Harper POV:

The Alpha's Ball was a spectacle of excess. Velvet drapes, roasted meat, and the suffocating scent of pheromones.

I wore a high-necked silver gown Bennet chose. It covered my scars and my prosthetic glove. He kept a possessive hand on my spine, steering me like a trophy.

"Doesn't she look lovely?" he boasted to a visiting Beta. "Fragile, but elegant."

I smiled, a porcelain mask. "Thank you, Alpha."

From the corner of my eye, I saw her.

Gianna was dressed as a high-end server, wearing a Venetian mask that hid nothing. Her dress was cut scandalously low. Every time she passed Bennet, she brushed against him.

"Security check," Bennet whispered. "Stay here."

He walked toward the private meeting rooms. Gianna waited a beat, then followed with a tray of champagne.

I counted to ten. Then I moved.

The hallway was quiet. As I approached the conference room, the scent hit me. Artificial Heat. Chemical and overpowering.

I cracked the heavy oak door.

Gianna was on the mahogany table. Bennet was over her, eyes glowing crimson.

"Mark me, Alpha," she moaned.

"You're a bad girl, Gianna," Bennet growled.

Pain ripped through my chest. The Mate Bond, biologically intact despite his rejection, screamed. It felt like a rusty hook dragging through my heart.

I stumbled back. My heel caught the carpet runner.

I crashed into a decorative pedestal. A crystal vase shattered.

Crash!

The door flew open. Bennet stood there, shirt unbuttoned, disheveled. Gianna peeked from behind him, smirking.

"Harper?" Bennet looked panicked for a second. Then his eyes hardened. "You clumsy fool."

Gianna stepped out. She saw the shards on the floor and her eyes lit up. She lunged forward, feigning a trip.

"Oh no!"

Bennet moved with Alpha speed. He caught Gianna.

But in doing so, he shoved me.

I fell backward. My right hand—my good hand—landed squarely on a pile of broken crystal.

The flutes were rimmed with silver.

"Ahhh!" I screamed as the silver-coated glass sliced into my palm. Smoke hissed from the wound.

The pain was blinding. Worse than fire.

My head hit the marble floor.

Through the haze, I saw Bennet holding Gianna, checking her for scratches.

"Are you okay, my love?" he asked her.

He didn't even look at me.

I lay in a pool of my own blood, the silver burning my skin.

"Clean this up," Bennet told a guard, gesturing to me like I was spilled wine. "Take her to the infirmary. She's ruining the mood."

As darkness took me, I realized the bond was dead. He had killed it. And tonight, he had finally set me free.

Harper POV:

I woke to the smell of antiseptic. The Pack Hospital.

My left hand was bandaged. The cuts were deep, but the silver had been neutralized.

"You're awake."

Bennet sat in the chair, looking tired. He reached for my face. I flinched.

He pulled back, looking offended. "Harper, I'm sorry. I reacted on instinct. I had to save the server."

"The server," I rasped. "Gianna."

Bennet's jaw tightened. "She is just staff, Harper. I've already reprimanded her."

Lies.

"I saw you on the table," I said.

"Concussion," he said smoothly. "You hit your head hard, love. You were hallucinating. Just like the phantom pains."

Gaslighting.

"I want to go home."

"Of course. But since you're injured... and clearly unstable... I've hired a live-in nurse."

The door opened.

Gianna walked in. She wore a modest gray uniform, head bowed in fake humility.

"This is Gianna," Bennet said, watching me closely. "She begged for a chance to redeem herself. I thought it would be... therapeutic for you to have someone serve you."

It was a Submission Test.

If I fought, he'd know I still had fire. He'd lock me down harder. If I accepted her, he'd think I was broken.

I looked at Gianna. She lifted her eyes for a split second, flashing a victorious smirk.

I looked at Bennet. His Alpha aura flared, daring me to challenge him.

I slumped my shoulders. I made myself small.

"Okay," I whispered. "Thank you, Alpha."

Bennet smiled—a terrifying, satisfied expression. He kissed my cheek.

"That's my good girl. See? I take care of you."

Gianna curtsied. "I will take excellent care of you, Luna."

The way she said "Luna" sounded like a slur.

I closed my eyes. Let them think I'm dead, I thought. Let them walk over the corpse.

Because in five days, the corpse was walking out the front door.

Harper POV:

The game of house continued. Bennet played the benevolent jailer, Gianna played the repentant servant.

That evening, Bennet brought me herbal tea. It smelled of chamomile and acrid chemicals.

"Drink this," he said. "Helps with the nightmares."

"Thank you."

He watched me lift the mug. His phone buzzed. Annoyance flickered in his eyes.

"I have to take this. Drink it all."

He walked out.

I immediately poured the tea into the potted fern. The soil hissed. Sedative.

I lay back, feigning sleep. Bennet returned, waved a hand in my face, and muttered, "Good."

He went to the balcony. I heard the lock click.

I crept to the wall. The night air carried sounds that made my stomach churn.

"Is she out?" Gianna asked.

"Like a light," Bennet growled. "Take that uniform off."

I stood there, listening to my husband rutting with the woman who maimed me. A year ago, this would have destroyed me. Now? I felt nothing but cold calculation.

The next morning, the charade resumed.

Gianna barged in with a breakfast tray. "Rise and shine, cripple." She dropped the tray. Coffee sloshed over the rim.

"Good morning, Gianna."

She sneered. "Look at you. Can't Shift. Can't please him. You're just a leech." She flicked my gloved prosthetic.

The front door slammed. Bennet was home early.

Gianna threw herself to the floor, knocking the tray over.

"Ahhh! Luna, please!" she screamed, fake tears instant. "I'm sorry the coffee was cold! Don't hit me!"

Bennet burst in. He saw Gianna cowering, me sitting in bed.

"What is this?" he roared.

"She... she threw the tray!" Gianna sobbed.

Bennet looked at me. For a second, violence flashed in his eyes. Then he turned to Gianna.

"Silence!"

The Alpha Voice slammed into the room. Gianna choked, freezing in place.

"Get out," Bennet growled. "You're embarrassing me."

Gianna fled, looking genuinely terrified.

Bennet sighed, sitting on the bed. "She's difficult, but we need the help until the paperwork is signed. Come. Let's go for a drive."

We took the SUV. He parked near a clearing to meet a Beta. He left his phone in the console.

It lit up. Text from Gianna: Why did you use the Voice on me?! You hurt me!

Then, an audio message synced from his earpiece. I pressed play, volume low.

"Stop whining, Gianna," Bennet's recorded voice said. "It was a show. Harper needs to believe I'm on her side or she won't sign the trust transfer. We need that money. Once the funds clear on her birthday, we move her to the asylum. Then you can be Luna."

I stopped the playback.

He wasn't going to kill me. He was going to erase me. Lock me in a padded room, drugged out of my mind, while he spent my family's fortune.

The countdown wasn't five days. It was immediate.