Aria’s POV
I felt much more at ease, planning a "thank you dinner" for Alia and Kara. Before heading to the restaurant, we stopped at the studio.
The mont we stepped out, Kara cast a look over her shoulder and then snapped her gaze away, her scent sharp with distrust.
“You’re sure it’s safe to leave that person there, especially knowing she’s not trustworthy?” she asked. She was referring to Sandra.
I smiled, calm on the surface, though my claws prickled beneath my skin. “She can’t access anything important. It’s safer to keep her where I can see her.”
Control the field. Keep the threat close.
That was the my mantra.
My hands tightened the slightest bit, just enough that Kara’s eyes flicked to them. Not enough to reveal the tension coiling in my veins like moonlit wildfire.
Alia said nothing. She didn’t need to. The weight of her stare told she understood the parts of I didn’t voice.
The mont the design drafts leaked and I found out Sandra was responsible, I had a hard ti believing it was real. I was in denial for a while. I had rescued her, fed her, sheltered her. And still... she betrayed .
***
At the riverside restaurant, dusk rolled in like mist, soft and gray. The scent of water, moss, and city lights flickered along my senses.
We parked. Alia laid a hand on my shoulder.
“Trust yourself.”
I paused and nodded. “I will.”
We barely sat before a voice, sour and smug, sliced through the air like a rusted blade.
“Aria, don’t get too comfortable.”
It was Sophia.
Her scent hit like bile, it reeked of jealousy, ambition and desperation layered in cheap perfu.
“Yes,” I replied, my lips curving. “I am comfortable.”
Her face twisted. “You won’t be smug for long. You’ve been kicked out of Hemsworth Villa. Next, Nathan will serve you divorce papers!”
My wolf stilled in anticipation. This is the mont, it whispered.
I touched my chin thoughtfully, reached into my bag, and with a loud thud tossed the stack of papers onto the table.
“Divorce papers? I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.” My voice was ice and silver.
“It should be giving them to Nathan.” I had fresh divorce papers made for Nathan. This ti around, he wouldn’t be able to escape signing them.
Sophia’s shock was intoxicating. She glanced at the papers on the table.
“You... you’re serious?”
“For you, Nathan is a prize you can’t afford to lose.” My eyes glead, amber flashing through for a heartbeat. “For , he isn’t.”
Alia chid in, her voice the gavel to my verdict. “This is an official docunt. Once Nathan signs, the marriage ends imdiately. Then Aria can completely sever their mate bond and be free”
"Aria, don’t regret this later! Don’t co back with your sob stories once I beco Nathan’s Luna and start living the good life," Sophia tried to mask her internal excitent and put on a facade of concern for .
"I won’t," I replied firmly, cutting her off.
Sophia snatched the papers so fast she nearly tore them. “Fine. Consider it doing you a favor!” she spat before practically skipping away.
We watched her go.
“Alia,” I murmured, my eyes narrowing. “Don’t you have investigative privileges?”
She turned. “What are you planning?”
“Since the Darvin family won’t leave be now that the gloves are off...”
I leaned in, my voice low. “...I’m not letting them off, either.”
The plan I whispered made her eyes gleam.
By afternoon, Celestyr dropped its latest design. Mine...Selina’s...Aria’s.
In ten minutes, it was gone, completely sold out.
Praises rained like wildfire, admiration like incense.
"Selina is truly a genius designer; this new collection is even more stunning than the last," one admirer noted.
"Of course, this is the sa Selina who entered the industry and beca a legend with just one design," another chid in.
And right on cue, Darvin Group that has been dormant for a long ti, howled their lies online. Obviously my parents doing.
"The recent popular designer Selina is actually an ungrateful, selfish woman!" The trending topic quickly climbed the charts, surpassing Celestyr’s release to beco number one.
Peter, my father had recorded a video, laying on the sympathy thick. "I’ve seen Celestyr’s recent promotions, but as Luna Aria’s father, I can’t stand by and watch everyone be deceived by her," he began, instantly drawing in viewers.
The content that followed left everyone stunned.
"Aria is the product of my wife and , the only child of the Darvin family. We’ve invested so much in her, only to see her go astray," he continued, sharing detailed stories of my supposed childhood lies and suggesting subtly, that my recent designs were not my own work.
The implication was clear; I was accused of plagiarism. This ti, the smarter netizens demanded evidence from Peter, while a smaller fraction believed him without question. After all, what father would slander his own child?
Several people online tore into , claws of words sharper than steel.
“A daughter like this shouldn’t be celebrated.”
“Boycott her.”
“She’s nothing.”
The wolf stirred furiously within , shaking frost down my spine.
I didn’t respond, not imdiately. Alia would handle the legal side. Alpha Jonathan would weather the press.
I would choose my battlefield.
Silence isn’t surrender.
Sotis it’s the sound of fangs glinting before an imminent fight.
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