She turned to Zara, voice rising with righteous fury. “You forced your own daughter to cut off a finger to repay a debt she never owed! And you still stand there band /bsay it was for her own good?”

bZara’s /bface had turned ashen, her lips parted in silent horror.

Even Karl was stunned, looking at me like I was a stranger.

“Every time she’s wronged, you defend Scarlett without asking a single question,” Mia continued. “You scold Riley, punish her, bhumiliate /bher. And now you dare to say it’s out of love)”

I couldn’t speak My throat was tight.

I reached out and gently touched Mia’s hand. “It’s okay,” I whispered. “They’re not worth your anger

Because they weren i

+8 Pearls

I had cried enough tears for them in my life.

Zara bfinally /bseemed toe back to herself. Her voice was shaky as she tried to exin, “Mia… we didn’t mean to hurt her. Riley is just… so impulsive, so disobedient. We’re trying to help her-

“Help her?” Mia bughed/b, and the sound bwas /braw, “Look at her now. Is this what ‘help‘ looks like to you?”

She pointed to my bandaged arm and bruised corbone.

“You never loved her. Zara. At least admit that. You didn’t raise her–you never bonded with her–and maybe that’s bunderstandable/b. But bnot /bbloving /bher doesn’t give you the right to destroy her.”

Zara went pale and turned her eyes to me, seeking something–guilt, sorrow, even recognition.

I gave her bnothing/b.

Not a nce.

bNot /ba flicker of emotion.

Instead, I turned my eyes to bMia/b–the only one bwho /bhad ever protected me. And I blooked /bbat /bher like she was my mother.

Because, in every way bthat /bmattered, she was

And Zara? She bmeant /bnothing to me anymore.

I watched as realization began to dawn in her. The regret. The fear,

bThat /bwas when she truly started to panic..

“Riley… no matter what, I’m still your mother,” she whispered, reaching for my hand.

I pped hers away. “Legally, I have nothing to do with the Vale family.”

The bwords /bnded like a thunderp. Zara froze, eyes wide with disbelief.

Kael’s face contorted with anger. “Riley, must you say such cruelb, /bpointless things?”

I turned to bhim/b, bcalm /bas ever. “Pointless? I don’t think you understand. The Pack registry–the official family ledger–has never listed my name. Isn’t that right, Zara?”

His gaze snapped to her. “Mother? That’s not true.. right? She came back eight years ago. Her name should’ve been added. long ago.

Zara’s lips trembled. Her hands fluttered uselessly at her sides,

She couldn’t deny it.

She bwouldn’t /bdare lie.

Karl’s

s jaw clenched as the truth hit him like a hammer. “You never added her to the Pack–record? She’s not even registered

bas /bone of us?”

Zara crumbledb, /bsobbing binto /bher hands. “I’m bsorry/b, Riley… I’m so sorry”

I stared at her, unmoved.

bSorry /bdidn’t mean anything when bthe /bbetrayal was carved into your bones.

bAnd /bI’d spent my whole life learning to bleed quietly.