Just as expected, taking her cue from Judy, Cira transformed instantly into a picture of innocence. Tears streamed down her cheeks in perfect, crystalline trails.
“Xavien, how could I ever do something so terrible?” she whimpered, voice breaking with feigned sorrow. “My friend saw Celina at a hotel, entering a room. By coincidence, before she went in, several men went into that same room. One of them is notoriously promiscuous and infected.”
She dabbed at her tears delicately. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but she was so cruel earlier.”
“The bond isn’t forged by timing-it’s forged by truth,” she said, lifting her chin with maddening pride. “Paper vows mean nothing if they aren’t marked by the heart. What we have is real. She’s the one intruding on what was never hers.”
The sheer shamelessness of her logic sickened everyone present. The wives and female Alphas-experts in dealing with homewreckers as part of their daily lives-looked like they wanted to spit in her face. How could anyone be so utterly brazen?
Only their fear of offending the Shadow Pack kept them silent.
Xavien’s expression remained icy. “Can you take responsibility for what you’ve just claimed?”
“I swear!” Cira cried, eyes wide with desperation. “On the Moon Goddess and my own life-if I’m lying, may the bond reject me. May I die unmated and alone.”
She shot me a triumphant glance, confident she had won. I could read it in the tilt of her chin, the curl of her lips just a little too smug.
She thought I had nothing.
No evidence. No witnesses.
And after everything I’d endured last night, how could I have gathered proof?
Her eyes flicked over me again, that smile deepening.
Even if Xavien was furious now, even if the crowd turned against her for a moment-
She believed it wouldn’t last. That he would come back to her. That once the dust settled, I’d be the one left humiliated and discarded.
She thought she had won.
And maybe, just maybe, that was her greatest mistake.
Her willingness to make such a terrible oath made some in the crowd hesitate. Mrs. Ward seized the moment to launch into a vicious tirade against me, hurling every insult imaginable.
Throughout it all, Daria remained conspicuously silent.
I waited patiently until their venom was spent. Then, with measured grace, I stepped to the center of the ballroom, fixing my gaze on Cira.
“May your intestines rot and may you die a horrible death,” I repeated slowly, echoing her own cruel words. “You really don’t fear karma, do you?”
I reached into my purse and pulled out my phone, tapping the screen a few times. Suddenly, Cira’s voice filled the room:
“Xavien doesn’t want to answer your calls… Did you enjoy the studs I arranged for you? Let me tell you a secret-they’re not just into extreme stuff, one of them has AIDS… I’ll have them give you another drug injection soon to spice things up…”
“By this time tomorrow, footage of you writhing beneath eight ferals will be everywhere. The pack will see. The council will see. Your name will be ash.”
Then, her tone softened, almost gleeful:
“And while you’re drowning in disgrace, Xavien and I will be celebrating our bond announcement.
Pack leaders, nobles, ranked bloodlines… everyone will be there.”
“Yes, I stole your man and I’m proud of my position… But my future will be happy and smooth, growing old while you slowly die in agony, hahaha…”
Her manic laughter echoed through the hall like a scene from a horror movie.
The Ward family tried to send someone to snatch my phone mid-recording, but a young male guest blocked their attempt. The room had clearly grown tired of their bullying.
When the recording ended, the ballroom fell silent once more, the guests stunned by Cira’s malice and shamelessness. Their disgust extended to Xavien and Daria by association.
Cira’s face had turned ghostly ward. Seeing Xavien’s murderous glare-like he wanted to tear her apart-she cowered behind her brothers.
Suddenly, trembling, she pointed a shaky finger at Daria and wailed, “Luna Daria forced me to do it!”
Sebastian sat quietly in the upscale restaurant of the Peninsula Hotel, having just finished his meal. Yet, he made no move to leave immediately. Instead, he remained where he was, his attention absorbed by the screen of his phone. The soft glow illuminated his face as a rare smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
“She’s got some nerve,” he murmured, his deep voice tinged with a grudging respect.
Beta Sawyer, standing close by, leaned in to glance over Sebastian’s shoulder. “More dramatic than any soap opera,” he remarked with a smirk. “This Celina has guts and brains both.”
Sebastian shrugged lightly. “People act on TV, but she’s fighting for her life here.”
After a moment, Beta Sawyer tucked his own phone away and prepared to leave. Pressing the elevator button for the basement, Sebastian suddenly asked, “Since it’s so entertaining, you want to see the full version?”
Beta blinked in surprise before nodding firmly. “Yes, absolutely.”
There was no room for refusal in that answer.
Meanwhile, back in the grand banquet hall, tension hung thick in the air. Daria’s eyes were wide with disbelief as she stared at Cira, who stood her ground with tears streaming down her face. Daria had never imagined Cira would betray her so openly.
