+30 Bonus
Chapter 110
Ellie POV
By the time I’m dismissed for break, my hands are shaking.
Not from the work.
Okay, a little from the work.
But also from holding everything in.
I make it outside before my knees finally give, sinking down onto the cold concrete steps behind the locker rooms. The chill seeps straight through my clothes, biting into skin already raw and sore, but I welcome it. It’s grounding, distracting.
I bend forward, elbows on my knees, staring at the scuffed toes of my boots.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
My leg throbs dully, the ache spreading now that I’m still. My fingers sting when I curl them, skin scraped and angry. I could cry.
But that feels just pitiful.
Footsteps crunch nearby.
I groan.
“Dom,” I groan, my head lifting. “Two seconds, I just need two-”
“He’s got you working this hard while injured, huh? He must be pissed.”
Lucas.
I stare a momment. My my brow lowers.
I’m on my feet instantly brushing my knees.
“What do you want?” I
He stops short, clearly taken aback. “Ellie-I just-”
“We shouldn’t be seen together,” I try to walk past him. “It’s bad enough with the rumors right now.”
He steps into my path. “Please. Just a second.”
It doesn’t soften anything.
“I’m busy,” I say flatly. “Can’t you tell?”
He looks at me then-really looks. At the grime streaking my clothes, my hands red and raw, the way I’m favoring my leg even
now.
His face tightens. “I’m sorry, it should be me doing this work. You should be resting.”
I let out a sharp laugh. “Well apparently I deserve it. Two timing two Alphas. I told you two to stop fighting. Told you to leave me alone. Make distance, and now…ugh, I never wanted this Lucas.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I say with a sigh, knowing it isn’t exactly his fault either.
Chapter
+30 Bonus
“For all of it,” he says quickly. “The photo. The rumors. The punishment. Dominic. None of this was supposed to-” He swallows. “Hurt you like this.”
“I’m not hurt,” I say, voice shaking a bit. “I’m frustrated.”
“I never meant for it to happen,” he insists. “I would never-”
“It doesn’t matter what you meant,” I poke his chest. “I was so clear in the beginning! I wanted nothing romantic! I was going to do it right this time! I had a plan. I told you to back off! Want nothing to do with you. Or him. And yet somehow I keep ending up right here” I gesture vaguely at myself, filthy, humiliated, aching. “In your wake. His wake. Turned into gossip. Into spectacle. Into collateral damage.”
His mouth opens. Closes.
“I didn’t ask for either of you,” I continue, words spilling now. “I didn’t ask to be fought over, punished, photographed, whispered about like I’m something disposable. I just wanted to exist without being dragged. I mess up once, I fall and instead of a mistake it’s breaking news. I can’t even… stumble.”
His eyes soften. Like it hurts him to see me like this.
“I care about you,” he says softly.
“That’s the problem,” I fire back snap. “Your care keeps costing me.”
I step around him this time, limping slightly as I do. He reaches out, then stops himself.
“Ellie-”
“Leave,” I say, not looking back. “Before someone sees us. Before it gets worse.”
“I don’t want to leave you like this.”
“I don’t want you here,” I say, finally turning to face him. “Go.”
He hesitates, conflict etched across his face. Then he nods once, stiff and resigned.
“I’m sorry,” he says again, quieter.
Then he turns and walks away.
I sink back onto the steps as soon as he’s gone, the cold seeping deeper now, settling into bone. The ground in front of me blurs as I stare at it, vision unfocused.
No matter what I do, the damage keeps finding me.
I work hard.
I feel stuck.
I push people away.
They come back.
I work harder.
It doesn’t matter.
I sigh, long and tired, dragging a hand down my face.
“Ellie.”
Dominic’s voice cuts across the yard.
215
Chopter
+30 Bonus
“Break’s over.”
The way he calls me… like he’s summoning a dog back from outside.
I slowly stand, every part of me sore. “Coming.” I mutter.
Back inside. I’m stopped at the door by Dom.
“Not here.” He says.
My brow furrows, glancing past him.
I expected to see…well… working people.
Even pretending to work there lessor jobs.
But they gave up face.
The rest of my team sprawled across the locker room, laughing, shoes kicked off, bottles of water sweating in their hands. Bren’s lying flat on their back with an arm over their eyes taking a nap. Tamsin is scrolling on their phone like this is a picnic, not punishment.
My stomach turns.
Dominic doesn’t even glance at them.
“Ellie,” he says, voice crisp. “Over there.”
He points to the dumpster around the corner.
The trash one.
The metal lid is propped open, the smell already thick in the air. Sour. Rotting. Old food and chemicals and something else I don’t want to identify.
My breath catches.
“You want me to… what?” I ask, even though I already know.
“Climb in,” he says. “Clean it. Top to bottom. Until it’s spotless.”
The word spotless rings in my ears.
I stare at him, waiting for the punchline. For the moment where he drops the act. He doesn’t.
“That’s not fair,” I say flatly.
He doesn’t soften. Doesn’t even blink.
“We’ve been over this, the team lost because of you,” he says. “It’s only right you do the majority of the work.”
I drop the washcloth.
It lands at my feet with a wet, pathetic slap.
I could take a little punishment. Really, it was my fault.
But my ankle was killing me. It had been hours. And this was the second day I was covered in dirt and grime all over again when t still haven’t fully gotten that pits dirt out my ears.
“Why am I the only one being punished tought?” I ask, my voice shaking now, but loud. “Why does this feel less like consequence and more like cruelty?”
Dominic’s expression doesn’t change.
This is the punishment,” he says coolly.
[laugh.
It rips out of me, sharp and bitter and a little unhinged
“Don’t insult me,” I say. “They’re lounging like this is a vacation. This isn’t about the loss
I step closer, my pulse roaring
“This is about jealousy,” I continue, growling low to him. “This is about you being a vindictive, cure pace of shit who an stand some rumor that I didn’t choose you. Yet you won’t even hear me out.”
The air detonates,
Dominic stiffens, anger flashing hot and immediate.
“Watch your fucking mouth,” he snaps.
But he doesn’t get the chance to say anything else.
My teammates surge to their feet, voices overlapping, drowning me out.
“Are you serious right now?”
“You’re unbelievable, complaining now?”
“You ruined everything for us!”
A bucket clatters against the ground at my feet, water sloshing over my boots.
“Clean it,” Bren sneers.
Karina steps forward, grabbing Dominic’s arm like she owns it.
“She deserves this,” she says loudly. “Every second of it. She’s a terrible woman. She ruined everything-for you, for us, for everyone.”
Something snaps.
Violently.
Like every inch of restraint I had, this life and the last, breaks.
Before I can think, before I can stop myself, my hand swings.
Karina’s head whips to the side as the slap lands, hard enough to leave my palm stinging
For a heartbeat, the world goes dead silent.
Karina stares at me, stunned, one hand rising slowly to her cheek
“You. Stupid. Bitch!”
And she’s on me.
+30 Bonus
