Chapter b138 /b

Aria’s POV

I couldn’t stop myself from holding my breath, terror crawling up my chest.

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Because I had no doubt–every word Grayson spoke, he meant it. He would kill my mother without a blink of an eye.

And my mom’s face went pale with shock. Her breaths were shallow, as though even touching those sharp wolf ws would shatter her.

“Kill… kill me, and no one will be able to save Aria…” she breathed.

“I’ll find a way,” Grayson hissed. “Careful. You don’t have as much leverage as you think.”

For a long, awful moment, silence pressed down on the hall. It stretched endlessly, but I knew his patience wouldn’tst. Just as his hand tightened toward her throat, my mom suddenly screamed:

“ARIA! Aren’t you going to do something about this?”

I froze. My legs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds, but somehow I forced myself a step forward. Yet before I could open my mouth, Grayson’s icy voice cut through me:

“Stay out of this, Aria.”

“Stay out of this?!” my mom shrieked, breath hitching fast and shallow. “He’s asking you to stand aside while he brutally butchers your own mother! Don’t listen to him, Aria!”

Air snagged in my lungs as I said to my mother, “You just need to answer his question, Mom… then you’ll be fine—”

“How much more power are you willing to hand this man? He has no respect for your family. Look at him- making your mother kneel on the floor in front of him! How can you possibly think he has any feelings for you? He doesn’t give a damn-”

“SHUT UP!” Grayson roared, yanking her higher. “You have no right. No right to question what we are to each other!”

Her face turned ashen gray. Her body trembled violently, her eyes rolling back–if I didn’t step in, she was going to die!

“Grayson–NO!”

My body moved before my brain did. In the next breath I was right in front of him, grabbing his hand.

He turned his re on me, voice like shards of ice. “Let go.”

For a second, I almost did. I almost let the woman I never truly cared for die. But after a pause, I whispered, She’s my mother.”

b11:53 /bMon, Sep 29

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“A woman who never raised you, who uses your life as a bargaining chip. She doesn’t deserve that title.” His tone was t, merciless. “Plus we’ve agreed already. That we’re each other’s family. She doesn’t matter.”

My mom spat at him. “Family? What family? You won’t even marry her. You won’t take care of her for life. And you call yourself her fucking family? Stop kidding me!”

“I would take care of her forever. But it’s a totally different thing from marriage.” His voice snapped sharply.

“What’s the difference? If a man loves his woman, hemits. He lets the world know she’s his in a bond thew recognizes. Only then could I trust my daughter in your hands. But right now you give nothing but your pretty words! How can I ever believe you?!”

My chest tightened, breath choking me.

Once that had been my deepest wound–the way Grayson refused to define us. He’d called me his mistress and it had burned me alive. But when he said he loved me, when he announced to the world I was his girlfriend, I’d forced myself to stop caring.

But my mom’s words forced me to realize something: That I had never truly let it go.

The truth was, I wanted this rtionship to go somewhere someday. No matter how long it took.

But for Grayson, this was as far as it would ever go.

I didn’t know how to react at this moment. Didn’t know how to put words to the storm in me. All I could do was cling tighter to his sleeve and repeat to him in a hushed voice:

“…Don’t do this.”

His cold eyes darkened with fury. Like I had turned an iceberg into burningva. “You’re choosing her? A woman you barely even know? That’s the side you are going to take?”

“We’re blood…” My voice cracked.

“Bullshit. A week ago you didn’t even know your blood was alive.”

The jab hit me like a knife.

He knew my mother’s abandonment was the deepest cut in me, and he still used it to mock me. Was he

serious?!

“Then what about you? How broken must things be between you and your blood for you not to understand why a daughter must save her own mother?!” I blurted.

The hall fell into a ringing silence.

Like everyone forgot how to breathe, wishing they could vanish into thin air.

And I froze too. I reyed everything I just said in horror and–Fuck. That’s bad.

“No Grayson, that’s not what I meant-”

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“Very well then.” His voice was abrupt.

He let go of her. My mom crumpled to the ground like a ragdoll, clutching her bleeding throat, coughing and gasping.

His face remained stone, but the look in his eyes stabbed me harder than any de.

“Remember. This was your choice.”

Then he turned and walked upstairs.

I stood rooted, watching his back disappear to the second floor. No one else in the living room made a sound. But I could just feel the soldiers‘ stares burn into me–judging, furious.

To them, I must look like a very ungrateful bitch who had just betrayed the Alpha they worshiped.

