She shouted loudly: “Why should our family pay? We don’t have money! Now that you’re with him, Aria won’t give Marcus any more money!”
The crowd immediately erupted in shocked murmurs. People were pulling out their phones, recording everything. This was going to be all over social media within minutes.
“Did she just admit they’ve been living off Aria’s money this whole time?”
“The audacity! After everything they did!”
“No wonder Marcus thought he could treat her like garbage–his whole family are parasites!”
At this point, Marcus’s mother suddenly went pale as she realized what she’d just revealed in front of everyone.
Her face drained of all color as the full weight of her words hit her. She had just publicly admitted that their entire family had been financially dependent on me–the woman her son had betrayed and humiliated.
She seemed to finally realize what they had done. The magnitude of their betrayal, their greed, their complete lack of shame.
But it was too late. The damage was done.
She looked at me with a suddenly pleasing expression, her voice turning sickly sweet: “Aria, auntie apologizes for today’s incident. I didn’t mean what I just said–I was just upset, you understand?”
She tried to reach for my hand, but I stepped back in disgust.
“I’ll make Marcus give you a proper apology later. A real one, from the heart! For the sake of our past relationship, let’s just forget about this whole thing!”
Her voice was getting more desperate with each word: “Can you please just let this go for auntie’s sake? Think of all the good times we had together! All those family dinners, all those holidays!”
I remembered those dinners now with perfect clarity. How she’d always made me pay for the groceries, cook the meals, and clean up afterward. How she’d constantly hinted that I should contribute more money for “family expenses.”
How stupid I had been to think their affection was real.
I couldn’t help but laugh. The sound was cold and bitter. “Auntie, how much is your face worth exactly? Can it pay for the millions in damages your family owes me?”
Her mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air.
“Today I’m formally announcing something,” I continued, my voice carrying clearly across the entire chaotic scene. “As the heir to Ghostpaw Pack in the Eastern Territory, I’m officially expelling Marcus and banishing him from the pack permanently.”
The crowd gasped. This was serious–pack expulsion was one of the harshest punishments possible for a werewolf.
“Furthermore,” I added, “I’m using my family’s influence to ensure he’s blacklisted from every respectable pack in the region. He can try his luck as a rogue.”
Marcus’s mother’s face went rigid with shock and terror.
She wanted to get angry, I could see the rage building behind her eyes, but she didn’t dare lose control in front of all these
witnesses.
She knew I was no longer the person I used to be. The weak, desperate girl who would do anything to keep her son happy was gone forever. She could never manipulate me again.
At that moment, I heard a voice grinding with pure rage: “Marcus! Marcus, didn’t you say Ghostpaw Pack was yours?”
1/3
I turned to see Serena in her completely disheveled state, still wearing my torn designer dress. She was glaring viciously at Marcus with blood–red eyes, looking like she was about to go completely mad.
Her carefully applied makeup was smeared down her face in black streaks. Her hair was a tangled mess. She looked like a woman who had lost everything.
“You said you could give me and the child a stable home!” she screamed, her voice cracking with hysteria. “You said you could make me someone important in the pack! You promised me status, wealth, respect!”
She was practically foaming at the mouth now: “It was all lies–you deceived me! You’re just as pathetic and powerless as you always were!”
“I was about to hook up with a Beta in the western territories!” she continued, her confession shocking everyone present. “He had real money, real power! But I came back for you because I thought you had something better to offer!”
Her voice rose to a shriek: “Now I have nothing! Nothing! You cost me everything!”
It looked like Serena was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown. Her hands were shaking, her breathing was erratic, and she kept pulling at her hair.
Marcus stared at her with growing disappointment and disgust, finally seeing her true nature: “Didn’t you always say you didn’t care about money and power? You kept telling me you just wanted to give the child a complete home.”
His voice was bitter: “You said you just loved me too much and missed me too much to stay away. Was that all lies too?”
“Of course it was lies, you idiot!” Serena spat back. “Did you really think I came back for your charming personality? I came back because I thought you had connections, money, status!”
The child started crying louder, overwhelmed by all the shouting and chaos around him.
“Look what you’ve done!” Serena screamed at Marcus. “Look what you’ve done to us! We’re homeless! We’re broke! We’re nothing!”
This whole farce was too much even for the enforcement squad to watch. The lead officer stepped forward with visible disgust
on his face.
“Enough!” he barked. “You’re all under arrest for destruction of property, trespassing, and public disturbance.”
He gestured to his team: “Take them all in. If they can’t pay full compensation for the damages, they’ll be doing prison time.”
As the officers moved in with handcuffs, Serena made one last desperate attempt: “Wait! I can pay! I have jewelry, I have-”
“You have nothing that belongs to you,” I interrupted coldly. “Everything you’re wearing is stolen from my house.”
Marcus and his crew were taken away in handcuffs, still arguing and blaming each other even as they were loaded into police
vehicles.
The crowd was cheering and taking photos of their humiliation.
Dominic helped me into his car with gentle hands, his touch soothing after all the chaos.
“Are you hurt anywhere?” he asked, carefully checking me over.
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “Just tired of dealing with trash.”
He headed straight to the hospital for a medical check, despite my protests that I was fine.
Actually, I only had superficial injuries. As a high–level healer, I could heal myself with minimal treatment, but Dominic insisted on having the doctors examine me thoroughly.
“I don’t care if you can heal yourself,” he said firmly while we waited. “I want medical professionals to document every injury
