"I apologize for the inconvenience, ma'am, but this marriage certificate is fake," the registrar said, pushing the document across the desk.
Angela stared at the paper, unable to speak. Her mind refused to process the words she had just heard.
Fake?
Did the woman mean that her marriage was never real?
No. That could not be possible.
Three years ago, she had married Maurice, the Alpha of the East Pack and the man she had loved with all her heart. It had not been a forced marriage. They had chosen each other. They had exchanged vows and built a life together.
So how could their marriage certificate be fake?
"Are you sure?" Angela finally asked, her voice shaking. "Please look again. There must be a mistake."
She pushed the paper back toward the registrar.
The woman let out a tired sigh. This was already the fourth time she had checked the records for Angela.
"Please," Angela begged, folding her hands in front of her chest. "I am begging you. Check one more time."
She could not accept this. There had to be an error somewhere. Maybe someone had filed the records wrongly.
The registrar looked at her for a moment, pity flashing across her face.
"Ma'am, I don't think you understand what happened," she said gently. "The man you're talking about got legally married on the same day he claimed to marry you."
Angela frowned.
The registrar lowered her eyes before continuing.
"He married another woman. Miss Melissa."
The words struck Angela like a hard slap across the face.
She stumbled backward, almost losing her balance.
The registrar turned the record book around and showed her the official entry. The evidence was right there in black and white.
There was no mistake.
Maurice had married Melissa.
Not her.
Angela could not remember how she left the office. Her legs moved on their own as she wandered out into the busy streets of England.
Her best friend.
He had married her best friend.
The thought tore through her chest.
For three years, she had shared a home with him. She had loved him, cared for him, stood by his side, and done everything a wife was supposed to do.
Yet she had never been his wife.
Not even for a single day.
The marriage she had treasured for three years had been nothing but a cruel lie.
A painful joke played by the two people she trusted most.
Tears filled her eyes as she walked aimlessly down the street.
How had they done this to her?
How had they hidden something so huge right under her nose?
And worst of all, how had she been foolish enough to never see it?
Four years ago, she met Maurice when he attended a grand ball at her father's court. The moment their eyes met, she believed fate had brought them together. It was sudden, reckless, and powerful. Before she knew it, she was deeply in love with him.
Back then, she thought Maurice was the love of her life.
For him, she had given up everything.
As a princess, she had been promised to a prince from one of the most powerful kingdoms. The alliance would have strengthened her father's kingdom and secured peace between both lands. Yet Angela chose Maurice instead. She broke the marriage alliance and ran away with the man she loved.
The price she paid was greater than she had imagined.
Her father cut all ties with her. He refused to see her, speak to her, or even mention her name. The rest of her family followed his order. Overnight, she lost everyone she had ever known.
Leaving them behind had broken her heart, but she had convinced herself it was worth it.
Love was supposed to be worth every sacrifice.
Now she knew how wrong she had been.
Angela wiped the tears running down her cheeks and raised a trembling hand to stop a taxi.
"2 Brooklyn Street," she said as she climbed inside.
The driver nodded and pulled away.
Less than fifteen minutes later, the taxi stopped in front of the house she had called home for the past three years.
Angela stared at it through the window.
Was it really her home?
A bitter smile touched her lips.
No.
It belonged to Maurice and Melissa.
The two people she trusted most had spent years pretending to be nothing more than friends while hiding the truth from her.
Angela bit down hard on her lower lip as anger and heartbreak fought inside her chest.
She stepped out of the taxi, paid the driver, and walked toward the front door.
Without bothering to knock, she pushed it open and entered.
One of the house helpers immediately approached her.
"Ma'am, your husband is waiting upstairs."
Angela almost laughed.
The sound nearly escaped her throat.
Husband?
She didn't have a husband.
What she had was a liar. A manipulator who had stolen years of her life.
"Where is Melissa?" she asked.
"Miss Melissa is with sir on the terrace."
Angela's fingers curled into fists.
"When did she arrive?"
The helper looked confused by the question.
"As soon as you left, ma'am."
A painful chuckle escaped Angela's lips.
Of course.
Why was she even surprised anymore?
She shook her head and headed for the stairs.
Each step felt heavier than the last.
By the time she reached the terrace, her heart was pounding painfully inside her chest.
Then she saw them.
Melissa stood beside Maurice, looking as though she belonged there.
Like she had always belonged there.
The two of them looked like the perfect couple.
Melissa's tall, slender figure stood close to Maurice's powerful frame. Her long blonde hair danced gently in the wind while a bright smile lit up her beautiful face.
She was everything Angela could never be.
A wolf.
Maurice's kind.
The woman who made his heart race.
While Angela was only a human who had foolishly believed love was enough.
Melissa threw her head back and laughed at something Maurice had said.
The sound pierced Angela's chest.
She was certain the joke wasn't even funny.
But Melissa had always enjoyed showing off what belonged to her.
And now, standing beside Maurice without shame or guilt, she looked happier than ever.
"Where did you go? I have..."
Maurice never got the chance to finish his sentence.
Angela marched straight toward him and slapped him hard across the face.
