Oops, Ex! You Lost: The Alpha’s Fated Queen Reclaimed

CHAPTER ONE

The Death of Ava

AVRIELLE'S POV

"You are becoming so damn annoying, Avrielle! Do you ever shut up?"

Adrian’s voice didn’t just fill the hallway; it vibrated inside my ribs, an emotional blow that left me gasping. I stood frozen, my vision blurring as hot, thick tears pooled in my eyes

A lifetime ago, this man would have moved mountains to keep a single tear from falling. Now? He watched me shake with a clinical indifference that made my skin crawl.

"Are you serious right now?" I choked out, my voice thin and hitching. "I’m the one who stayed, Adrian! I swallowed my pride while you spent every night with different women. I destroyed myself to keep this home together, and you... I just caught you in our bed! Our matrimonial bed! With her? It could have been anyone else but Ivana?!"

Ivana.

The name was acid on my tongue. She wasn't just a random club girl; she was my stepsister, my rival, the woman we had both spent years claiming to hate. Or so I thought.

"Don't you dare try to paint me as the villain!" Adrian roared, invading my personal space. His eyes held a narcissistic flare that made me recoil. "You should be grateful I’m even sticking to one girl now! and besides…Ivana isn't 'any girl'—she’s my second chance mate."

My heart stopped.

"You’re the reason I rejected my fated mate years ago," he sneered, leaning down until our noses almost touched. "And let me refresh your memory, I only hated her because you manipulated me" He growled.

“She isn't the monster you described, Avrielle. She’s better than you... and she’s mine."

I stared at him, my jaw dropping. He was doing it. He was masterfully shifting the weight of his betrayal onto my shoulders, elevating my enemy while burying me alive in his lies.

"So I’m the villain?" I whispered, my heart fracturing into a million jagged pieces. "After everything I sacrificed?"

"There goes the nagging again!" He yelled, slamming his fist into the drywall right next to my head. I flinched, the sound echoing like a gunshot.

He leaned in, his breath hot and smelling of expensive bourbon. "I am done letting you control me. If you don't want me 'cheating' anymore, then fine—consider this an open marriage and as of this second, it’s official."

"Open... marriage?" I stuttered. "You can't be serious."

"I am dead serious." He growled.

Suddenly, just like a chameleon, his expression suddenly softened into something worse than rage: pity. He reached out, cupping my cheek with a hand that used to feel like home.

"I'm doing this for your own good, sweetheart. That way you won't feel 'wronged' anymore. We can both do what we want." He leaned down, pressing a mocking, dry peck to my forehead. "I love you."

"Adrian! Babe!" Ivana’s voice shrilled from the bedroom. The 'I love you' hadn't even finished echoing before he was snapping his head toward the sound, his face transforming with pure adoration. "Yes, babe!"

I watched, paralyzed, as Ivana sauntered into the hallway. She was completely naked, her skin glowing under the lights.

My eyes betrayed me, roaming over her—the high perk of her breasts, the narrow waist, the unblemished skin of a woman who hadn't spent years stressed to the point of exhaustion. I looked at my own hands, at the faint lines of age and the way my clothes hung heavy on my soul.

Who wouldn't want her?

She walked up to Adrian and wrapped her arms around his neck, planting a deep, possessive kiss on his lips right in front of me.