The comment section suddenly quietened down with Xavier calling me almost instantly.

“Mia, there is no need to misunderstand my friends. They just like to joke around with Vanessa and me, your comment made them uncomfortable. I know you must be sad to see the post, but understand, you disappointed Mom too much this time.

She wanted us to attend the royal party together but at the last moment you were absent, I know I couldn't make it to our anniversary dinner but I am busy unlike you, you can't throw tantrums like this always.”

I listened without a word making Xavier feel odd.

“Mia, when you come home let's sort this out first, you should apologize to mom quickly.”

“Okay” horrible emotions choked my throat as I barely managed to utter a word. The man who killed my child was asking me for an apology.

“Mia…why aren’t you asking anything about me?”

“No need, I already have my answers.” With that I did not wait for him to respond as I hung up quickly, breaking into heart wrenching sobs that made my entire being immersed in pain.

My parents were against my and Xavier’s relationship yet when they realized that I loved this man too much to live without him, they gave our relationship a chance but it was all in vain.

I booked a taxi home and it was almost dawn when Xavier arrived home in a delirious state. The pitter patter of his feet woke me up, thus when he saw I was wide awake, he froze trying to come up with an excuse.

Xavier, fearing that I would scold him for drinking late, asked me why I wasn't home for the past three days to which I just turned my body away from his direction.

“Are you now pretending to angry with me?” he asked somewhat softly.

“No sobering soup for me tonight?”

“I am tired.” Taken aback by the cold response he sighed before adjusting the duvet to warm me up.

“You are pregnant, you should rest well. The child will be the future alpha.” When Xavier sat beside me, the aroma of a fruity perfume assaulted my senses making me unable to sleep.

I got up, collecting my pillow and blanket before making my way outside amidst tears.

“Mia?”

“I don’t feel comfortable here.” As soon as I shut the door behind me, Xavier looked at the place beside him in shock.

The next day, I left for the office early in the morning without waiting for Xavier to wake up.

“This project is the most tedious and would require you to work overtime, do any of you want to take it? The budget allocation is higher and you will be paid a good bonus.”

“I will do it.” As soon as I agreed to work overtime my colleagues were all startled while my boss asked hesitantly.

“Mia what about your husband…also you are pregnant so we thought that you would soon go a maternity leave-”

“Unfortunately, I had a miscarriage so I would not be needing any leave.” The tense atmosphere made the meeting abruptly come to an end, my boss asked others to leave while retaining me in the conference hall.

“Mia, I am sorry if I am overstepping my bounds but is everything alright between you and your husband?”

“You are an exceptional employee and I always wished to promote you but then you would not have liked being separated from your family. I was wondering if you want to work at the main branch in the capital city.” she said, her tone careful to not offend me.

I smiled gently ”Thank you for considering me. I would love to relocate.”

Surprised, she paused."Actually, my husband was at the Southwest bar last night when he heard Alpha Xavier talking to his friends.”

When I saw her hesitating I urged her to continue.

"He was discussing about your baby, saying that since you are an orphan you might not know how to raise a child, thus he asked a friend of his, uh... Vanessa, to help him around with the baby.

I am sorry Mia, I just thought that if I were at your place I would want to know if my husband talks like this about me outside."

I felt like a bucket of ice-cold water was poured over my head.

So this was what my husband really thought about me.

I gave a teary smile, shaking my head.

"Thank you."

At that moment my phone rang with Xavier's caller ID flashing across the screen.

“Mia, did you leave early today? You are working too much when you are already in your second trimester, didn't I tell you already to resign. I am not sure if you ate your breakfast because when I woke up there was none for me." At first he sounded concerned yet there were hints of displeasure in his voice.

I simply hummed as he continued.

He paused. “Even though I could not attend the anniversary dinner, I got a gift for you.”

“Did you?” I asked indifferently.

“You love diamonds in a heart shape, don't you? I bought a pendant for you... Strange, where did I keep it.” he mumbled under his breath incoherently as I heard the sounds of shuffling around.

I heard him fumble through his pockets, muttering, “Strange, it’s not here-"

The rest of the words were swallowed as he recalled that he had given the pendant to someone else. In yesterday’s photo, Vanessa was wearing a diamond heart pendant around her neck. The imagery flashed across my eyes, making me tear up.

To quickly cover up the incident Xavier made an excuse.

"I must have lost it somewhere-"

“No need; I forgot to get you anything anyway.”

“Mia you have been like this since yesterday. since you cannot do much, the least I expect from you is to take care of the household chores, cook and look good for me. Stop behaving like it was a big deal!”

"Yes, it was unimportant." Tears dribbled my eyes listening to his cruel words.

Yes he did buy me a gift, one that must be first worn by his childhood sweetheart and later given to me as a charity.

“I can never make you happy no matter how hard I try. Also, Xavier, my favorite gemstones have been sapphires since I was a child, never once in my life have I worn diamonds." With that, I hung up.

