Theater: NovelMaster | Language: English | NEW
Synopsis
Ever since I returned to Alpha Jason, I stopped crying and begging.
Whenever his first love, Amanda, called him away, I simply demanded cash.
The reason was simple: my daughter was born with a dark curse, and I needed an astronomical amount of money to hire a witch who could cure her.
The day my daughter's curse flared up again, I desperately sent guards to fetch our Pack Healer.
I waited for hours, but the Healer never showed up.
Later, I found out Amanda had called him over for a minor headache.
I sat in the dark, cradling my bleeding daughter until dawn broke.
When Jason finally returned, he hesitated, looking guilty. I just smiled faintly at him. "Don't forget to wire the money."
Then came the day the Healer was scheduled to suppress the curse.
Amanda called Jason again, her voice breathless over speakerphone. "Henry is having nightmares and won't stop crying. He needs you here to hold him to sleep..."
Jason hung up and turned around, crouching down to break the news to our daughter.
Lily mimicked my gesture, stretching her tiny hand out toward him.
"It's fine, Daddy. Just wire the money. Today's rate is triple."
At her words, the guilt on Jason's face instantly vanished.
He stood up, pointing an accusing finger at our daughter, and turned on me in disgust.
"Jennifer Collins, is this how you raise our child?"
I calmly pulled Lily behind me.
"What's wrong with that? If she can't have love, she might as well have money. At least she won't end up like me—having her heart pulverized by her mate before finally learning that lesson."
Jason choked on his words.
His phone rang again.
Amanda's son, Henry, wailed through the speaker: "Alpha Jason, hurry up! You promised you'd sleep in my room tonight!"
Lily tightly clenched the hem of my shirt.
Noticing our daughter's grip, Jason surprisingly didn't answer right away.
He reached out, trying to ruffle Lily's hair.
"Be a good girl, Lily. Stay home with your mom and wait for the Healer today."
"Once you're better, Daddy will take you hunting in the forest, okay?"
Lily flinched, dodging his touch. She blinked her big eyes and repeated, "It's fine, Daddy. Just send the money to my account."
Jason's expression hardened into pure frost.
Before storming out, he spat venomously:
"Jennifer Collins, keep spoiling her! You're both completely out of your minds!"
The front door slammed shut, vibrating straight through my chest.
Lily tugged at my sleeve, holding up her tablet to show me.
"Mommy, look. Daddy transferred a lot of zeros."
"With what I saved before, is it enough to hire the grand witch?"
Looking at her pale little face, my throat tightened. I pulled her into a fierce embrace.
"It's enough, baby. Mommy will find someone who can cure you."
"And when you're healed, Mommy will take you far away from here."
While waiting for the Healer to arrive and suppress the curse, my maid whispered to me nervously:
"Luna... people in the pack are talking. They say the Alpha took Amanda and her son to the theme park yesterday..."
"Someone even overheard the boy calling Alpha Jason 'Daddy.'"
I zoomed in on the photos circulating online, staring at Jason's relaxed, radiant smile.
I couldn't even remember the last time he had smiled like that at me or our daughter.
I locked my screen and looked away.
A second later, Jason's call popped up.
"Jennifer, don't read into the rumors. People are just gossiping."
"I've already ordered the pack warriors to shut them up."
I paused for a second before realizing he was talking about Henry calling him Dad.
"I'm not mad. Kids say things without thinking."
"Since I've already rented you out to them, make sure you show them a good time."
Without waiting for his reply, I hung up.
After the Healer finished suppressing the curse, he pulled me aside with a grave look. Her body was growing weaker; the next flare-up might be fatal.
My legs gave out, and I nearly collapsed onto the floor.
When our Mate Bond had fractured years ago, Jason had declared before the Pack Elders that I wasn't allowed to take a single dime from pack assets, just to teach me a lesson.
The very next day, Lily's curse flared up. She almost died.
I had knelt in front of the Healer's clinic, clutching my burning child, only for the Healer to speak through the closed door: *The Alpha has commanded it. My hands are tied.*
It was only after I swallowed my pride and begged Jason that he finally allowed the Healer to suppress it—and nothing more.
