chapter 155
Tori's POV:
I stood at the edge of the rooftop terrace, the setting sun painting the sky in shades of orange and crimson.
The light caught in my silver eyes, turning them molten, reflective.
Below, Moonhaven spread out like a living organism—buildings rising from the forest, the distant mountains creating a natural barrier that kept our world separate, hidden.
Fiona Price has been permanently exiled.
The words echoed in my mind, but they brought no satisfaction. No relief. Just a strange, hollow feeling that settled in my chest like a stone.
Tracy? I reached out to my wolf through our bond.
She paced restlessly in the back of my consciousness.
Is this what you wanted? I asked her silently.
Tracy's pacing slowed. Her silver eyes met mine in the space of our shared consciousness.
What I wanted doesn't matter anymore, she said finally, her mental voice carrying a weight I'd never heard before. She chose her path.
The wisdom in her words settled over me like a heavy cloak. Tracy was right. Fiona had built her own cage, bar by bar, choice by choice.
An old saying my grandmother used to repeat surfaced in my mind, the Mandarin words flowing through my thoughts with bitter poetry: "All schemes and machinations lead only to one's own downfall."
My phone buzzed. Lucas.
Finishing up here. I will pick you up in 20 minutes.
I'm on the research institute rooftop. And yes, I'll wait.
Good girl.
Those two words sent warmth through me, chasing away some of the chill.
I was about to head downstairs when I heard rapid footsteps. A figure burst through the rooftop door, stumbling slightly.
Mia Price.
She looked terrible. Her eyes were red and swollen, her designer clothes rumpled. The scent of desperation and fear rolled off her in waves.
"Tori." She gasped my name like a drowning person gasping for air.
I tensed, every instinct screaming at me to be cautious. Mia had never shown me anything but contempt and cruelty. Whatever brought her here couldn't be good.
"What do you want, Mia?"
She took a shaky step forward. The moonlight was beginning to rise, casting silver shadows across the rooftop. In that light, she looked younger, more vulnerable than I'd ever seen her.
"Please." Her voice broke. "I need to talk to you. About Fiona."
Of course. Everything always came back to Fiona.
"There's nothing to discuss," I said coldly. "The Council has made their decision."
"But you could change it!" Mia moved closer, her hands clasped in front of her like a supplicant. "You could ask Alpha Lucas to intervene. Everyone knows he'd do anything for you."
The presumption in her words sparked anger in my chest. "Why would I do that? After everything Fiona did to me?"
"Because—" Mia's face crumpled. "Because she's my sister. The only family I have left."
I stared at her, unmoved. "You have your father. Your mother."
"My father?" Mia laughed bitterly. "Price Enterprises declared bankruptcy this morning. Did you know that? We're ruined. And Hannah—" She stopped, swallowing hard. "Hannah has gambling debts. Serious ones. And Alexander has a mistress. The whole family is falling apart."
Good, Tracy growled. They deserve it.
But even as my wolf celebrated, I felt a flicker of something else.
Not quite pity—I wasn't that generous. But perhaps... recognition. I knew what it felt like to watch your family crumble. To stand helpless as everything you knew dissolved around you.
"That's not my problem," I said, keeping my voice steady.
"I know!" Mia's composure shattered. She dropped to her knees on the cold rooftop concrete, her hands reaching toward me in desperate supplication. "I know we treated you horribly. I know we don't deserve your help. But please—please don't let them exile her forever. Tori. She has a baby."
"Had," I corrected, my voice like ice. "The baby was Zane's, remember? And he will bring him up."
"She made mistakes!" Tears streamed down Mia's face, catching the moonlight. "Terrible mistakes. But exile is a death sentence. You know that. Rogues don't survive long out there."
I looked down at her, this girl who had made my life miserable for years.
Who had locked me in a bathroom and doused me with ice water. Who had sneered at my Omega status and done everything in her power to make me feel small.
Now she knelt before me, begging.
The symmetry was almost poetic.
"Get up, Mia."
She looked up at me, hope flickering in her eyes. "Does that mean—"
"It means I'm not going to stand here while you grovel." I kept my distance, my arms crossed.
"You want me to show mercy?" I stepped closer, letting her see the steel in my eyes. "You want me to save Fiona from the consequences of her actions? Then tell me, Mia—where was your mercy when I was locked in Silver Fang? Where was your compassion when I was being injected with suppressants that made me violently ill? Where was your sister's kindness when she set me up to be attacked?"
"So you'll just let her die out there?" Mia's voice rose, desperate. "You'll condemn her to—"
"I'm not condemning anyone." I looked back at her, my expression cold. "Those were her decisions. Not mine."
"Please." Mia was crying again, her composure completely shattered. "I'm begging you. Sister to sister—"
"We're not sisters." The words came out flat, final. "We never were."
"Tori—"
"Leave, Mia." I didn't raise my voice. Didn't need to. "There's nothing more to say."
She stood there for a long moment, tears streaming down her face. Then, slowly, she turned and walked toward the door. At the threshold, she paused.
"I hope you never regret this," she said, her voice thick with emotion. "I hope you never know what it's like to beg for mercy and be denied."
"I already know what that's like," I replied. "I learned it from your family."
She froze, and then the door behind her closed softly.