Chapter 20 chapter 20

Chapter 20 chapter 20
CHAPTER
BLAIR
After I left the house, I went straight to the hotel where I stayed when Darius came to pick me up. That was my only home right now; I didn’t want to go back to the pack house where my husband is with his fated mate on our matrimonial bed.

Once I checked back into the hotel, I turned off all of my phones. I didn’t want any calls right now. I called hotel service and requested some alcohol that could help me.

That was all I wanted—some liquor down my throat to forget everything that had just happened. I wanted to forget what I saw, to forget the throaty moans that kept replaying in my head, but I just couldn’t, no matter how hard I tried to push them away.

Dominus came from a pig pen; I should have known he’d always end up like the man who raised him. The man who raised him was called a tyrant. Well, he was, even if I had said he wasn’t a few years back, just to put Dominus in a better light as president.

I guess I should have known I couldn’t change him. I guess I should have fucking known he’d always end up like the man who raised him—without love.

I walked to the window and looked down, unable to hold back the tears rolling down my cheeks.

I thought I could love him into loving me, even if he wasn’t my mate. I shut out every noise and rumor about him cheating with some of his workers just to keep these walls from collapsing.

I lied. Yes, I lied. That night, Ronan sent me a message to meet him at the playground. I wanted to go.

I had packed a few things in my backpack and was preparing to leave. I would have left, but my nanny walked into my room that night to console me after hearing about the marriage…

She told me it was hard on my father to make the decision, but they all had no choice.

Our pack wasn't strong enough if a war broke out within the four states. A lot of what we did was through the Nightshade pack. Old Madam Gael wasn’t lying that night; I knew she wouldn’t lie to me.

When I realized Dominus was capable of loving me, I gave it a shot. He was often indifferent, but we had sex whenever he wanted, so I thought we were good until the abortion.

I walked away from the window when a knock came at the door. I wiped my eyes immediately and put on my sunglasses. Everyone in this hotel knows me not really as a Luna since I have never claimed my title, but they knew me as Ms. Knowles, the attorney.

I’d hate for anyone to see me crying. Rumors spread too fast, and now that Dominus is flaunting his mate, everyone would be waiting to hear from me. One thing is for sure: the divorce isn’t coming soon.

He wouldn’t sign it. I don’t know what he will do, but he won’t sign it.

Dominus is smart. His father might be a tyrant, but he was a calculated politician. So is his son. I have never underestimated what he can do to win.

Once I got to the door, I took the drinks I asked for and drowned myself in the liquor.

I sat on the bed, drinking Hennessy with a straw while watching the video of Dominus that was circulating.

His team had posted a video of him welcoming his fated mate back to the pack.

They'd never posted a video of us together, even after he won.

At first, I felt bad, but right now, I’m glad they never did.

I’m not known as Blair Jones but as Blair Knowles.

Watching Dominus, rage surged through me, suffocating my chest.

That seat, that presidency,he wasn’t supposed to get it after all his father had done to the werewolf kingdom, but I made it happen. I put him there and covered all the shady things they had going on.

Now I want it all back!

I want it all. I want the seat back. I want him powerless, confused, just as I met him. I need him insecure, just as his father left him, and I molded him into the confident man he is right now.

Tired of watching that asshole, I threw the remote against the screen of the television in hopes that it would turn off, but it didn’t.

I forced myself to my feet; the room was spinning… maybe it was the alcohol.

I picked up the bottle, took out the straw I was sipping from, and then gulped one gulp and then another—until it burned down my throat.

Suddenly, I burst out laughing, loud enough that anyone in the next room would hear.

“I gave him everything he has; he didn’t believe in himself, but I made him do that.”

My chest ached ….a sharp, twisting pain that felt like my ribs were closing in on my heart. I pressed my palm there, trying to breathe through it as tears rolled down my cheeks.

After turning off the damn television, I crawled back onto the bed, reaching blindly for the bottle. But then my hand brushed against my phone instead.

I stared at it for a long time before I picked it up, turned it on, and unlocked it.

I didn’t even know what I was doing until I saw his name: Ronan.

The one person who had always known me before all of this,before politics, before titles, before the lies.

I pressed the call button. It rang once. Twice.

“Blair?” His voice cut through the silence at once.

“What is it? Are you back? Or have you gotten to the airport?”

I didn’t say a word; silence stretched.

“Blair… What is it? Are you there?”

I let the silence stretch out, my hands over my mouth trying to hold back the sob.

But when I couldn't hold it anymore, a loud sob burst out of me.

“Blair? What’s wrong? Where are you? Why are you crying?”

“Hey, hey,” he said softly, “Breathe. Just breathe, okay?”

“Then tell me what it is…”

I couldn't help it; I burst out crying again.

“B-Blair, please tell me what is it…” Ronan whispered. “Please just tell me.”

I sniffed, then let out a low chuckle.

“He was with her. They were fucking in our matrimonial bed.”

“They’re also all over the news. He wants to be Alpha president, and then she’d be his Luna. They believe they can do that.” I laughed hard, hard enough that it ached my chest.

“Blair, turn off the television,” Ronan snapped, but I ignored him.

“Do you think if I told everyone that I made him sit in that seat and he wasn’t worthy because I had to fabricate his high school results, do you think they’d still win?”

“Turn off the fucking television, Blair… turn it off now!” Ronan barked through the phone.

My chest heaved, and a sound escaped my lips—half sob and half laugh.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand, but the tears kept coming.

“I’m fine,” I whispered into the phone, my voice still trembling. “I’m fine, Ronan… I’m just…”

A pause, and then a shaky breath followed by a broken laugh I hadn’t expected slipped out. “I’m just tired…”

“Where the hell are you, Blair?”

“Answer the fucking question! Where the hell are you right now?”