He had said, "Keeping her breathing is enough. Don't get greedy."
Over the years, I spent every waking hour searching for a cure, raising the bounty higher and higher, but no one could break the curse.
Until today.
A master healer finally accepted my bounty, promising to attempt the ritual on the upcoming full moon.
I had already submitted our visa applications to move abroad. Whether the cure worked or not, I was taking Lily and leaving this pack forever.
Jason's text popped up:
[When are you coming home? I cooked your favorite dinner.]
I didn't reply.
An hour later, I pushed open the front door.
Jason was happily dishing food onto plates for Amanda and her son.The warm, cozy atmosphere made it feel like Lily and I were intruders breaking into someone else's home.
"Jennifer..."
Jason stood up abruptly, hurrying over to take my coat.
"Amanda's landlord suddenly sold the house and kicked them out."
"They have nowhere else to stay. I was thinking... could they stay here for a while?"
I said nothing, merely watching the moving crew carry my and Lily's belongings box by box into the dusty storage room.
Amanda spoke up in a timid, fragile voice, though the smug smirk on her lips was unmistakable:
"I'm so sorry, Jennifer. I've always had trouble sleeping unless I'm in a south-facing room, so Jason insisted on giving me the master bedroom."
Lily's bedroom had also been claimed by Henry.
Her favorite porcelain doll had been tossed out into the hallway, its porcelain limbs shattered on the hardwood.
Jason suddenly looked uneasy.
"Jennifer, if you really mind, I can arrange another place for them—"
"I don't mind," I cut him off, holding out my hand.
"The rental rate stays the same as before. But staying in my house, plus your hourly companionship fee for them, will cost extra."
*Smack!*
Jason slammed my purse onto the floor, his face dark with fury.
"Jennifer Collins, have you lost your damn mind?"
"Talking like a cheap whore in front of the kids? Do you have no shame left at all?"
I felt like laughing.
He was the one who brought another woman and her child into our home, yet he dared to blame me for lacking shame when I laid out the truth.
Jason grabbed Amanda and Henry, heading toward the door.
As he brushed past me, he flicked a black titanium credit card straight at my face.
"Five million! Is that enough for you?!"
"I tried giving you an out, but you'd rather spend the rest of your pathetic life sleeping with cash!"
Once the house went quiet, Lily sniffled softly, using a tissue to wipe my cheek.
Only then did I realize the sharp edge of the card had sliced open my skin, drawing blood.
"Mommy, it's all my fault. If I weren't sick, Daddy wouldn't treat you like this."
I wrapped my arms tightly around my daughter.
"Mommy isn't mad, baby. Once we find the person who can heal you, everything will be fine. Mommy is happy..."
Lily, who had always insisted on having her father read her a bedtime story, fell asleep in my arms with dried tears on her face.
Looking at her furrowed little brows, my heart felt like it was being crushed under heavy wheels.
When had our once-happy family turned into this living nightmare?
Was it when Amanda's mate died, and Jason started spending every single night at her place comforting her, claiming she might kill herself? He visited so frequently that pack members started whispering behind our backs whenever he returned to his own house.
Was it when Jason worried Henry would get bullied for not having a father, so he never missed a single parent-teacher conference for him? He never missed Henry's birthdays or school festivals, leaving our own daughter to be mocked at school as an illegitimate outcast.
Or was it the first time Lily collapsed from the curse? I had dialed Jason's number dozens of times, only to get a busy signal. The only available Healer had been summoned by Amanda because Henry had a mild tummy ache. Lily nearly died that night. It was only after I smashed my forehead against Jason's door, bleeding and screaming, that he casually waved a hand to let the Healer treat her.
I took a deep breath, packed our suitcases, lifted my sleeping daughter into my arms, and walked out of that house without looking back.
We stayed in our new apartment for an entire week. Jason didn't send a single message.
Amanda, however, never stopped texting.
She flooded my SnapChat with pack gossip articles, as if terrified I might miss any detail.
I scrolled through them emotionlessly. Every place they visited was somewhere Lily and I had begged Jason to take us. Even the pack tabloids that had once reported on our mating ceremony were now singing praises of Jason and Amanda's destined romance.