“Aria, you should probably go after him,” Nova whispered behind me.

“And leave your mother here to die?” my mom shrieked, grabbing my clothes. “Look at me. I’m about to bleed out. And your man did this to me!”

“You look perfectly fine, Mrs. Collins. If you really are dying, I’ll make sure you see a doctor before it happens,” Nova said politely, with just a trace of bite.

“What’s that supposed to mean?! This is family business so stay out of this you little whore-”

I didn’t let her finish. And I did what felt right. I yanked free of my mother’s grasp and bolted up the stairs.

I caught him just outside his study door. “G–Grayson… wait!”

He could’ve mmed the door in my face. But luckily he stopped, turning to look at me. The look on his face was terrifying.

I stopped in front of him, breathless, scrambling for words. Should I apologize first? Or should I begin with the insecurity I felt?

But he spoke first. “Did you n this with her?”

I didn’t get it at first. I just blinked, lost. “n…n what?”

“The marriage thing. Using your illness as leverage to force me into it. Did you n this with your mother?” fn22f3 For original chapters go to ?ovelFind/fn22f3

It felt like every drop of blood in my veins had frozen into ice.

I couldn’t move, couldn’t even think. I could only stare at him in pure shock and horror. Only after tongue came back to life did I choke out:

my

numb

“What the… Are you serious? You think…..I worked with my mom? You actually think that?!”

His gaze was merciless, bearing down on me. “I can’t think of any other exnation. You are very eager to marry me, neverthelessb./bb” /b

b11:53 /bMon, Sep 29

“But I still have a shred of fucking self–respect!” I screamed.

My fury burst out like a volcano. And I kept yelling:

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“Yes! I want to marry you. A worthlessmoner wanting a man like you–you must think it’s pretty fucking pathetic, huh? So pathetic I’d scheme with a mother I just met to trap you…But no, Grayson, my love hasn’t sunk that low. If marrying me feels impossible for you, then just stop trying to save me! Let me die with some damn dignity!”

“Shut up!” He roared and seized my arm, grip bruising. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Don’t you ever say that again!”

“And what are you going to do instead? Keep torturing my mother until she breaks? Use cruelty until she caves?” I bit out.

“It’s the simplest way. You don’t even like her much, Aria. I can tell you regret letting her back into your life. So why can’t you let me take care of two problems at once-”

“Because I want a mother!” I shouted through tears, choking. “Maybe the 25–year–old Aria doesn’t need a mother, but the 5–year–old Aria sure as hell does! I owe it to that little girl! I can’t watch her die, especially not in your hands…. Because if that happens, I’ll never forgive you again!”

With that, I ripped my arm out of his grip and stormed off.

And this time, he didn’t stop me.

I don’t know how long I cried that night before sleep finally dragged me under.

I definitely wasn’t surprised when I woke up with swollen eyes the next morning.

And when I saw I had an appointment with Malik today, I considered skipping. But on a second thought, feigning my condition to my own doctor would be stupid, so I forced myself to go.

The second I stepped inside, Malik gasped. “God, you look awful!”

Blunt honesty. That’s the one thing I used to like about him. But today, I wanted to punch him.

“Yeah, thanks for pointing it out,” I muttered, slumping beside him.

He started running every test with a grave expression. And when finished, he scolded me like I hadmitted a serious crime:

“Your condition is deteriorating. Do you know how long a werewolf can survive without any connection to her wolf?”

A shiver ran through me. “I don’t know. How long?”

“You have less than a month,” he said tly. “After that, you’ll either drop dead at any second or turn into a wolfless freak. Depends on which fate the Moon Goddess prefers for you.”

fless freak. Depe

b11:53 /bMonb, /bSep 29

Cold dread swallowed me. If it were the second… I’d rather die.

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“What happened? I heard you found your mother. I thought you’de back with answers. Why is it worse?” he asked.

“She won’t tell us how she bound my wolf,” I whispered.

His anger spiked. “Then why not force it out of her? Isn’t Alpha Grayson supposed to be very resourceful—”

“She’s my mom, Malik.” I cut him off, exhausted.

He shut his mouth, looking awkward, like he’d only just realized our rtionship. After a pause, he muttered, “Sorry.”

I shook my head in silencei. /i

And suddenly I realized something:

Between my mother’s cunning and Grayson’s coldness, it seemed to be his coldness I hated more.

Because to him, trading marriage for my life was very not worth it.

Even though once upon a time, he’d given marriage away to I so damn easily.

bAD /b

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