"From nothing to the top of the world. All because of luck. If you're patient enough, maybe fate will drown you in it someday."
"Except Mr. Ryley. I don't think he's standing there because of luck alone."
"The only reason he stands there is because the words Pureblood Alphas and loyalty can never coexist."
"I still can't believe Ryley is the mistress."
"Look at that ring. Does he look like a mistress to you?"
Ryley heard them. Of course he did.
But those whispers no longer reached him the way they once had. He was long past the need to explain himself—to justify, to defend, to beg for understanding.
He owed the world no explanation.
After all, the world had never explained itself to him either— when it came crashing into his life like a storm, never once like a gentle wave.
He believed there was only one thing he truly owed in this life—
a world where the future belonged to his children and family.