After that, I kept myself so engrossed in my work that I rarely went home, making Xavier feel that something was wrong.

One day my mother-in-law who had always seen me as a dirty orphan, unworthy of their status called unexpectedly.

"Mia, Xavier told me that you were fighting with him when it was majorly your fault to delay us that day at the royal banquet. Even though you were born poor without anyone to teach you manners, the least you can do is not to pull my son's status down at your level!

You are soon going to give birth to the future Alpha so stop with your nonsense, the people around us have already started creating rumors about you and Xavier separating. I have organized a dinner today, inviting Xavier's close friends. Arrive on time with Xavier and do not create a scene here."

From starting to the end she ordered me around before hanging up.

I wanted to see the faces of the people who betrayed me, treating me worse than an animal one last time before leaving for the capital city, so I took a taxi to my mother-in-law's house.

Xavier's mother was sitting at the head of the table when I entered the hall. A hush covered the arena as Xavier's friends rolled their eyes when they saw me.

"Aunty, why did you even invite her here, when all she is going to do is spoil the mood?"

"The witch is here to intrude between the loving couple again." Their voice was not low as they deliberately spoke for me to listen to their harsh words.

"Mia sit down here." Xavier's mother pointed to a seat only for me to ignore her as I was already seated at the end of the table.

"Hey Mia, what was your surname again? Oh my apologies I forgot that you were without any surname, since you don't have a father." Xavier's best friend Theodore smirked as he waited for me to make a fool of myself.

"Who are you again?" when I raised my head staring directly at him with disinterest like he was a clown jumping over to make everyone laugh, their smiles were wiped off their faces.

Shortly after, Xavier arrived with Vanessa by his side, when he saw that I had arrived earlier than the designated time and was looking between him and Vanessa, he quickly maintained a distance with her.

I noticed Vanessa had removed the pendant and without another word followed my mother-in-law to the kitchen.

Xavier quickly took the seat beside me, smiling gently as he moved my hair to one side before clasping the diamond pendant on my neck creating a show of loving couple.

"This will be your first time wearing diamonds in your entire life right, right? Rest assured I will buy you your favorite Sapphires next time."

Without a sense of shame, he looked at me and lied smoothly, “I lost it at the pack house, and after talking to you when I realized that it was gone I rushed to search for it.”

The pendant around my neck especially felt suffocating thus I took it off without another word shocking Xavier.

“Mia, what the hell do you think you are doing?”

“To think that she is so greedy, no wonder aunt does not like her.“

“Mia, Why did you take it off?” My mother-in-law glared at me.

“It's just too tight.” I ignored the murmurs around me and just sat quietly without speaking a word to Xavier.

In reality, the diamonds were considered dishonorable for the royal family to wear. In older traditions, the outcasts of the royal family were given a single diamond as the last thing of monetary value before they were banished from the palace

And I was not banished.

I was going to return to my home.

From the kitchen, I heard my mother-in-law gently laughing with Vanessa,as she clung to her arm acting spoiled. "Auntie, how can you work so hard all alone, if I was here these past years I would have never let you work.”

"This child! Of course it would have been different if it was you.

Oh Vanessa, let Mia help the servant with the dishes, you must have never done these things and to think you are so kind even to the maids.

If only Mia was half as sensible as you. But since she had started living at Xavier's house, he kicked out the maid. She can do all manual work by herself, wiping the floor and washing the dishes is just normal for her. Don't ruin your beautiful hands I will make Mia do it.” I bit my lip as my husband agreed to his mother seeing nothing wrong in overworking his wife.

They soon came out of the kitchen hand in hand, with Vanessa sitting right in between Xavier and my mother-in-law.

"Aunty these past years I have missed you a lot. There hasn't been a single day I had not missed Xavier." the people sitting at the table did not feel anything wrong with Vanessa's words to long for another man when she was already mated to someone else.

"Of course dear? If the things didn't go wrong, you would have already been my daughter-in-law-." Xavier’s mother teased, casting a quick glance in my direction before pulling Vanessa closer to which Xavier did not speak a word, angry that I rejected his gift.

Turning to me, my mother-in-law added with feigned innocence, "Oh my? I must have spoken too much because of my old age. Mia meet Vanessa, my goddaughter, she and Xavier are childhood friends and were raised alongside.

I heard that you were making a fuss at home because of her, but Vanessa is like a sister to Xavier so you should not throw a tantrum out of jealousy.

These two have always been so close, so you must trust your husband a little and stop keeping tabs on him."

"Auntie is absolutely right, Vanessa was only doing a favor to you." Xavier's friend Colin spoke with a smug look on his face. He was the one who supported the ‘perfect match’ and gave me the nickname ‘homewrecker’ in secret.

"Yes, Mia, you’re always checking up on Xavier. You are just too controlling, do you think we are going to ruin Xavier's life? Since Vanessa and Xavier are inseparable, if he wanted to leave you, he would have done that long ago."