[I'm so sorry, Jennifer. I tried to tell Jason to pay off the tabloids, but he said you have plenty of money to handle it yourself.]
[Since this mess started because of me, why don't I sell the diamond jewelry and designer bags Jason bought me to help cover your PR fees?]
Amanda sent photos of the lavish gifts Jason had showered her with, deliberately trying to get a rise out of me.
In the past, seeing this would have sent me flying into a rage, storming over to smash everything she owned.
Now, I simply typed back: [That would be great. Thanks.]
Amanda's typing bubble flashed for a long time, but no new message came through.
Just when I thought they would finally leave me alone, my bank app pinged.
Ten million dollars had been wired to my account.
The moment I read the memo line, the blood in my veins turned to ice!I stumbled frantically toward the pack's ancestral burial grounds, where my mother rested.
When I arrived, Jason was standing there, directing two workers who were digging up her grave.
"Stop!! Stop it!"
I lunged forward, shoving the workers aside with all my strength, snatching a shovel, and standing fiercely before my mother's tombstone.
Jason pulled Amanda and Henry behind him, letting out a mocking scoff.
"Jennifer Collins, didn't you say everything has a price tag?"
"I already wired you the rental fee for your mother's plot. What kind of drama are you pulling now?"
My teeth chattered from pure rage.
"Jason... are you even a human being?!"
Jason shrugged nonchalantly.
"I'm just playing by your rules. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Or does everything in your world have a sacred price, while our bond as mates is the only thing cheap enough to be traded for cash?"
My fingernails dug so deeply into my palms that they pierced the skin, but I was too numb with hatred to feel the pain.
I couldn't comprehend how the man who had once knelt beside my dying mother's hospital bed, swearing to the Moon Goddess that he would cherish me forever, could mutate into this monster.
Amanda held a framed photo of a golden retriever, tears glistening in her eyes.
"Forget it, Jason. Even though Buddy was family to Henry and me, an animal is still an animal. Using Jennifer's mother's sacred plot to bury him really isn't right..."
Catching sight of her tears, Jason's voice turned lethal.
"Jennifer Collins. Move."
I gritted my teeth. "Over my dead body!"
He stepped closer, leaning down to whisper against my ear:
"The specialist who accepted your bounty arrives next month. If you want that cure to happen, you'd better behave yourself."
A chill ran down my spine.
"Lily is your biological daughter! You're using your own flesh and blood to threaten me?!"
Jason gently tucked a stray hair behind my ear, his tone sickeningly casual.
"She is. But Henry is my biological son, too."
"The night before our mating ceremony, Amanda came to say goodbye. I had too much to drink, and I made a mistake..."
"You and Lily have wealth and the official Luna title. You ought to be the mature one here."
Cold sweat soaked through my clothes.
My mind flashed with agonizing memories of Lily writhing in pain during her flare-ups.
Slowly, the shovel slipped from my fingers.
My legs felt as heavy as lead as I mechanically dragged myself out of the way.
Henry immediately bolted forward, cheering, "Awesome! The old hag is making room for Buddy!"
He ripped my mother's portrait off the tombstone and grabbed her ceramic urn, ready to smash it against the rocks!
"No!"
My mind went completely blank. I threw myself forward, wrapping my body around the urn.
My head slammed violently against the marble edge of the tombstone.
The world spun, and warm blood washed over my eyes.
"Jennifer!"
Jason panicked, dropping to his knees to pull me up, his trembling fingers trying to wipe the blood from my forehead.
"Does it hurt? Are you dizzy?!"
I shoved him away with all my might, pulling a folded legal document from my coat and shoving it into his chest.
"The fee you sent wasn't enough."
"Sign it."
When his eyes landed on the title—*Territory and Asset Transfer Deed*—his face turned rigid with disgust.
"Fine. Jennifer Collins, you truly are something else!"
He snatched a pen, scrawling his signature with violent strokes.
He threw the pen and papers onto the gravel, grabbed Amanda and Henry, and stormed away.
