The funeral is packed with mourners, their whispers buzzing like flies. In the center, Olivia stands, a white flower pinned to her hair, her pale dress clinging to her frame. She's clutching Mom's portrait, her eyes red and puffy, playing the part of the grieving she-wolf.

My teeth grind so hard they ache. I storm over and snatch the photo from her hands. "Who invited you? Get out."

Olivia shrinks back, her voice quivering, but her eyes glint with mockery. "Sophie, I came to apologize again, for Ruth, for everything..."

Her voice cracks, but that smug look betrays her. "Poor Ruth, scraping by her whole life, never catching a break before she was gone."

My blood runs cold. "If you're so sorry, then get on your knees and bow to her ninety-nine times."

Olivia's face stiffens, her lips trembling as she glances at Logan for rescue. "Logan..."

His voice cuts through, sharp and detached. "Didn't you hear my mate? Leave."

His words sound harsh, but he sidesteps my demand like it's nothing. Olivia's eyes light up, her gaze dripping with defiance as she looks at me.

I let out a bitter laugh. "Logan, I said ninety-nine bows. She's here to atone, right? I'm giving her a chance."

I lock eyes with him, my voice unwavering. He stares back, a mix of exasperation and irritation in his gaze.

"I told you, don't make a scene with some young she-wolf," he says. "You don't want to ruin your mother's send-off, do you?"

He's threatening me... for her.

My heart feels like it's being crushed in a vice, but I swallow the bile in my throat. "Fine."

Logan's brow furrows as he signals his assistant to hustle Olivia out. The crowd, clueless, murmurs about how devoted he is to me, each word slicing my heart to ribbons.

I don't speak to him for the rest of the ceremony. When it's time to head back, I make a point of avoiding his car.

But Logan follows me anyway.

He sends the driver away and slides behind the wheel himself. "Babe, remember how we used to close up the burger stand at three in the morning and cruise along the river?"

The setting sun lights up his chiseled face, and my heart stumbles. Memories flood in-back when we had nothing but each other, and it was enough. One rainy night, when our old van broke down and I was curled up in the passenger seat, knocked out from cramps, Logan didn't wake me. He tucked a heating pad on my stomach, wrapped me in his raincoat, and carried me four hours through the storm to get home.

When I woke up and saw him burning with fever, I was furious. "There was an umbrella in the van, you idiot! Why didn't you just go home?"

His cheeks were flushed, but his eyes sparkled like a pup's. "Logan would never leave Sophie behind."

A screeching brake snaps me out of my daze. Before I can blink, the car swerves hard to the right. My side slams into a truck barreling toward a pedestrian up ahead.

The crash echoes in my ears. I lift my head, blood dripping down my forehead. Through my blurry, crimson vision, I see Logan-my mate, who swore never to leave me-bolt from the driver's seat without a glance my way. His face is frantic as he scoops up a pale, unconscious Olivia and rushes off.

My dead heart throbs again. Ignoring the stabbing pain in my abdomen, I crawl out of the mangled passenger door, stumbling through the driver's side.

The truck driver, who'd been cursing moments ago, gapes at my blood-soaked face. "You okay, miss?"

A stranger cares, but my mate forgot I exist.

I stare at Logan's retreating figure, my voice hoarse and broken. "Please... call an ambulance."

The words barely leave my lips before my legs give out, and everything goes black.

I wake up, my bandaged forehead throbbing dully. My hand drifts to my slightly swollen belly. I yank out the IV and stumble out of the room.

Passing the stairwell, I freeze at the sound of Logan's best friend, the hospital's deputy director, hissing at him. "Logan, Olivia just had a low blood sugar spell, and you ditched Sophie to play hero! You know if she'd gotten here thirty minutes later, that pup in her belly would've been lost!"

"Have you fallen for Olivia? Have you forgotten how the Grants destroyed the Ramirez pack? Do you even care about Sophie?"

Logan's tall frame looms in the shadows, the glowing tip of his cigarette flickering. His dark eyes narrow. "I can't let Olivia go. She's the pup's real mother."

His voice is so cold it chills me to the bone. "I love Sophie, but Olivia's loved me for eight years. She was young and reckless back then, sure, but the Grants are bankrupt now. She's paid her price."

