Chapter 269
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Third Person’s POV
Maddox forced himself to swallow down the storm of rage clawing inside his chest. His hands tightened around the worn leather of his wheelchair, but when he finally spoke, his voice was deceptively calm–almost coaxing.
“Riley,” he said, his tone heavy with a false patience, “you’ll never find happiness with a man like him. You’ve never fought in the real world, never bled in its shadows. You don’t understand how vicious men of his kind can be. Alphas born into power- especially one like Lucien Duskgrave–don’t see women as mates, but as passing playthings.”
His gaze swept over her with deliberate contempt, pausing on the faint scars that told the story of her suffering. The corners of his mouth curled into a sneer. “Look at you. A branded criminal, a cripple cast out by the world. Do you truly believe an Alpha Prince would see you as anything more than a novelty? You’re nothing but a fleeting curiosity to him. Once the shine wears off, he’ll discard you like spoiled meat.”
Maddox’s voice softened as he leaned forward, eyes gleaming with a twisted hunger disguised as tenderness. “But me, Riley— we were raised in the same shadows. You limp, I’ve lost my legs. We are the same. We were meant for each other. Have you forgotten the years I stood beside you? The devotion I gave you?”
His words dripped with the poisoned sweetness of manipulation, meant to bind her in chains of guilt and memory.
Riley’s laugh cut through the night like the snap of a wolf’s jaws. It was cold, merciless, and sharp enough to bleed him. “Devotion? You call it devotion to throw me to the dungeons of Wolf’s justice system, to let me rot for five years while you played loyal dog to Scarlett?”
Her silver eyes glinted under the moonlight, the disdain in her gaze as sharp as a blade. “You knew me, Maddox. You knew who I was, yet you turned your back, poured filth over my name, and chose her lies over my truth. That is not devotion. That is betrayal.”
She stepped closer, her voice low, laced with venom. “And don’t you dare compare yourself to me. I may limp, but my spirit isn’t crippled. You? You’re a wolf who chewed off his own leg to save himself, then expects others to worship his cowardice. I wouldn’t lower myself to call you a mate.”
The words hit Maddox like claws raking across raw flesh. His blood surged, his vision darkened at the edges, and his breath grew ragged. His body trembled violently, as though his fury might rip him from his chair.
“Riley,” he hissed, his mask of patience cracking. “You’re ungrateful. Everything I said, everything I’ve done–it was for your sake! If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t waste a breath.”
Riley’s eyes narrowed, and a cruel smile tugged at her lips. She looked at him as though he were nothing more than a pitiful, broken wolf howling into the void.
“If it were anyone else, Maddox, they’d have already ripped your throat out for daring to spit such poison. The only reason I don’t dirty my hands is because you’re not worth the bloodstain.”
Her voice dropped, laced with venomous finality. “Let this be the last time we cross paths. If fate throws us together again, don’t speak to me. Even hearing your voice makes my skin crawl. You sicken me to my very bones. Believe me when I say this: I despise you. I despise you so much that even a single glance in your direction feels like filth on my eyes.”
Without another word, Riley turned, her hand slipping into Lucien Duskgrave’s. The Alpha Prince towered over her with an aura of storm–forged steel, his presence radiating silent menace toward the crippled wolf in the chair. Together, they walked away into the night, their silhouettes merging into the shadows of Stormridge’s streets.
Maddox sat frozen, his fingers crushing the armrests of his wheelchair until his knuckles blanched bone–white. His chest heaved as he watched Riley vanish with another male, his heart bleeding with bitter rage.
She was gone. The girl who once gave him everything–her loyalty, her devotion, her heart–had slipped from his grasp as though she had never belonged to him at all. And worse still, she had given the pieces of herself that once belonged to Maddox… to Lucien.
The thought gnawed at him like carrion crows feasting on a corpse. He couldn’t accept it. He wouldn’t. Even if Riley carried the stain of another’s child, even if her body and soul were no longer untouched, Maddox’s obsession had sunk too deep to ever let go.
His jaw clenched until his teeth ground together, and he gripped the thick envelope on his lap with such violence that the
11:52 PM P P
Chapter 269
Finished
paper nearly tore. Within it lay his key to clawing his way back into power–an ugly divorce case, his client a sales manager under the mighty Duskgrave conglomerate. If Maddox won, the client would devour his wife’s fortune, leaving Maddox with over a million in reward… and a foothold within the pack’s corporate empire.
His lips twisted into a snarl, the madness in his voice a growl not meant for mortal ears.
“Riley… you won’t walk away from me. Not into his arms. Not into anyone’s. If I can’t have you, I’ll burn the very world around you until you have nowhere left to run.”
The night carried his whispered vow away, but the madness in his eyes burned brighter than the moon overhead.
-Send Gifts
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