Move out

Lydia

The greenhouse suddenly felt suffocating, the air thick with damp soil and unspoken regrets.

My fingers curled into trembling fists at my sides as I fought to steady my breath.

Talking to Theo had led me nowhere. No explanations. No truth. Just silence—one that cut deeper than any lie ever could.

If I wanted answers, there was only one person left to ask.

Scarlet.

So I finally went to her.

Scarlet hadn't contacted me once. Not a call, not a message. She was waiting—for me to show up at her door.

Fine. If that's what she wanted, then I'd give her exactly that.

I stepped into her house, my pulse steady but my resolve unshaken. The butler moved to block my path, his expression unreadable. "Miss Lydia, Miss Scarlet is busy," he informed me, polite but firm.

I didn't slow.

I didn't acknowledge him.

I pushed forward, brushing past him without hesitation, my heels clicking against the marble as I reached Scarlet's door. Then, without a second thought, I barged inside.

She was lounging on a chaise, her crimson nails tracing idle patterns on the fabric. She barely glanced up before exhaling a dramatic sigh. "That's why they say one should make friends within their level," she muttered, shaking her head. "Look at you, no manners at all." 

I ignored her biting sarcasm, stepping closer. "Tell me what happened during the SilverMoonlight Masquerade, Scarlet." I asked, knowing that night was when everything began to unravel.

Scarlet stilled. 

Then, ever so slowly, she looked up. Her lips curved into a smirk, but her eyes gleamed with something sharper. Crueler.

"You finally came to ask?" she mused. "I thought you'd be desperate to bury that night under a pile of lies. Looks like you really don't remember a thing."

The soft click of her heels echoed against the marble as she circled me. Her hands were clasped behind her back, her gaze flicking over me like a predator eyeing wounded prey. 

"Can your faint heart even handle the truth?" 

I bit my lip, my fingers clutching the fabric of my dress. "Just say it." 

Scarlet laughed, slow and mocking. "You asked for it, Lydia. Remember, this isn't me spoiling things for you. This is you digging your own grave."

She stepped closer, lowering her voice.

"Where should I begin?" she mused. "Should I tell you how a wild man killed three people that night—ripped out their hearts to save you?"

The air was sucked from my lungs.

"Or should I start with how that very man mated with you, marked you, then left without a single word—never once looking back, abandoning you like trash?"

My vision blurred.

"Or do you want to hear how Theo spent days and nights cleaning up your mess? How he took losses for Star Entertainment, went against his father, the Alpha, just to protect your dirty little secret?"

She took a step back, watching me crumble. 

"Because of you, Theo's leadership is questioned. The council, Elder Roland, Magnus, even High Judge Aldrich doubt whether he's fit to be Alpha."

The words hit like daggers. My throat tightened. "But… Theo told me I was with him that night…"

Scarlet let out a sharp, cruel laugh. "Oh, don't tell me you actually believed that?"

My blood ran cold.

Scarlet leaned back, still accessing my facial expressions. "You've spent your whole lives bragging about how well you know each other—and yet you couldn't even tell the difference between him and a stranger?"

Something in my chest caved in.

Scarlet's words clawed at the buried memories. My mind scrambled, piecing together fragments I had ignored, twisted, denied.

Indeed his body had been different—broader, harder.

His touch—rougher.

His presence—commanding.

His voice—deeper.

His scent—intoxicating.

A sledgehammer of realization shattered through me.

I thought it was my mind playing tricks because of the heat. But no—I was the one who had given myself to a stranger, blind and desperate, pleading for him to take me.

Scarlet smirked, drinking in my horror. "I'll spell it out for you, Lydia. That night, you were nothing more than a desperate little plaything for some wild man in heat."

Disgust dripped from her words.

"Theo is too kind-hearted. He knew you wouldn't be able to handle the truth, so he lied—said it was him, to protect you from breaking apart."

My stomach twisted.

I swallowed back the bile rising in my throat. 

"How can I even believe what you're saying?" I rasped. 

Scarlet's smirk widened as she leaned in, her breath brushing my ear. 

"Because it was me," she whispered. "I'm the one who added the aphrodisiac into your drink." 

A sharp gasp tore from my lips. "You…" 

My hands shot forward, gripping her wrist so tightly my nails dug into her skin. 

"Why would you do this to me?!" My voice shook with rage. "Why, Scarlet?! We were friends!" 

Scarlet scoffed, yanking her arm free. "Friends?" She laughed bitterly. "You were just an orphan who should have stayed in my shadow. But instead, you overstepped your boundaries. You tried to take my place. And now, I taught you the lesson." 

Her eyes gleamed with cruel satisfaction. 

She didn't have to spill everything, it's already over between me and Theo, even without her playing villain, I would have left this place, so why would she go so far as to reveal her true intentions to me?

"Why are you telling me all this now?" I enquired, imploring her further.

"Because I want you to choose that bastard child and leave Theo," Scarlet's voice rang in my ears, each syllable deliberate. "If you're out of the picture, he'll finally know who truly loves him."

I barely had time to process those words before she turned to the butler. "Throw her out. If necessary, drag her out."

The butler hesitated. Maybe he wasn't used to such blatant cruelty. Maybe he felt pity. But Scarlet's cold gaze left no room for hesitation.

I didn't fight back. Because if I did, I wouldn't be able to stop the tears brimming in my eyes.

The last thing I saw before the doors slammed shut was Scarlet's victorious smirk. 

....

By the time I reached home, my limbs ached, dragging under a weight that wasn't just exhaustion. Every step felt like trudging through thick mud, slow and suffocating, as if my body was screaming at me to stop, to collapse, to just give up.

