He live - streamed for 365 consecutive days, a grand and unprecedented gesture, to propose to me. Diamonds rained down upon me like confetti, and he endured three excruciating days of ancestral punishment in the sacred family shrine, defying the strict rules of status, all to make me his mate. His love was all - consuming, a wildfire that burned bright and fierce.
But now, the very man who had once crowned me his princess, adorned me with his mark on my neck that now felt like a searing brand, had reduced me to a shivering figure kneeling in the snow.
I was clad only in a flimsy nightgown, the icy wind howling around me.
All because he believed I had driven away Susan Charles, the mistress he'd known for a paltry three months.
His eyes, once filled with warmth and adoration for me, now glowed with a menacing amber hue.
"Baby, what did you say to Susan?" he drawled, sitting nonchalantly by the crackling hearth.
The flames cast an eerie glow on his face, highlighting the sharpness of his features and the coldness in his eyes.
He swirled the wine in his glass, the rich red liquid sloshing against the crystal, a stark contrast to the warmth of the fire and the chill in my bones.
My teeth chattered violently.
Yet, I managed to choke out, "Alpha Alex, I've never even met Susan Charles."
His lips curled into a smile that sent a shiver down my spine.
"You're not being good, baby." With a snap of his fingers, a command that sent a wave of fear through the room, a guard promptly handed him a phone.
On the screen, my brother convulsed in his hospital bed.
Someone had callously pulled his ventilator, and his face was turning a terrifying shade of purple. The sight was too much to bear.
"He's my only family!" I lunged forward, desperate, and clutched at his legs.
Tears streamed down my face, splattering onto his polished shoes, as if my tears could wash away this nightmare.
"Believe me, I said nothing!"
He crouched down, like a wolf stalking its prey.
He reached out to wipe my tears, but his fingertips were as cold as ice.
"I told you, Susan matters to me too."
His index finger tapped the screen's countdown, a ticking time bomb hanging over my head.
"Be good. You have fifty seconds. Oxygen - deprived wolf don't last two minutes."
My body shuddered violently.
Yes, he had said Susan was important, but I had forgotten that where his love had once burned hot, his cruelty now bit deeper.
I'd only seen Susan once, at an exclusive auction.
The moment I entered the grand hall, she blocked my path to the lounge, her chin raised haughtily. "Mrs. Hilton, control your mate. He's disrupting my life."
She worked as a server at banquets, and the more she rejected Alex, the harder he chased her.
When I confronted him, he merely shrugged me off.
"Just a game with the guys, see how much she'll take. You're my forever."
But when I dared to ask, "What if I don't accept?"
"Be good, and you'll stay Mrs. Hilton."
I was trapped, at the mercy of his whims.
Instead, came a flood of photos of him live - streaming, dining with Susan, strolling through parks, and indulging in street food.
He posted like a lovesick college boy.
I cried, I demanded a bond break, but he'd simply say, "Stop acting up. I like obedient babies."
Now, as his countdown ticked away, my resolve crumbled.
"Fine! I told her to leave you, stop pesting you..." Satisfied, he patted my frozen cheek.
"Don't overstep. Think of your brother."
I nodded numbly, my vision blurring.
Dizziness overcame me, and I toppled into the snow.
A warm liquid gushed between my legs, a horrifying realization hitting me - my three - month - old child was slipping away,.