"And Olivia's not trying to steal Sophie's place. I've given Sophie the title of my mate, the power, the status. Letting Olivia's pup be my heir? That's fair."

His friend stammers, "So that's why you ordered the healers to scrape Sophie's womb five times before the test-tube procedure? To make sure any miscarriage would cause a hemorrhage, maybe even cost her her womb? So she'd have no choice but to carry the pup, even if she learned the truth?"

Another brutal truth rips through my already shattered heart. I stand rooted, my mind blank.

I didn't know Logan had blocked every escape route I had left.

I tremble with rage, ready to storm in and confront him, but his next words stop me cold.

"Sophie won't leave me." His lips curve into a smug, obsessive smirk. "Her mom's gone. I'm her last family in this world. And unless I'm dead, I'll never let her go."

A chill races from my toes to my scalp. Logan's not just ruthless-he's unhinged.

I have to play dumb and slip away quietly.

I force myself back to my room, just as a nurse comes to change my bandages. "Ma'am, your wound's stopped bleeding, but we need a CT scan to be sure."

I nod, not thinking much of it.

She leads me to the MRI room, but as soon as I lie down, she straps me to the table. Before I can react, she shoves a wad of gauze in my mouth and slides me into the machine's tight, dark tunnel. Then she walks out.

My heart sinks. Something's wrong.

I thrash, trying to scream, but the gauze muffles me. I hear her lock the door and warn others the room's under maintenance, off-limits.

I'm alone in the dim, cavernous space.

Claustrophobia claws at me, wrapping me in suffocating dread. My bound body shakes, sweat soaking my skin. It's like I'm back in high school, when Olivia and her pack stripped me, doused me in filthy slop, and locked me in a metal coffin in the school's basement biology lab for three days and nights.

That trauma left me with crippling claustrophobia. Four years ago, Logan spent half our savings on a therapist to pull me out of that nightmare.

Now, I'm trapped again, my breaths shallow, my body drenched in sweat. The pain in my abdomen flares, and a humiliating urge to pee overwhelms me.

Seventeen hours later, a suspicious night-shift healer finally unlocks the door and frees me.

Under the harsh hospital lights, my vision swims from dehydration. My legs are numb below the waist, barely holding me up as I lean against the wall. Laughter cuts through the haze, sharp and cruel.

"God, she pissed herself. How gross!"

That piercing voice slaps me awake. I lock eyes with Olivia, her smug grin glowing, her makeup flawless, her smile venomous.

"You should've heard yourself, whimpering like a dog, begging for help," she sneers. "Logan was with me the whole time."

Her words click it all into place-she set this up. Shame and fury burn my cheeks, and I snap at the gawking nurses and healers. "I'm Sophie Ramirez, mate of Reed Industries' biggest shareholder. Call the enforcers now. I want last night's negligence investigated!"

Olivia's smugness falters, panic flickering in her eyes. But then Logan strides in with his bodyguards, clearing the room in seconds. He steps in front of Olivia, shielding her, while I'm forced into a wheelchair by his men.

His gaze is stormy, a mix of rage and exasperation. "It was just a she-wolf's prank, Sophie. Don't make a big deal out of it."

Even after everything, his dismissal cuts deep. I laugh, but my eyes sting with tears. "Logan, today it's me or her. Choose."

In five years, he's never seen me this broken, like I've got nothing left tying me to this world. His pupils flicker, but his voice stays cold. "Be good, babe. Stop throwing tantrums. No enforcer's touching this case with me around."

His words shatter the last shred of hope I was clinging to. I laugh, bitter and sharp. "What if I demand an answer?"

His eyes flash with impatience. "You wouldn't dare."

A bodyguard steps to the window, pulling back a black cloth to reveal Mom's urn. My nails dig into my palms, pain radiating through my trembling soul.

"You're threatening me with my mother's ashes?" I choke out.

Logan's gaze darkens, but he drapes a blanket over me with infuriating gentleness. "Don't touch me!" I slap him hard, my voice raw with grief. "Logan, I should've never saved you. I regret ever loving you."

He doesn't flinch, just keeps tucking the blanket around me, his touch soft but his eyes turning to ice. "My mate, you'll stay by my side forever. You're never leaving me."

His voice drops to a lover's whisper, chilling me. "As punishment, you're grounded for a week. Rest up at the villa."

"Take her home!" he barks.