99 (Lucian’s POV) Memories
Lucian
The weeks that followed that chaotic breakfast at the Nighthorn mansion passed slowly-quietly. No major drama, no surprises. It felt like a much-needed breather.
Mara and I spent most of our time buried in work. We’d come home late, exhausted but fulfilled. She had gotten the hang of everything-confident in meetings, sharp with decisions. The board respected her. Hell, they liked her. Watching her own that space made me proud in ways I didn’t expect.
Everything I prayed for in this marriage had come to pass.”
Well-almost everything.
We hadn’t conceived yet. And while I didn’t want to pressure her or make it a thing… it lingered in the back of my mind. A
quiet hope. A steady ache.
Saturday morning came, and Mara told me she wanted to visit her parents. I said yes, of course. She hadn’t seen them
since the wedding, and we’d been married five months now. It was time. Still, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to miss
her. The house would be too quiet without her.
The truth was, I was used to being alone.
Martha had done a fine job poisoning my image for years. Thanks to her, I never really had friends. Even as a kid, people kept their distance. The whole pack seemed to sense Darian would be the next Alpha, and I was… the other one. The
quiet one. The afterthought.
I dated a few girls when I was sixteen-nothing lasted. Most thought I was bad luck.
Later, when I had status and money, women came back around. But it was never about me. Just what I could offer. I remember asking Tina out. She’d been excited-at first. We did everything together. People called us inseparable.
But as time went on, it was clear: she thought she was doing me a favor.
When Darian was named Alpha, it all changed. She started belittling me. Said I was weak for letting Martha dominate me. That I had no spine. No power. I told her I didn’t care about being Alpha-I just wanted peace. A quiet life. Back then, that
felt like enough.
And then, like everything else… it crumbled.
Funny how quickly people switch sides when the wind changes.
When we turned twenty-two, I asked Tina to marry me.
She said she’d think about it. And then she disappeared.
For a whole month, she avoided my calls, dodged me in person, kept me spinning in circles. I lost my mind during that stretch-obsessing, wondering what I did wrong. Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore and cornered her.
That’s when she told me.
“I’m not ready for that kind of commitment.”
I remember staring at her, wondering why she couldn’t have just said that from the start instead of ghosting me. But I told
her it was okay-that I’d wait.
And like a fool, I did.
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99vcian’s POV) Memories
to Points
Things went back to “normal,” if you could call it that. She kept draining my pockets-designer clothes, overpriced restaurants, luxury trips. She had a taste for expensive things and zero problem letting me pay for all of it. Every argument ended the same way: her threatening to leave, and me begging her to stay.
Not because she was irreplaceable. But because I was afraid of being alone.
Then came the breaking point.
She said we should “see other people.” I didn’t want it. I told her no. But she insisted. Claimed it would help us grow. Said
it didn’t have to be serious.
Later she admitted she’d been with someone while drunk-“just once,” she said.
I knew it was a lie. I knew there was more. But by then, I didn’t care. I stayed. Out of habit. Out of fear. Out of some twisted sense of loyalty to a love that didn’t exist anymore.
By that time, Martha had milked everything she could out of my father. She wasn’t throwing knives at me anymore, which made life… bearable. Tina and I coasted. I was numb, and she was content with the status quo.
Then one morning, during breakfast, my father looked at me and dropped a bomb.
“You’ll be marrying Mara Thornridge.”
I froze. The words didn’t register at first. Darian wasn’t even at the table.
And just like that, the slow, suffocating world I was trapped in cracked open.
103 defan’s POV) Memoires 2
