chapter Three

**POV: Cassandra**

Sebastian left, leaving me alone. The pain radiated throughout my body. When the door opened again, a faint smile appeared on my lips when I saw who it was.

“Mom…” I whispered, breathless, my lips trembling and pale.

“Dear… I’m sorry…” She lowered her head, pulling me into a hug. I couldn’t help it; tears ran down my face. I tried to get up to hug her, but my body groaned in pain. I was still bleeding and hadn’t fully recovered.

“Mom… please, talk to Emily… she can’t do this to me,” I pleaded, desperate. My mother was the only person who could protect me and make her change her mind.

My mother smiled weakly, holding my face firmly. “Dear… this place was never yours. Emily is the destined mate. If you hadn’t coveted what was hers, your children would still be alive… accept your fate!” she said coldly.

“Mom…” I murmured, shocked, almost falling to the ground. “Why are you supporting this betrayal?”

“Cassandra, I raised you as my daughter, but the truth is that you are the result of one of your father’s betrayals. Even so, I swallowed my pride and raised you as my daughter, hiding this secret all these years. Why can’t you share your husband with your sister? Emily deserves to be happy, and Sebastian is an excellent mate for her!” Johanna tilted her head and furrowed her brow with a serious expression on her face. “You know how hard it was for me to look at you without thinking of your mother, that useless maid who seduced my husband and slept with him in my own bed! Emily is my true daughter, and I did all this to avoid a bigger scandal at the time. Since my family handed me over to your father, and shortly after, I became pregnant with Emily, my dear daughter, the one I always wanted. Now, accept your husband’s betrayal with your sister, silently! Just as I accepted your father’s betrayal with that bitch of your mother!” she said, showing not a shred of compassion.

“I can’t believe it… I... I trusted you… After my father died, you were all I had, my family!” I replied, stunned, with tears streaming down my face.

I tried to hold her arm, but she shoved me to the floor and squeezed my face tightly, leaving marks from her fingers on my skin.

“Dear, I only tolerated you because I realized that Sebastian was in love with you, and it would be a good opportunity to change our lives. Your sister was too young at the time, and I couldn’t support her after your father died. I thank you for investing in and paying for her medical school so she could fulfill her dream of studying medicine… But now I see that she will be much better taking your place as Luna!” My mother smiled cruelly.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, confused, my head spinning as I tried to process all this information.

“I mean that it’s time for Emily to take what is rightfully hers. You will step aside, Cassandra, whether you like it or not,” she replied bitterly. “It was difficult to fake those tests, but I really managed to make you believe I had a serious heart condition and could die at any moment. I did that just to stay by your side all these years, to put contraceptives in your food, trying to prevent you from getting pregnant. I don’t know how you managed to conceive twins, but I’m glad you lost those disgusting fetuses! Because I wanted you to feel the pain of never being a mother, but with the doctors’ prognosis, I finally got what I wanted,” she ground her teeth in anger.

“Don’t say that about your grandchildren!” I muttered, placing my hand on my belly, disgusted by what I had just heard.

“Those abominations are not my grandchildren. The children Emily will have with Sebastian will be my true grandchildren,” she replied, without a shred of compassion, smiling victoriously as if she had won.

My mind was spinning, the reality crumbling around me. All this time, she had pretended to be ill to convince Sebastian and me to cover Emily’s expenses in Texas. Each semester cost about $10,000 at the time. I firmly believed she was doing it out of love for our mother and that it would be good to have a doctor in the pack when she returned. But now, seeing the cruel expression on her face, I realized it was all a big lie.

She used me, betrayed me, and destroyed my life because of her bitterness and resentment. My body trembled with rage and despair as the truth unfolded before me, revealing the extent of the evil surrounding me.

“I can’t believe it… you… you’re a monster!” I whispered, my voice gasping.

“And you, Cassandra, are just a disposable tool. Accept your fate and learn to live with it, or would you prefer that I reveal your little secret to everyone? The one that only the two of us know?” she said with a sarcastic smile on her face, standing up and leaving the room, leaving me alone in the darkness.

This was her chance for revenge after all these years, blackmailing me with my secret that I had tried to bury since I arrived at this pack.

