Chapter 61 Sixty one
Chapter 61 Sixty one
Maren
I sat at the small table, my laptop open, scrolling through the news feeds then the headline glared back at me in bold letters:
“Ashveil-Vorne Alliance Sealed: Alpha Zander Ashveil and Celeste Vorne Set to Wed in Grand Ceremony”
Photos flooded the screen Zander in a tailored suit, looking distant and cold, Celeste beside him in a stunning white gown, smiling that perfect, polished smile like she had already won. Hashtags were trending everywhere: #AshveilVorneWedding #FutureAlphaPair #PowerCoupleUnited.
I leaned back in my chair, a slow, dangerous smile curving my lips.
Finally.
This was the opening I had been waiting for.
The wedding announcement was everywhere circulating the internet, discussed on every pack forum, whispered in every high-society circle. It was the perfect weapon. Zander was moving forward with the alliance. He was choosing duty over whatever fleeting heat he felt for Isolde. He was publicly committing to Celeste and that would break Isolde’s heart… or finally snap her back to reality.
I picked up my phone and typed a short message:
Come to the house now. We need to talk about the next move.
I sent it and waited.
Less than thirty minutes later, the door opened.
Isolde stepped inside, looking pale and distracted. Her eyes were shadowed, her movements slower than usual. She dropped her bag on the table and leaned against the wall like she needed the support.
I studied her carefully. Something was off. She looked… sick she didn't look like the angry, fiery Isolde who had stormed out of here weeks ago. This was something quieter and deeper.
“You saw the news,” I said, keeping my voice even but sharp. I turned the laptop toward her so she could see the headline clearly. “Zander Ashveil and Celeste Vorne. The grand wedding and the perfect power couple. It’s all over the internet. Hashtags, photos, speculation about the date. They’re sealing the alliance publicly and permanently.”
Isolde glanced at the screen for a second, then looked away. Her face stayed carefully blank.
“I saw it,” she said quietly.
I stood up slowly, crossing my arms. “And? Nothing to say? No rage? No fire? This is the man you’ve been fucking for weeks, Isolde. The man you begged to fuck you raw in his penthouse. The man whose name you were moaning while his fiancée bled on his floor and now he’s marrying her publicly. Like you never existed.”
She swallowed hard but kept her voice steady. “Everything is fine, Maren.”
I laughed low, bitter, disbelieving. “Fine? You look like you’re about to throw up. Your hands are shaking. You’re pale as a ghost and you expect me to believe everything is fine?”
I stepped closer, studying her face.
“Is it the wedding news that’s got you sick?” I asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Seeing him stand beside Celeste like that? Seeing the man who fucked you senseless just weeks ago publicly choosing her? Does it burn, Isolde? Does it make you remember why we started this plan in the first place?”
Isolde’s jaw tightened. She looked at me, eyes guarded. “I said everything is fine.”
“No, it’s not,” I snapped, anger rising. “You’ve been distant for days. You’ve barely checked in. You’ve been avoiding me since that fight we had and now this the wedding announcement and you walk in here looking like someone kicked you in the gut. Talk to me. What happened with Zander? Did he say something? Did he reject you again? Or are you finally realizing that he was never going to choose you over the alliance?”
She shook her head, voice quiet but firm. “Nothing happened, I haven’t seen him. I haven’t contacted him. I’ve been following your rules, Maren. I stayed away.”
I didn’t believe her not for a second.
I leaned in closer. “Then why do you look like this? Why do you look like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? The wedding news should be fuel for you. It should make you angry. It should remind you of that night in the hall when he called you disgusting and walked away. It should make you want to destroy him even more. So why do you look… sick? Heartbroken? Like you actually cared about him?”
Isolde’s eyes flashed with pain, guilt, fear but she quickly masked it.
“I’m tired,” she said. “That’s all. The plan has been exhausting. The fight with Celeste drained me, seeing the wedding news… it just reminded me how deep this goes. How impossible it feels sometimes. But I’m still here and I’m still committed.”
I stared at her for a long moment, searching her face.
“You’re lying to me,” I said softly. “I can see it. You’re hiding something and if it’s about Zander if you’ve been in contact with him, if you’ve been letting him back into your bed, if you’re still letting him fuck with your head I swear to you, Isolde, I will end this plan myself before I let you destroy us both.”
She met my eyes, voice steady but strained. “I’m not lying. I haven’t seen him. I haven’t contacted him. I’m just… processing. The wedding news hit harder than I expected. It reminded me of everything he took from me that night. It reminded me why I started this. I’m fine, Maren. Really.”
I didn’t believe a word of it.
But pushing harder right now would only make her pull away more.
I stepped back, forcing a calmer tone.
“Good,” I said. “Because this wedding is our opportunity. We use it, we leak information and make sure the packs see the cracks in the perfect Ashveil-Vorne union. We remind everyone that Zander Ashveil is not as controlled as he pretends to be and we make sure Isolde the real Isolde becomes the shadow that haunts him on his wedding day.”
Isolde nodded slowly, but her hand unconsciously moved to rest over her stomach for a brief second before she caught herself and dropped it.
I noticed.
I filed it away.
Something was wrong with her, something deeper than the wedding news.
But I would find out what it was, one way or another.
“Sit down,” I said, gesturing to the chair. “We have work to do. The wedding is in three weeks. We need to plan how we’re going to ruin it from the inside.”
Isolde sat down slowly, eyes distant.
And in that moment, watching her pale face and the way she kept touching her stomach when she thought I wasn’t looking, I felt the first real thread of suspicion tighten in my chest.
She was hiding something big and if it had anything to do with Zander Ashveil…
I would burn it to the ground before it could destroy everything we had left.
The coffee pot dripped in the silence.
The wedding announcement still glowed on the laptop screen.