Besides, Xavier promised Vanessa to soon join two of our packs together to make a larger one, so it's better if you accommodate her. That's the least you can do as a luna."

My eyes widened when I realized that our Jade moon pack was going to be amalgamated with another one. As the Luna I was not even aware of any such thing

Realizing he’d said too much, Colin instantly fell silent, exchanging uneasy glances with the others as the room went quiet.

"Do you even understand how serious this is, if the other pack committed any crime we would be held equally responsible-"

"Mia, I know that you don't like me but please don't besmear my pack like that."

I turned to look at Xavier only for him to glare at me before saying.

"Vanessa is right, you did not even have a proper education so you would not know much about the pack affairs. How would you understand if this is beneficial or not?"

It's better to leave the responsibilities of the pack on me. Vanessa served as a Luna for more than three years, I cannot be biased in your favor when you are just an illiterate orphan." My body trembled when my husband insulted me in front of everyone.

The dinner was tasteless, I did not speak a word after that, making Xavier look at me once in a while. My mother-in-law did not seem displeased with the argument and was rather boisterous with Vanessa. It was only when I picked an oyster to taste did she suddenly interrupted me harshly.

“Mia I understand that you did not have any parents to teach you anything, but are you just plain stupid to eat such a spicy dish in your second trimester?

Do you not care about the baby at all? No wonder Xavier had to go to such lengths to protect you."

"Like he is protecting me right now against your relentless attacks?" As soon as the words left my mouth the chattering quietened down with my mother-in-law too shocked to speak. Xavier on the other hand froze, before looking at me in confusion.

"This was the oyster the nurse cooked for me for better digestion. I brought it here because you asked me to hurry up while I was having my lunch, asking me to bring food for everyone here. But it feels like I am in too much of a trouble to be sitting here amongst you. Coming here was a mistake."

"Mia!" I quickly got up without eating while Xavier followed me outside cautiously.

“Mia, mom did not meant it like that. Come back with me right now!"

"To tell you the truth, Xavier, my parents are very well alive and if I had listened to them in the first place, I would have never chosen such a terrible place for me where I am never welcomed."

Xavier held my shoulders, shaking his head thinking that I was making up stories to console myself.

"Mia let it go this once. You have to be a good daughter-in-law and a wife."

"Xavier! Vanessa is having trouble breathing, you must come quickly." our conversation was interrupted by Colin who looked between us with some hesitation.

"Mia come inside, it's going to rain heavily. I must quickly help Vanessa, so for the time being please wait.”

I looked at the man like he was a stranger. He hesitated as if searching for the right words, but ultimately he just squeezed my hand before letting go and rushing to Vanessa's aid.

My mother-in-law messaged me instantly: [ you can come inside now, earlier I just assumed things.]

[ let's not waste this dinner party] I smiled through tears as I realized that I was never once welcomed in this household, it was all about status and prestige for them.

Three years ago I was kidnapped by the rogues, and my father and brothers did not left any stone unturned to search for me, but my identity was never revealed for it could have endangered my life.

At last, it was the Alpha of Jade moon pack-Xavier who rescued me along with others from the captivity. My mother decided to give him a hefty compensation only for me to tell her, that I liked this man and wanted to be mates with him.

My brothers were completely against this relationship. They had told me that since I was the only princess of the royal family, I had never seen hardships and marrying a cold person like Xavier would not fare well for me.

How foolish I was to think that pure love would surpass all status when today my husband was the very person who told me that I was useless because of no status.

The rain drenched me completely as I ignored Xavier’s mother’s insistence for me to come back. At this moment I felt stupid to fall in love with such a heartless man. I was embarrassed to return to my home... What would I even say to my parents?

Would they even accept me back?

Suddenly, I was covered with warmth as Xavier embraced me tightly, he was soaked with the rain but he quickly took me aside.“ Are you alright? I am sorry I shouldn't have left you in this state but why don't you just follow orders and go inside.

“See, Vanessa is terribly sick” he continued, his voice softening. “ She came because I invited her, I could not have left her like that but even then she sent me to you, you should learn something from her.”

“Mom has been trying to call you, she even messaged you to come inside, why can't you stop being stubborn for a moment!” he sighed, almost complaining before he saw my pale face.

After that he quickly took me to a nearby store to change into fresh clothes so that I would not fall sick.

"Are you alright Mia? I am calling a taxi to take you home" I shook my head before asking.

“Are you not coming back with me?”

"I have to do some work-"

"Are you going to drop Vanessa off at her home now?"

“What?” Xavier asked, taken aback, that I would see right through his excuse.

Xavier’s expression shifted from indulgence to that of guilt and anger as he carefully answered.

“I will be home right after that. Please try to understand Vanessa is a single mother and she is really sick. What if something happens on her way home?”

I cut him off before he could continue. “ I understand, you want to drop her because she is sick and cannot take care of herself, while I can very well go home by myself.”