***

I was devastated, still in pain, but I used my strength to keep myself upright.

“Please, don’t push yourself, Luna. If you need anything, just ask me to bring it,” Amber, my maid, entered the room, noticing that I was leaning against the wall.

“Thank you, Amber, but I need to do this on my own!” I replied, swallowing hard.

I walked down the corridor for a few minutes until I opened the door to the room next door, where my closet was. To my surprise, someone was already there, wearing my clothes.

“You had to choose my wedding dress? The same dress I wore five years ago when I married Sebastian?” I murmured angrily as I saw Emily trying on the dress, which fit her perfectly. I no longer had those measurements.

“I’m sorry, Cassandra. I never meant to intrude on your marriage to Sebastian. This wasn’t what I wanted for myself,” Emily whined, her voice sounding cynical as she played the victim to garner sympathy. “As for this dress, well, I didn’t have anything white to wear today. Since we’re sisters, I thought you wouldn’t mind lending it to me. See, it fits me perfectly!” She smiled, twirling around and showing off her beautiful silhouette.

I looked at her, irritated, feeling the anger consume every inch of my body. “Right, you should have thought about that before getting involved with a married man, or rather, with your only sister’s husband!” I replied, my voice laden with anger and hatred. I was holding myself back from ripping that dress off her body and cutting it into pieces.

Emily wiped away a nonexistent tear, her expression quickly turning to something colder and more calculating. She slowly approached, a cynical smile curving her lips. “You’ve always been so dramatic, Cassandra. Maybe if you had paid more attention to Sebastian, he wouldn’t have sought comfort from me.”

“Comfort? Do you think this is comfort, Emily? You’ve destroyed our family!” I retorted, my voice trembling with rage and pain.

She shrugged, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl and biting into it slowly, as if she had no cares in the world. “Maybe the fault is yours, little sister. If you had been a better wife, Sebastian wouldn’t have looked at another woman. Especially not at your younger and more attractive sister.”

I felt my blood boil, and my hands shook with anger. “You’re a cunning snake, Emily. You’ve always been. Playing the victim doesn’t change the fact that you’ve betrayed your own sister.”

She laughed, a cold sound devoid of joy. “Oh, Cassandra, always so moralistic. The truth is, Sebastian wants me; he desires me every day. And now, you’re here, alone and abandoned, while he and I are together. Maybe it’s time for you to accept that you’ve lost.”

“Lost? I haven’t lost anything. You may have managed to manipulate the situation now, but don’t think it will last. Sebastian still has a shred of decency and will see who you really are,” I retorted, my voice firm despite the pain.

Emily leaned over the table, her face close to mine, and whispered, “Decency? Don’t be fooled, little sister. Sebastian is with me because he wants to be. He’s already made his choice, and you… well, you’re just an inconvenience in our lives that needs to be removed. So why don’t we resolve this once and for all?” She smiled cynically, her gaze malicious and full of ulterior motives.

Before I could react, Emily moved toward me and started slapping me. In the midst of the struggle, she accidentally tore her own dress. She looked down, furious at the tear, and then grabbed a knife from the table, advancing toward me with eyes full of murderous rage.

“Emily, stop! What are you doing?” I screamed, trying to back away.

“I’m going to end this once and for all, Cassandra!” she yelled, her voice filled with hatred. “You will no longer be a problem in our lives!” She lunged at me with the knife.

In a desperate move to protect myself, I dodged, and Emily, out of control, ended up stumbling. The knife she wielded plunged into her own body. The ensuing silence was deafening. I slowly opened my eyes and was stunned to see Emily lying on the floor, blood spreading across the kitchen, with the knife embedded in herself.

“Emily? What have you done?” I asked, shocked, realizing she had stabbed herself.

I approached, frightened, trying to staunch the bleeding. Emily opened her eyes, smiling disturbingly, and held my hands tightly along with the knife.

“He’ll never forgive you for this!” she smiled cynically. At that moment, Sebastian entered the kitchen upon hearing the commotion. “Help, Sebastian! Please help me! My sister is trying to kill me!” Emily screamed in a desperate voice before losing consciousness and collapsing