The pen snapped in two upon hitting the rocks.
It was a gift I had given him for our third anniversary. The first document he had ever signed with that pen was our mating registry.
I picked up the papers, flipping past the land transfer to the Mate Rejection document tucked right behind it.
Staring at his hurried, careless signature, I laughed through my tears.
Cradling my mother's urn, I stumbled to my feet.
Once my daughter's curse was broken, Jason Collins and I would be finished forever.
Finally, the night of the full moon arrived. The healer who took the bounty came to our private clinic room.
I waited outside in the corridor, kneeling on the cold tiles, praying frantically.
I begged the Moon Goddess to show mercy and keep my daughter alive.
Before the ritual could finish, my phone buzzed with an incoming transfer notification.
Before I could even read the memo, the clinic door swung open.
The healer rushed out, not even bothering to take off his blood-stained gloves.
Numb with terror, I grabbed his sleeve.
"My daughter isn't finished! Where are you going?!"I peeked through the door; Lily lay motionless on the bed, her breathing faint.
The man jerked his arm away.
"Alpha Collins's son fell ill. The Alpha ordered every Healer and medical specialist in the territory to report immediately."
"You can't leave!"
My voice cracked in raw agony. I frantically whipped out my cards.
"How much did he pay you?! I'll double it! Just cure my daughter!"
Terrified he would refuse, I pulled up my phone to transfer the funds on the spot.
That was when I finally saw the memo on the transfer:
It was Jason's rental fee for hiring the healer away from me.
"Ma'am, this isn't about money," the man said coldly. "The Alpha commanded it. I value my life."
No matter how I begged, he pried my fingers off his sleeve one by one and hurried away.
My daughter lay in that room, abandoned.
She was just one step away from freedom. And now, because of her own father, she was left there to die.
A message from Amanda pinged on my phone.
The photo showed Henry with a few minor red hives on his arm.
Yet three doctors were fussing around his bedside.
Jason sat on the edge of the bed, lovingly feeding Henry a slice of strawberry shortcake—Lily's favorite cake.
Amanda's voice note dripped with venomous delight:
"Jennifer Collins, didn't you brag about only wanting money and not needing a man?"
"How does it feel to watch your daughter rot right in front of your eyes?"
"If you hadn't come back to reclaim the Luna title, maybe I would've spared your kid some pity money."
"You only have your own arrogance to blame for killing your daughter."
My grip tightened until the glass screen cracked.
Seconds felt like years.
I dialed Jason's private number over and over again.
Not a single call went through.
Seeing Lily's pulse growing weaker by the second, I switched on my camera, sobbing hysterically into the lens:
"Amanda, you can have Jason! He's all yours! Just send the healer back, please!"
"I'll wire every single cent he ever gave me to your account!"
"Once Lily is saved, I swear we'll disappear forever! We'll never bother your family again!"
The moment I sent the video, Jason called back.
He didn't even wait for me to speak before roaring into the receiver:
"Jennifer Collins! I only reassigned one doctor, cut the damn theatricals!"
"To frame Amanda, you're even willing to fake your own daughter's death?!"
Amanda sniffled softly in the background. "Jason, it's all my fault. Henry felt sick at the wrong time and kept you away from Jennifer..."
Jason let out a bitter sneer.
"Jennifer Collins, pulling this pathetic stunt... are you just trying to remind me that I haven't paid your rental fee for today?"
"Forget being Luna. You should just change your name to Cash Whore!"
The line went dead.
My hands shook violently as I ran to summon the pack guards outside, begging them to bring another healer.
The guards stood outside the doorway, their expressions blank. *Without the Alpha's direct orders, we cannot move.*
I grabbed a silver dagger from the medical tray, slashing wildly through the air like a madwoman, just to carve a path of survival for my daughter.
Back at the mansion, Jason grew restless.
Doubt began to gnaw at him.
*Lily was waiting for life-saving treatment... did I really push it too far?*
Seeing Henry bouncing energetically on the bed, Jason finally got up and sped toward the clinic.
When he arrived, the sight before him brought him crashing to his knees.
Chapters (4)
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Watch & Promotions
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