Chapter 1 Cassie's POV

My husband had an affair with my maid, got her pregnant, and never cared to hide it from me.

#

I slowly opened my eyes, feeling groggy and disoriented. My head pounded, and my throat burned. I blinked, trying to focus, but the room around me was blurry, like I was submerged underwater. My body ached painfully, and I quickly realized I was tied to a chair.

My wrists were throbbing the tight ropes cutting into my skin, and I tried to scream, but my mouth was dry and gagged, muffling any sound I tried to make.

The scent of the deadly wolfsbane poison filled the air, and I gasped as I felt it burning through my veins.

That's when I realized it, Linda, my maid and best friend, She poisoned me. Linda was my maid because she chose to be, and she was the one I trusted most. And now she poisoned me and tied me up

The realization hit me like a sledgehammer, and I felt my heart shatter in my chest. Every muscle in my body screamed in pain as the poison spread, making me weaker by the second.

I struggled helplessly, trying to break free, but I was too weak. Tears blurred my vision as I looked up and saw Asher-my husband, the man I had loved with everything I had-standing in front of me. He was holding Linda, their bodies pressed together as if they were one. He kissed her, slow and tender, right in front of me. My heart broke all over again.

"Asher..." I tried to scream, but it was muffled by the gag.

Linda pulled away from him, her lips curling into a smirk as she noticed me watching them. "Oh look," she said with a playful sneer, "she's awake."

My body trembled, not just from the poison but from the betrayal slicing through my soul. I tried to speak, but only weak, choked sounds came out. My tears rolled down my cheeks as I watched the two of them together. The two people I had trusted most, now holding the pieces of my broken heart in their hands.

Linda's smile widened, her tone playful yet dripping with malice. "So, Asher, tell me-will our son inherit the pack now that I'm pregnant? Since he's your first heir and all."

Asher's hand rested protectively over her stomach. "Of course, he will," he said, his voice cold and devoid of any warmth. "He'll be the next Alpha."

My heart stopped. No. The pack...my parents' pack. The one thing they left me before they died. They'd spent their entire lives building it, protecting it, and I had given it all away. I had handed it over to Asher because I loved him, because I trusted him.

How could I have been so fucking stupid?

Panic surged through me, and I struggled violently against the ropes, ignoring the burning pain in my arms and legs. I had to stop this. I had to protect the pack. I couldn't let them take everything my parents had worked for, everything they had sacrificed for. I couldn't let them take it all.

Asher and Linda turned toward me, amusement flickering in their eyes as they watched my pathetic attempts to escape. Linda sauntered over, her smile growing more sinister with every step.

"Oh, poor Cassie," she cooed mockingly, crouching down to my eye level. "You really should congratulate us. I mean, I'm finally giving Asher something you couldn't in three years-a child."

I wanted to scream, to tear her apart, but the gag held my words back. Tears flooded my eyes as I looked at Asher, begging him silently to say something, to tell me this was all a nightmare. But he just stood there, watching with cold detachment.

Linda's hand reached up and ripped the gag from my mouth. I gasped, drawing in a shaky breath. My throat was raw, but I didn't care. "How could you do this to me?" I screamed, my voice breaking with anguish. "Asher, how could you?"

He laughed-a dark, cruel laugh that twisted the knife in my heart even deeper. "You should have known this would happen, Cassie. After all, Linda is my fated mate. How could I ever settle for someone as dull and foolish as you?"

I stared at him, the weight of his words crushing me. "B-But... I loved you, Asher. I gave you everything. Everything I had..."

His smile turned crueler, more menacing. "Exactly. You were so easy to manipulate. So hopelessly in love. You handed me your pack, your power, your trust, all because you were blinded by your feelings for me. It was almost laughable."

The room spun around me, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. Every part of me shattered as he stood there, mocking the love I had for him. Mocking the sacrifices I had made.

"Asher, please...don't do this," I whispered, my voice trembling with the weight of my despair.

But he only laughed again. "You were nothing but a tool, Cassie. I needed your pack. My own was weak, powerless. Marrying you gave me everything I ever wanted. And now that I'm Alpha, I don't need you anymore."

His hand slid Into his pocket, and my heart stopped when I saw him pull out a gun. A silver-plated gun. "Goodbye, Cassie."

Panic surged through me. "No! Asher, please! Don't do this!" I begged, my voice cracking as I felt my life slipping away. "Please, I'm begging you. I loved you. Don't do this."

For a moment, his expression wavered. He hesitated, the gun lowering slightly, and for the briefest second, hope flickered inside me. Maybe, just maybe, he would spare me.

But that hope was crushed when Linda stepped forward, her hand slipping over his wrist as she took the gun from him. "Go get the hole ready, Asher," she said with a smirk. "I'll take care of this."

He didn't look back. He left me with her, his fated mate, the woman who had taken everything from me. I watched him walk away, the last piece of my heart going with him.

Linda turned to me, the gun resting casually in her hand. "Please, Linda, don't do this," I begged, tears streaming down my face. "I treated you like a friend, not a maid. I took you in when you had nowhere to go. I helped you when rogues attacked."

She laughed, a harsh, mocking sound. "You really believed that story, didn't you? God, you were gullible. That whole rogue attack? Fake. Asher brought me here because we knew you were too in love with him to say no."

I felt my world crumble even further. All of it-a lie. Everything they had ever told me was a lie.

"Everything was planned from the beginning," she said with a sickening grin. "I seduced Asher, but I was the one who encouraged him to marry you, to take everything you owned for us. Oh, and you know why you never got pregnant?" She leaned in closer, her voice dripping with malice. "I slipped a contraceptive into your food every day."

The weight of her confession hit me like a tidal wave. The shame, the humiliation I had endured from the pack for never giving Asher an heir, and all along it had been her doing. Linda had comforted me through my tears, pretended to be my friend, all while ensuring I could never carry a child.

"You ruined me," I whispered, my voice thick with rage and heartbreak.

Linda smirked. "Yes, I did. And now, you're going to die just like your father did."

My heart stopped. "My father? Alpha Damien killed my father. That's why I had him executed."

She laughed, a cold, heartless laugh. "Asher framed Damien. We needed him gone. He was the most powerful alpha in the region, the only one who could stop us. So, Asher set him up, and you...you did the dirty work for us."

The room spun around me as the horrifying truth sank in. I had killed the one person who could have saved me. I had played right into their hands.

Tears streamed down my face as I whispered, "I wish...I wish I could turn back time. I wish I could stop you."

Linda laughed again, cruel and cold. "Keep dreaming, Cassie."

Then, without hesitation, she raised the gun and pulled the trigger.

The pain was instant, ripping through my body as I felt the bullet tear into me. My vision blurred, my life flashing before my eyes. My parents' smiles, the pack, the love I thought I had with Asher-it all faded into darkness.

I wished I could redo it all. Fix my mistakes. But it was too late.

Everything turned black and that's how I died.