Chapter 153 Tonight You Die

Chapter 153 Tonight You Die
Lucian’s POV

Watching Selene walk away with barely a glance in my direction left me with a helplessness I had never experienced before. Thirty million dollars had disappeared with one raise of my paddle, yet the money meant absolutely nothing compared with the fact that I had failed to earn even the smallest smile from her.

She was still angry about last night.

I could not blame her.

The truth was, I regretted what happened even more than she knew.

On the Ferris wheel, I had seen something change in Selene. She had tried to hide it behind her usual calm expression, but I was not blind. There had been warmth in her eyes when I told her Teressa belonged to my past and that the person I wanted beside me now was her. For the first time, I had felt as though the distance between us was finally shrinking.

I had been certain she felt something for me too.

Then I ruined everything with one name.

Teressa.

Even now, thinking about it made frustration tighten my chest. I had not meant to say it. The name had slipped from my mouth before I could stop myself, and by the time I realized what I had done, Selene had already gone cold in my arms.

Her slap had hurt less than the look in her eyes afterward.

She had looked betrayed.

I spent almost the entire night sitting on the couch with cigarette after cigarette burning between my fingers, replaying the scene over and over in my head. Every time I remembered Selene accusing me of using her as Teressa’s replacement, I wanted to go back and change those few seconds.

But there was no changing them.

So early this morning, I went to Selene’s room intending to explain everything properly. I did not care whether she shouted at me again or slammed the door in my face. I simply wanted her to hear me.

She was already gone.

The hotel receptionist told me Selene had left sometime in the middle of the night.

That answer had unsettled me more than I wanted to admit.

I made several calls and pulled more strings than should have been necessary just to find out where she had gone. By the time I finally discovered that she would be attending Joe Studio’s charity auction tonight, I came here without hesitation.

The instant I entered the hall, I saw her.

She was seated among the guests, arguing with Winnie over a stuffed cat.

I did not even think before bidding.

Thirty million dollars.

The price did not matter.

I recognized the expression on Selene’s face and knew she wanted the toy, so I had planned to buy it and use the opportunity to tell her, in front of everyone, exactly what I had been trying to make her understand since last night.

She was the woman I wanted.

Not Teressa.

Not anyone else.

Selene.

I thought the gesture would soften her.

Instead, she rejected the kitten and walked away.

I remained standing there, watching her disappear toward the restroom while an unfamiliar sting settled beneath my ribs.

Rejection.

I had never truly experienced it before.

People usually came to me. Women tried to gain my attention. Businessmen competed for my approval. Even powerful werewolves chose their words carefully around me.

Yet Selene had refused a thirty-million-dollar gift as though it meant nothing.

Worse, I understood why.

Her words had carried a second meaning.

I never accept things that don’t belong to me.

She believed my heart belonged to Teressa.

The thought made my jaw tighten.

“Lucian, Selene is being so unreasonable.”

Winnie’s voice dragged me out of my thoughts.

She had moved close enough that I could smell her perfume, and the jealousy in her tone was impossible to miss.

I did not answer.

I had no interest in discussing Selene with her.

Apparently, my silence did not discourage Winnie.

She leaned closer and lowered her voice as though she were about to reveal some terrible secret.

“I bet you don’t know that Selene sneaked out to a bar last night and met some man.”

My eyes immediately shifted toward her.

“Did she go to a bar?”

The question left my mouth before I could stop it.

I did not believe Winnie’s accusation, especially when it involved Selene. Winnie had never hidden her dislike for her, and I knew she would happily twist anything if it meant creating trouble between us.

Still, Selene had left the hotel in the middle of the night.

After what happened between us.

A small thread of doubt slipped into my mind.

Winnie noticed my reaction and quickly continued.

“It’s true. Selene is the type of woman who flirts with any man she meets. She isn’t worth your time.”

My expression cooled.

She either failed to notice the warning in my eyes or chose to ignore it.

“She used to mess around with Jason, and there’s obviously something strange going on between her and Aryan too. Now even here in Montage, she’s sneaking out in the middle of the night to meet men at bars.” Winnie’s voice sharpened with satisfaction. “Lucian, can’t you see? She’s cheating on you.”

“Shut up.”

The words came out colder than I intended.

Winnie fell silent.

My patience with her had reached its limit.

Whatever happened between Selene and me was none of her business, and hearing her insult Selene only made my irritation worse.

I looked toward the direction Selene had gone.

She had been away for too long.

How much time did someone need in a restroom?

A sudden uneasiness settled in my chest.

Had she already left?

Knowing Selene, it was possible. She had ignored me since I arrived, and after rejecting the kitten, she might have decided she had no reason to stay.

I pulled out my phone and called her.

No connection.

I frowned and tried again.

Her phone was off.

That strange uneasiness became stronger.

Without another word, I rose and headed toward the restroom.

