Chapter 118
B
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The question hangs in the air for a moment. From the moment it all began, I wanted to pretend those things didn’t happ to me. I pushed them all down and kept in the present to keep myself from going insane. To keep what little dignity I ha left.
“No,” I answer honestly.
“Why are you lying, Sophie?” he growls, slamming his hands on the table.
“Alpha Romano,” Judge Alexandria slams her gavel. He sits back in his chair with a low growl. “Did Alpha Romano have a history of hurting you, Miss Helvig?”
I don’t know how to answer that. To me, the abuse began after that first push when he gave me a mild concussion and refused to let me out of the apartment to get it checked. But the patterns are obvious now, and I don’t really know where all began.
“Not openly like that. No,” I shake my head.
“What do you mean by that?” she asks.
“Throughout our mating, Santiago was very possessive. He would manhandle me and force me to wear things he thought were appropriate. But what you saw in the video was maybe the fourth time he hurt me physically, and it began after he g married. The night he overheard me telling my grandmother that I wanted to leave the city for good.”
“I understand,” she nods and writes something down. “Can you tell me the first time he hurt you like this?”
“Yes, the night they got married. He walked into my apartment, still in the suit he had married her in, and overheard me t my grandmother that I wanted to leave. I hung up the call, and he immediately began to demand why I would try to leave him. I told him that I wasn’t going to sit around waiting for him every night while he paraded his chosen Luna around the city.
“He became frantic. He began telling me that I should consider myself lucky that he would even want to keep me around because of my rank. He threatened to take everything I earned away and swore that his marriage was nothing more than a farce to keep his mother happy. He said he would get rid of Poppy once an heir was born.
“When I told him I didn’t care, he grabbed me and shoved me hard enough for me to hit my head on the doorknob of my home office door. He immediately became remorseful when he saw that I got really hurt. Then he blamed it on me for forcing him to act that way. When he went out of the room to get the first aid kit, I barricaded myself in the room until morning.”
“That is a lie. We argued that night, and you shut me out,” he shouts.
“The entire thing was caught in the security camera in my office. Page six. I inform them.
“Oh, my fucking god,” Santiago growls.
“What happened when you left your home office?” she asks.
“He had left, and I cleaned myself up and went to school that morning”
“Did he hurt you after this?”
“Yes, he came back with his mother while I was at work. They made dinner, and when I arrived, Alpha Romano cornered me in our shared bathroom where he forced himself on me while his mother kept watch outside
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Chapter 118
“You’re my mate. I didn’t fucking force myself on you,” he growls.
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“One more outburst and you’re done,” Judge Alexandria shouts before she turns back to me again. ‘Did Alpha Romano fo himself on you again after the first time?”
“Yes, for the two nights that followed and again in the public restroom of the main house in Artume City moments befor the official rejection took place.”
“No, no, I didn’t. I would never do that,” he shouts.
“If you turn to page thirty in your binder, you’ll find the medical reports that show he did and the midwife reports that sh I was impregnated from these assaults,” I inform her.
The council loses it. The Lycans begin to demand that he be executed for assaulting one of their omegas. The wolves star defending him, stating the laws of the omegas and alpha of the packlands.
“A child of an Alpha male of wolf heritage was created in a valid fated mating. We demand to know where the child and h of one of our purest bloodlines is,” Bishop dumb ass demands. “This is the way of a wolf. Alpha Romano did not know tha his mate was an omega of the Lycan race.
“He did nothing wrong in wanting to keep his omega mate out of sight. Choosing a Luna to stand in for an omega is not a crime. He did it for her protection. Sophia Helvig is an omega, whether she is a Lycan or a wolf, and she is mated to an Alpha male. She belongs to him, body and soul, from the first time they consummated their mating, marking or not. This the law of the wolf set by our goddess–given spirits. The child and omega must be turned over to him immediately.”
“No,” Lady Axel growls over the shouting. “Sophia Helvig is not going anywhere near that dog,” she proclaims. “You have no right here, Bishop. She is in no way legally or spiritually tied to your filthy mongrel race. She is a Lycan and will remain wi us until she takes he last breath.
“Your Alpha Male has committed the worst act against one of our omegas, and the penalty for that is death. We demand Alpha Romano be handed to the Lycan Council to be tried by our juries for the injury he has caused one of our own!”
“Order,” Judge Alexandria slams her gavel. “Sit. All of you.”
The shouting stops instantly, and everyone takes a seat. My heart is pounding in my chest. I take deep, even breaths to try t calm myself, to no avail. This is so fucked. I don’t want to be here anymore, but I made a choice, and I need to follow through.
“What happened to the child, Sophia?” the judge asks.
“There was no child. I removed the fetus a week after leaving the city,” I answer.
“You fucking what?” Santiago jumps up and tries to get past his lawyer and father to reach me. The vampires are standing between us in a flash. “You killed our baby?” he shouts. “You fucking killed our baby? How fucking dare you, you stupid
bitch?”
The vampires drag him out of the courtroom as he screams at the top of his lungs. I look down at my hands as the cameras flash in my direction. The wolves are escorted out, and for a long time, the only sound I hear is his screams accusing me of being a baby killer.
“I am sorry about, Sophia,” the judge says after a long pause. “Can you tell me why?
“I knew that if he found out, I would be dragged back to Artume City, I didn’t want to go back. I was never treated like person there, and I knew that if that child was born, I would never be rid of him.
“You could have just handed my grandchild over, Alpha Romano growls. “You killed an innocent pup
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Chapter 118
10:1
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“Luna Poppy Romano hates me,” I scoff. “She wouldn’t have treated that child as one of her own, and if she had given him more children, that child would have suffered. I made a choice, and it was my body carrying that thing. You have no right to tell me what I shouldn’t or should have done. You all lost the right to be part of my life when you brought that filthy commoner between me and you son.”
“You will regret this for the rest of your life,” he sneers. “I hope it eats at you until you take your last breath”
“I hope your son rotting to shit is everything you ever expected of him,” I shoot back. “Take a good look at him, asshole. You did that to him. You and your pathetic excuse of a mate killed him and burned your own city to the ground. Fuck you”
AD
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