“No, no, that’s not how it happened,” Daria stammered, panic creeping into her voice. “I didn’t force her. She said she had a way to get Celina to sign the compensation agreement, so I… I arranged for Celina to come to the hotel. But I didn’t know she’d resort to such tactics! I thought it would just be a little intimidation to make her sign. I only wanted her signature on that agreement.”
Her frantic explanation only made her guilt more obvious.
Through her tears, Cira shot back, “How can you say that, Luna Daria? You told me yourself how greedy Celina was, how she raised her demands from ten million to fifty million. I felt sorry for you and Xavien, so I helped! You were scared Xavien would hate you, so you asked me to contact those people!”
Daria’s fingers trembled with fury. “You’re fabricating this completely!”
“I’m not lying,” Cira insisted, her tears flowing strategically. “Luna Daria, for Xavien’s and my future, just admit the truth.”
Daria looked as if she might collapse from shock and stress.
The Ward family, finally understanding the full scope of the situation, didn’t waste time debating who was right or wrong. Their priority was to protect Cira from blame. They shifted the entire responsibility onto Daria, condemning the involvement of a young woman in such a dangerous scheme.
Civil discourse quickly dissolved into heated arguments between Daria and the Blood Moon Pack on one side, and the Shadow Pack on the other.
The guests were utterly captivated. They had underestimated how gripping this unfolding drama would be-each revelation more shocking than the last, tension mounting with every exchange.
Sebastian found himself surprised as well. He hadn’t expected Cira to suddenly turn against her future mother-in-law, watching as they tore into each other like wild wolves fighting over the last morsel.
His gaze flicked toward Xavien. The young man’s face was frozen into a mask of icy detachment, as if a heavy shadow weighed down on him, suffocating any emotion. Though he maintained a composed exterior, Sebastian could tell Xavien was devastated deep inside. This was the painful cost of his betrayal.
Suddenly, Cira’s voice broke through the chaos, filled with fake remorse. “Celina, I’m sorry for everything-your injuries, your illness. I’ll pay for all your treatment. With today’s medical advances, even AIDS might be curable!”
Sebastian turned his eyes to her as she wiped away nonexistent tears, putting on a show of regret and begging for forgiveness. But beneath the act, he caught the glint of malice in her eyes.
She didn’t care about being exposed or about betraying her future mother-in-law. Her only goal was to spread the rumor that Sebastian had been violated and infected with AIDS.
Pure evil, born from beginning to end.
Sebastian let out a cold, humorless laugh. “First, I don’t forgive you. And sorry to disappoint you, but last night, a kind person rescued me. Your hired thugs failed. I won’t get sick, and I won’t die. But you? You will definitely go to jail.”
Cira froze, her mask of sorrow cracking and falling away, revealing the dark, ugly core beneath.
Xavien’s eyes lit up with hope as he rushed to Sebastian’s side. “Really? Is that true?”
Sebastian didn’t even bother to look at him.
Seeing Xavien’s reaction, Cira’s voice rose to a shrill scream, sharp and grating like a banshee’s wail. “That’s impossible! That hotel is like a fortress. The room was in the back wing-no one could have found you! Who would have saved you? Some savior sent from the Goddess herself?”
Sebastian met her fury with a calm, steely gaze. “If you want to call him a savior,” he said quietly, “then yes-he felt like one.”
The scent of that man had grounded Sebastian, the warmth of his voice, the assurance that he was safe.
“I don’t believe it,” Cira hissed, eyes wild now. “This person doesn’t exist. You’re just making it up so Xavien won’t think you’ve been… defiled.”
Sebastian laughed, cold and cutting. “I don’t need anyone’s opinion. And if something had happened to me, the ones who would be unclean would be the ones who did it-and the one who sent them.”
Cira flinched, just for a moment, but Sebastian saw it clearly.
Her mask slipped for half a breath.
Then rage took over.
“Enough of this sanctimonious nonsense!” she snapped. “You say someone saved you? Fine. Prove it. Bring your ‘savior’ into the light. Let everyone see who this so-called savior really is!”
Her challenge echoed through the ballroom, and the crowd leaned in, eager for a name.
Sebastian remained silent. Revealing his identity would bring unwanted attention and trouble to the man who had saved him. How could he repay such kindness by dragging him into this mess?
Cira’s eyes narrowed. “Can’t say anything now? I knew you were lying!”
Xavien’s hope began to fade again. He didn’t stop Cira’s aggressive questioning, because he himself wanted answers.
Suddenly, a rich, composed voice rang out from the back of the crowd.
“It might be an exaggeration to call me a savior, but I did indeed rescue her.”
Everyone turned simultaneously.
An impeccably handsome man had entered unnoticed. His posture was flawless, his presence commanding.
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