“Lucian, where are you going?” Winnie called after me.

I did not answer.

All I knew was that I needed to find Selene.

Selene’s POV

Cold water ran over my fingers as I splashed some onto my face and raised my head toward the mirror.

I looked terrible.

I had barely slept the night before. Dark circles shadowed the skin beneath my eyes, and my complexion looked paler than usual. Even after spending the day trying not to think about Lucian, the exhaustion on my face made it obvious that my mind had not rested for a second.

I stared at my reflection.

If I were being completely truthful with myself, Lucian’s grand gesture tonight had not left me untouched.

Far from it.

Lucian was not the kind of man who exposed his feelings easily. He was cold, proud, difficult to approach, and almost impossible to read when he did not want anyone inside his head.

Yet tonight, he had stood before an entire banquet hall and declared that the plush kitten was for the woman he loved most.

Then he walked directly to me.

Anyone would have been affected by something like that.

I had been.

For one ridiculous second, when he placed the kitten in my hands, my heart had actually softened.

Then I remembered last night.

Teressa’s name.

That single word had returned like a knife and sliced through every warm feeling Lucian’s confession had created.

What did public words mean when his subconscious still called for another woman?

I closed my eyes and pressed my fingertips against my temples.

“Enough,” I whispered to myself.

I was tired of thinking about him.

Lucian had occupied far too much space in my mind lately, and it was starting to irritate me.

I drew in a slow breath, trying to push every confusing emotion aside.

Then something cold touched the side of my neck.

Not just cold.

Sharp.

My entire body became still.

A blade.

I slowly lifted my eyes toward the mirror.

Hannah stood directly behind me.

She was holding a knife against my throat.

For a moment, surprise outweighed fear.

“Hannah, what are you doing?”

My voice remained calmer than hers.

I had been so lost in my thoughts that I had not even noticed her approaching.

That realization annoyed me more than the knife.

As an Alpha, my senses were usually sharp enough to detect someone like Hannah long before she got this close. She was an ordinary werewolf woman. Under normal circumstances, she would never have been able to approach me from behind without me noticing.

But tonight, I had let my guard down.

Because of Lucian.

Again.

If it were not for that man turning my thoughts upside down, Hannah would never have managed to get within arm’s reach of me, let alone press a blade to my throat.

“Selene,” Hannah hissed, tightening her grip on the knife, “today is the day you die!”

Her eyes shone with a disturbing excitement.

I stared at her reflection and felt more exhausted than frightened.

Seriously?

Had this idiot learned nothing from the last time?

She had already tried to set me up once and failed miserably. That disaster had ruined her own reputation, yet somehow she still believed coming after me again would end differently.

Fine.

If Hannah wanted trouble, I had no intention of holding back this time.

I kept my expression unreadable and spoke casually.

“Hannah, isn’t Brian Carlos in the banquet hall? Shouldn’t you be looking for him instead of wasting your time with me?”

At the same moment, I allowed Frieda to rise closer to the surface.

My wolf had already sensed Hannah’s hostility.

After remaining quiet for so long, Frieda seemed almost excited by the possibility of action.

“Alpha, don’t interfere,” she said eagerly inside my head. “Let me handle her.”

I almost smiled.

Of course Frieda would enjoy this.

The instant I mentioned Brian Carlos, Hannah’s expression changed.

Her eyes darkened, and the hand holding the knife trembled with fresh anger.

“Selene, you bitch!”

Her voice cracked with hatred.

“If it weren’t for you, Brian and I would still be together! If you hadn’t set me up that night and humiliated me in front of everyone, I wouldn’t be living like this now!”

So that was what this was about.

She still blamed me.

I looked at her through the mirror, almost amused by the twisted version of events she had created in her mind.

“Oh, that night?”

A quiet laugh escaped me despite the blade resting against my skin.

“Weren’t you the one who tried to set me up first?”

Hannah’s face twisted.

Apparently, reminding her of the truth was the wrong thing to do.

She dragged the blade higher until the edge pressed near my jaw.

“You think you’re so special because you’re pretty, don’t you?” she sneered. “You think every man will keep falling at your feet because of that face?”

Her eyes moved over my reflection with open hatred.

“Let’s see how you seduce men after I ruin it.”

I met her gaze in the mirror.

“Go ahead and try.”

Hannah’s grip shifted.

That was all the warning I needed.

The instant she moved the knife, I dropped my head sharply, letting the blade pass where my face had been. At the same time, I turned and drove my elbow hard into her chin.

The attack caught her completely off guard.

Hannah cried out and stumbled backward before crashing to the floor. The knife flew from her hand and slid away across the tiles.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she clutched her face.

“You… you hit me!”

I stared down at her without sympathy.

Inside my head, Frieda gave an almost disappointed snort.

“Alpha, she’s too weak. You don’t even need me.”