The sharp sound echoed across the terrace.
Everyone froze.
Maurice held his cheek in shock, staring at her as if he could not believe what had just happened.
"Are you mad?" Melissa snapped as she rushed forward to defend him.
Angela turned and slapped her too.
Melissa stumbled backward, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"I am mad!" Angela shouted, her voice breaking with pain. "Yes, Melissa, I am completely mad. I became mad the day I left my family for this idiot. I became mad the day I trusted you and called you my friend."
Her hands trembled as she pulled the certificate from her bag.
She threw it against Maurice's chest.
The paper fell to the floor between them.
"This whole life was a lie, Maurice!" she cried. "Why would you do this to me? I loved you with everything I had. I gave up my family for you. I gave up my title, my home, and everyone who cared about me. I lost everything because I believed in you."
Tears streamed freely down her face.
"And this is how you repay me? By turning me into a joke? By letting me live like a fool while the two of you laughed behind my back?"
"Maurice, tell me why!"
Maurice looked at her broken face and felt guilt clawing at his chest.
"I... I can explain," he said weakly.
"Oh, please," Melissa interrupted with a smirk.
She crossed her arms and looked at Angela without the slightest bit of shame.
"Tell her the truth."
Angela slowly turned toward her.
Melissa's smile widened.
"You're barren. That's the truth. The East Pack needed a Luna who could give them an heir, and you couldn't do it."
The words struck Angela like a knife.
The painful part was that she had heard them before.
Barren.
A word that had followed her for years.
But now she finally understood something.
They had never truly tried.
Maurice had given up before they had even started.
In four years together, they had only shared a bed once.
Only once.
She had spent years blaming herself, wondering what was wrong with her, wondering why her husband never touched her, never looked at her the way other husbands looked at their wives.
Now she knew why.
While she had been starving for his love, he had been giving it to Melissa.
"It is true," Maurice admitted quietly. "But I still love you, Angela. Melissa wanted marriage before having my child. She refused to carry my heir otherwise."
He took a step toward her.
Angela immediately moved back.
Disgust twisted inside her stomach.
"Are you serious right now?" she asked, staring at him in disbelief. "Did you ever hear of surrogacy? Did you ever think of discussing anything with me before destroying my life?"
She continued backing away until she reached the edge of the terrace.
As she glanced down, she noticed servants carrying her luggage outside.
One by one, her boxes were being loaded into a car.
A bitter laugh escaped her lips.
They had already decided her place in this house.
She was being thrown away.
"You love me too, Maurice," Melissa said, her face darkening. She clearly did not like how he was making himself sound innocent. "Stop acting as if I forced you into anything."
She stepped closer to him possessively.
"It was because you love me that I'm carrying your child."
Angela's breath caught.
The world around her seemed to stop.
Slowly, she turned to Maurice.
Her eyes searched his face desperately.
She wanted him to deny it.
She wanted him to tell her Melissa was lying.
She wanted him to say anything.
But Maurice remained silent.
And in that silence, Angela got her answer.
The child growing inside Melissa belonged to him.
While Angela had spent years praying for a family with the man she loved, her best friend was already carrying his baby.
The last piece of her heart shattered.
"I love both of you," Maurice began, swallowing hard.
Angela knew he was lying even before he finished speaking. He did not want her to leave because once she walked away, she would take everything with her. The assets, the money, the life she had built for him. His family had once cast him aside with nothing, and it was Angela who saved him. Before leaving her home, she had demanded her inheritance from her parents and handed it over to him. It was her money that built everything they had.
Now he was asking her to stay.
"Maybe you should stay back and be my mistress, Angela," he added quietly.
Angela felt something break inside her.
"She is not even a wolf. Why are you begging her?" Melissa said with a roll of her eyes. Her voice carried jealousy and hate as she looked at Angela. She had waited years for this moment, the moment Angela would finally be pushed out of their lives. If Angela left now, there was always a fear she might return one day and reopen old wounds.
"I am leaving," Angela said, her voice shaking but firm. "There is no point in divorce because we were never married in the first place."
She turned to walk away, but something strange happened.
A sudden force hit her back.
It was so strong, so unnatural, that she instantly knew it was not human.
It came from Melissa.
Her primal strength.
Angela's breath caught in her throat as she realized what was happening, but it was already too late. The force threw her forward and she fell from the terrace, dropping more than six feet to the ground below.
The impact was violent. Pain exploded through her body as she hit the floor. For a moment, she thought her bones had turned to dust. She could not move, could not scream properly, could barely breathe as blood filled her mouth and poured from her head.
Everything blurred.
Yet even in that pain, her eyes lifted one last time.
Above her stood Maurice and Melissa, together, like a perfect couple. They were watching her. Not moving. Not running. Not trying to help.
Just watching her die.
Three years of her life suddenly felt like nothing. A waste. A cruel lie that had ended in blood and betrayal.
If only she had another chance, she would change everything. She would never leave her family. She would never trust them. She would never give her heart so easily.
Her thoughts slowed as darkness closed in.
She kept begging in her heart, over and over, until even her thoughts began to fade and the world around her turned completely black.