Chapter 3 What’s The Worst That Could Happen?
Bella's POV
With how long I had dated Logan, I thought he would at least walk up to me and apologize.
I stood there, caught in a dilemma. Whether I would take him back or not was still unknown, even to me but I had expected something. Remorse, and perhaps regret. A flicker of guilt for what he had done.
We had been in love for years. Since I was twenty. Since the day I met him while running errands for Rita at the departmental store in the city. Back when everything had felt simple. Back when I had believed him.
“Come on, Bella, it’s not as if I were the first man to seek pleasure outside,” he said casually, as he walked over to where his clothes were scattered on the floor. “You are naturally not good in bed, so I sought someone more experienced than you.”
His tone was flat and dismissive. As though he were stating a fact.
Rita sat on the bed. Her nakedness exposed, unapologetic. She didn’t even try to cover herself. Didn’t even pretend to feel shame.
I wondered what exactly I had done to deserve this.
I wasn’t her competition. I never tried to be. Logan wasn’t even the kind of man she entertained. So why would she do this to me?
“Come on now, Bella,” Logan continued, glancing at me with clear irritation. “Stop standing there and help me get dressed. Rita offered to sleep with me first, and I only naturally accepted. I couldn’t let such an opportunity pass.”
“Before the marriage, I suggest you go to her and learn some moves. After all, the both of you are sisters,” he added, completely unfazed.
Something inside me snapped.
I wanted to scream. To lunge at him. To tear him apart for standing there so calmly, saying those words as if they meant nothing.
So he knew.
He knew we were sisters.
Still, he stood there, excusing himself instead of apologizing. As if cheating on me was something I was meant to accept quietly.
“You should believe what he said, Bella.”
Rita’s voice cut through my thoughts mockingly.
“You wouldn’t want to tell me you expected him to refuse me of all people. Come on… I’m the most sought-after woman in the whole city. What man would be able to resist me?”
She scoffed, her lips curling into a smirk as she looked at me like I was nothing.
I ignored her.
I couldn’t afford to look at her any longer. If I did, I might lose whatever control I had left.
Instead, my eyes returned to Logan.
I had always known Rita hated me.
And Logan knew that too.
He had promised me, over and over again, that he would take me away from her. Protect me from her and my family.
Who knew it would amount to this?
My chest tightened as tears began to fall more freely down my face.
I didn’t even know what hurt more.
The fact that he had been with her or the fact that he stood there now, pretending he had done nothing wrong. Dismissing it all as if I was insignificant.
“We are engaged, Logan!” I shouted, my voice breaking, just in case he had somehow forgotten.
“We’re supposed to get married in a few weeks… husband and wife!” I continued, my anger spilling over, uncontrollable now. “And all you could do was sleep with my sister?”
My words echoed, but they meant nothing to him.
“Perhaps this is your sign that the marriage isn’t meant to hold, Bella,” he said coldly.
The way he said my name, it felt unfamiliar and distant.
“In short, I’m calling off the wedding,” he added, adjusting his clothes like this was just another inconvenience.
“How dare you act this paranoid because I decided to have some fun? It’s not as if I’m desperate to marry you.”
Each sentence drove the knife deeper.
“Getting engaged to Rita would even be better for my career than you… who is useless.”
Silence followed as I realized that I hadn’t just been betrayed but discarded.
“What?” I managed to rasp, my voice barely holding together, unable to believe what he had just said.
“Why? Isn’t that the truth?” Logan shot back without hesitation. “Isn’t that why your own father chose her mother over yours? Because yours was useless to the advancement of his career—just the way you will be to mine!”
I stood there, frozen, staring at him, unable to process that he would actually say something like that, about me nor my mother.
It brought back something I had tried to ignore.
Not long ago, I had seen him in a car with Rita. But when I asked, he had brushed it off so easily and said they were discussing politics.
Logan wanted to run for mayor of the town in the future.
And now, putting everything together, I didn’t need anyone to tell me the truth anymore.
“Then… did you propose to me because you thought I would help your career advance?” I asked, my voice quieter now, but far more dangerous because I already knew the answer.
“Yes, Bella,” he said, without a trace of shame. “I wanted Rita, but she never gave me a chance, so I thought dating you would get me closer to her. Now she wants me and you expect me to keep staying with you?”
The world tilted.
I struggled to keep my balance, his words echoing in my head.
It wasn’t what I had expected.
Or maybe… it was.
But even then, even if I wasn’t useful to his political ambitions anymore, did that erase everything else I had done for him?
All the times I stood by him?
All the sacrifices?
I remembered the campaigns. Walking beside him, smiling through exhaustion, speaking on his behalf.
The scandals he was involved in, the rape accusation before his election into the city’s parliament.
People throwing stones and raw eggs. Calling him names!.
And still I stood there and had defended him.
I gave him everything I had and could! From my time, to energy and all my savings.
Every single thing I had because I thought I was building a future with him.
And all of that was for this?
For the piece of scum standing in front of me?
“Come on, Bella.”
Rita’s voice slid in smoothly, laced with mockery.
I turned slightly, just enough to see her. Her face was triumphant.
The same expression she always wore whenever she thought she had won over me.
This was her plan.
To make sure I never married Logan.
All so she wouldn’t have to marry the wolf alpha.
“I’ve called Father and told him where you are,” she added lazily. “Don’t tell me you were planning to run away from your own family, sweet sister.”
“You can have him, Rita,” I said suddenly, my voice calm in a way that surprised even me.
Both of them looked at me.
“You’ve always wanted everything that belonged to me,” I continued. “You want my trash? Well… you can have him.”
“Bella, did you just call me trash?” Logan asked, his brows furrowing as if that was what offended him.
“Matter of fact,” I went on, my lips curling slightly, “I’m calling off this marriage myself, Logan.”
I stepped closer, my eyes locking with his.
“No way in this world will I let myself be tied to someone as vile and despicable as you.”
Every word came out sharper.
“Fuck you and your proposal. Fuck you and your political career,” I spat. “I hope you rot in jail when all your crimes are finally exposed.”
And with that, I turned to leave.
For the first time, I turned my back on him.
The first time I had ever let go of the chains I had wrapped around myself for him.
he way I covered for his excesses, swallowed his insults and stayed quiet even when he was wrong.
All because I was afraid to lose him.
The man I thought would save me from my family.
I heard footsteps behind me.
It was Logan running after me,but I didn’t stop.
A car had already pulled up in front of the house, its engine revving low and waiting.
I walked straight toward it and opened the door without hesitation.
“Father didn’t need to send dozens of you after me,” I whispered as I slipped inside. “I was already on my way home… to prepare for my wedding to the wolf king.”
The door shut, cutting everything off.
Logan was no longer an option.
I let out a slow breath.
Maybe marrying a total stranger, the wolf king wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to me.
Maybe, it was going to be the only way forward.