Vanessa.

I had barely left the study when I realized something was wrong.

Davian, Damien, and Adrien had not been in the mood for games or banter, their expressions hard, their voices low and clipped. I knew that look. It meant pack matters, serious ones. Issues that demanded their full attention. I was not foolish enough to interrupt them when they were like that, not when the air itself seemed heavy with tension and unspoken decisions.

So I left.

Quietly.

But as I stepped into the hallway, a different urgency settled in my chest. I needed to find Aidan. I needed to see him. I told myself it was nothing more than reassurance, that familiar need to be close to the man who was supposed to be mine. I hoped—truly hoped—that he would be less busy, that he would have time for me.

I followed the corridor, my steps quick but light, until it hit me.

His scent.

Strong. Familiar. Unmistakable.

Relief flickered briefly, until something else threaded through it.

Another scent.

My steps slowed.

My heart began to pound, each beat louder than the last, fear creeping in like a whisper I didn’t want to hear. I told myself I was imagining things. That I was tired. That my mind was playing cruel tricks on me.

But the closer I got, the clearer everything became.

The shapes.

The closeness.

The intimacy that should never have existed.

My breath caught painfully in my throat.

"Maria!!!"

The scream tore out of me before I could stop it, sharp and raw, echoing down the hallway. I didn’t stop to think. I didn’t ask questions. I didn’t wait for explanations.

I surged forward.

My hand connected with her face with a loud crack, the sound ringing through the corridor. The impact sent a jolt up my arm, but the pain in my chest was far worse, burning, tearing, unbearable.

How dare she?

How dare she seduce my fiancé?

And Aidan, how could he stand there? How could he let this happen? How could he not push her away?

My heart felt like it was being ripped apart again and again, each tear sharper than the last. I turned my eyes to him, desperate, pleading without words for him to say something, anything.

Did she seduce him?

Or did he seduce her?

The question clawed at my mind, frantic and ugly. I clung to one hope, fragile and trembling: that it was her doing. That she was the one who crossed the line.

But he said nothing.

He didn’t move.

The silence was deafening.

Rage surged through me, hot and blinding, and before I could stop myself, I stepped forward again and slapped Maria a second time. Harder. Fueled by heartbreak and humiliation.

"Whore!" I screamed, my voice cracking as it tore through the air. "How dare you seduce my fiancé?"

My words echoed, drawing attention. Doors creaked open. Footsteps slowed. Eyes turned toward us. I didn’t care. The world could watch, I wanted them to see. I wanted them to know what she was.

People began to gather, murmurs spreading like wildfire, but I was beyond shame, beyond restraint. My vision blurred with tears, my hands trembling, yet still I struck her again, the sound sharp and unforgiving.

Each slap felt like a release of the pain choking me, yet none of it eased the ache in my chest.

I felt exposed, betrayed, reduced to something small and foolish for ever believing I was secure.

How could this happen?

How could she stand there, in his arms, in my place?

I waited—desperately.

I waited for Aidan to say something, anything. To step forward and pull me back before I lost myself completely. To put himself between us, to defend me the way he always had. Or at the very least, to deny it, to shake his head, to laugh it off, to tell me this wasn’t what it looked like, that my heart had misunderstood what my eyes had seen.

But he didn’t.

The silence stretched on, cruel and unbroken, swelling until it pressed against my ears, my chest, my throat. Every second that passed without his voice felt like a verdict being delivered. And somewhere in that awful quiet, something inside me gave way.

In that silence, my heart broke completely.

The pain sharpened into something hot and blinding. I raised my hand again, anger vibrating through my fingers, my entire arm trembling with it. My vision tunneled until there was nothing left in the world but her face, calm, defiant, standing exactly where she shouldn’t have been. I wanted to strike her once more, to carve the ache in my chest onto her skin, to make her feel even a fraction of what I was feeling. I wanted to punish her for daring to exist in this moment, for daring to take up space that felt like it had once belonged to me.

But my hand never landed.

Aidan’s grip closed around my wrist suddenly, firm, unyielding, inescapable.

For a split second, my heart dropped straight into my stomach.

I thought he was stopping me for her sake.

I thought he was choosing her.

That thought alone nearly shattered what little of me was still holding together. Fear bloomed violently in my chest, cold and suffocating, stealing the air from my lungs. I could already feel the humiliation, the final confirmation of everything I’d been too afraid to admit.

But before I could fully process it, before the pain could finish breaking me,something shifted.

Aidan released my wrist and moved in front of me in one swift motion. His palm connected with Maria’s cheek with a sharp, echoing crack that rang through the hallway. The sound was louder than mine had been, final, condemning.

I froze.

Then my heart melted.

Relief rushed through me so fast it almost made me dizzy. My chest loosened, the tight knot of fear dissolving into something warm and triumphant. He wasn’t defending her.

He was defending me.

She stumbled slightly from the impact, and Aidan’s voice followed immediately, loud and cutting, meant for everyone to hear.

"You are so shameless, Rogue 456!"

The words settled heavily in the air, branding her, stripping her of whatever dignity she thought she had. I felt a dark satisfaction curl in my chest. This was how it was supposed to be. This was where she belonged, beneath us, exposed for what she was.

Aidan turned back to me then, his expression softening instantly, the anger vanishing as if it had never existed. He reached for my hand, threading his fingers through mine as though grounding himself.

He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead.

"I’m so sorry, Vanessa," he said, his voice low, apologetic, meant only for me. "She made me think she was you. I have no idea what kind of spell she used."

The words hit me like sparks to dry leaves.

Spell?

My satisfaction twisted into fury.

What the hell did Maria do to him?

My gaze snapped back to her, my blood boiling again. How dare she? How dare she even try to confuse him, to use tricks, to use her body or whatever dark nonsense she had learned to crawl into his arms?

Aidan would never lie to me.

Never.

If he said she deceived him, then that was the truth.

My jaw tightened as I stepped closer to her, my heart pounding not with fear now, but with righteous anger. She looked dazed, her cheek already red, but I didn’t care. Pain was too kind for what she deserved.

I raised my hand one last time and slapped her again, the sound sharp and final.

The motion felt cleansing.

"Learn your place," I spat, my voice shaking with emotion I no longer tried to control.

The murmurs around us grew louder, whispers spreading among the gathered onlookers, but I refused to look at them. My focus was on her, on making sure she understood this humiliation, that it burned into her memory.

Then I turned away.

I didn’t spare her another glance as Aidan guided me forward, his arm coming around me protectively. His hand moved to my back, patting gently, soothingly, as if reassuring me that everything was fine now.

That I was safe.

That she was nothing.

I leaned into him slightly as we walked away from the scene, my emotions still swirling, hurt, relief, anger, satisfaction, all tangled together. But above all of it was certainty.

He chose me.

Whatever illusion she thought she created, whatever false confidence she carried, it was gone now. Stripped away in front of everyone.

And as Aidan led me down the hallway, his presence solid and warm at my side, I allowed myself to believe what I needed to believe...that she was nothing more than a reckless rogue who overstepped.

And that I had nothing to fear from her ever again.