But I couldn't.

I had to eat.

Not because I wanted to. Not because I had the strength to.

But because I had to.

Because I need to be responsible for the life growing inside me.

My hands trembled as I reached for the spoon, my fingers curling around it with effort. I forced a bite past my lips, chewing mechanically, tasting nothing.

I barely swallowed when footsteps echoed from the hallway, the sharp sound slicing through the silence like a knife. My body stiffened, my pulse spiking, even before I turned my head.

Lucas, my adopted father stood by the doorway, arms crossed, his face already twisted in disappointment.

"How could food even go down that mouth of yours?" He scoffed, slapping his forehead in exasperation.

I placed the spoon down carefully, my movements deliberate.

He sighed heavily, as if I was the burden in this house. "Do you not understand the gravity of your situation?"

I lifted my gaze, meeting his cold stare. "I understand perfectly, Father."

His fingers drummed against the table impatiently. "It's not too late. Go and apologize to Theo. He still loves you—he's willing to take you back if you get rid of that bastard."

A sharp chill sliced through my veins.

My hands curled into fists.

He didn't even hesitate to ask my opinion.

Just a command. An order.

"Why are you still sitting here? Don't you understand?" he pressed, his voice growing sharper. "If you refuse, we lose everything. Our name. Our reputation. Star Entertainment—do you think you have any rights there without Theo? You don't even have official documents to stake a claim. You'll be nothing."

I let out a breath, steady and slow, even as my body trembled.

"Everything is about money to you."

Lucas's expression darkened. " You wretched brat!! It's one thing you slept with a rogue and became pregnant with a bastard, now you are even going against your father? Against your pack? Have you even considered the consequences of your actions?"

I finally looked at him. Really looked at him.

This was the man who had shaped my life with iron fists and rigid expectations. The man who had never once looked at me as his daughter—only as an investment. A pawn.

"You never once asked what I wanted," I whispered.

"You ungrateful brat," he spat. "You think I'd still be speaking to you if not for Theo's mercy? You're lucky he even considered you for Luna and willing to give you another chance, instead of being grateful, you're throwing it all away. Now stand up and come with me to the hospital—"

I slammed my chair back, the legs scraping against the floor with a sharp screech.

"No."

His brows furrowed. "What?"

"I said no." My voice didn't shake. It didn't waver. It rang through the room, solid and unwavering. "I will not bow to you, or to anyone else ever again. I'm leaving. I won't stay in this wretched house with wretched people. I'll raise my child far away from here." 

His jaw clenched. "You think you can survive out there on your own, Lydia. Think about it, you barely completed high school, how will you take care of yourself and your bastard child if you move out now. I bet, you will come crawling back, begging for mercy."

I held his gaze, not backing down.

"I'd rather crawl through hell than spend another second under your roof."

Father's lips curled in disgust. "And where do you think you'll go? The last time I checked, your birth parents abandoned you, so if not this place, where else could you seek shelter?"

The words sliced through me, deeper than I wanted to admit.

I had spent years ignoring the whispers, shoving the truth into the darkest corners of my mind, pretending it didn't matter.

But hearing it from the man who raised me?

This made my heart bleed.

I exhaled, slow and sharp. My voice was quiet when I spoke, but it carried the weight of all the years I had been forced to swallow my pain.

"Anywhere but here is heaven."

Then I turned on my heel and strode towards my room.

Lucas followed. Of course, he did.

So I shut the door immediately, leaving him outside.

His muffled voice came through the door.

"You're being irrational, Lydia," he snapped as I reached for my bag. "Do you think the world is waiting for you with open arms? You're ruining yourself, you stupid, ungrateful girl."

I forced my hands to move, pulling clothes from the closet and shoving them into my suitcase.

"I took you in, raised you as my own, and this is how you repay me? Throwing everything away for a bastard child whose father you can't even name?"

I clenched my jaw, my breathing uneven as I grabbed the last of my things.

"You think you're strong enough to survive alone? You won't last a day without us."

I zipped my suitcase with one sharp pull.

Silence.

For the first time since this conversation started, Lucas had stopped talking.

But not because he had given up.

No.

Because when I opened the door, it wasn't him standing there anymore.

It was Theo.

His gaze was unreadable as he stepped inside, and my father immediately rushed forward. 

"Theo, listen," Lucas said hastily. "I was just about to take Lydia to the hospital—" 

Theo's gaze flicked to him, sharp and cutting. "Shut up." 

Lucas flinched, his mouth snapping shut. 

Then Theo turned to me. "I see you've made your decision." 

I exhaled. "Yes. Don't worry—I won't ask you to take responsibility for this child." 

Something flickered in his eyes, but it was gone before I could decipher it. 

"If you walk out that door," he said quietly, "you have no place in our pack. No place at star Entertainment. No ties to me. No way back." 

I held my ground.

"I don't care about that."

His jaw tightened.

My voice wavered for the first time. "But tell me, Theo. Are you really so cruel that you'd kill this child just because it's not yours?"

His lips parted slightly, his fingers twitching at his sides.

"I remember the man I loved," I continued, my voice quieter now. "He wouldn't even hurt an animal. So what gives you the right to take my child's life without even saying the truth to me?"

His breath hitched for just a second. A flicker of something—pain, hesitation—crossed his face before vanishing.

"Because I wanted you," he muttered, almost as if he wasn't speaking to me, but to himself.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips. "No. You wanted convenience."

He didn't stop me as I turned away.

Father tried again, reaching out, but I didn't even spare him a glance.

I walked past them both. Past everything that had once bound me to this place.

And I never looked back.