Dominic returned to the apartment he shared with Aria, his heart still racing from the rescue operation. The familiar hallway felt different somehow, as if something fundamental had shifted in the air itself.

As he pushed open the door, the place was terrifyingly silent.

"Aria?"

He called out, his voice echoing strangely in the empty space. Usually, she would greet him with that bright smile that made everything in his world feel right. But today, there was nothing.

No one answered.

A nameless unease instantly gripped him, starting as a cold knot in his stomach and spreading through his entire body. His wolf was restless, pacing anxiously within him, sensing something was wrong.

He strode quickly into the living room, his heavy footsteps the only sound breaking the oppressive silence.

His gaze immediately swept across the familiar space—the cream-colored sofa where they cuddled during movie nights, the small kitchen where Aria made him coffee every morning, the walls covered with their happy photographs.

But something was starkly out of place on the coffee table.

It was an ordinary white envelope, pressed under a deep red booklet. The sight of it made his blood run cold. He knew that shade of red. He knew what that booklet was before he even touched it.

His hands trembled as he rushed forward and grabbed the booklet.

It was our mating certificate.

The official document that bound me and him together, bearing the official pack seal and our signatures from ten years ago. The sight of it hit him like a physical blow. How did Aria get this? Why was it here?

Beneath the certificate were several carefully cut photographs.

In the photos, two adorable pups were giggling at the camera, their chubby cheeks flushed with happiness.

Their eyes were like black grapes, bright and innocent, their small features faintly echoing his own—the strong jawline, the shape of their noses, even the way one of them tilted his head.

His sons.

The children he'd barely acknowledged, barely thought about except as burdens that tied him to Me.

She knew!

The realization hit him like lightning. Aria knew everything. She knew he was mated, knew he had two children, knew about all his deception and lies. She knew that for the past year, while he'd been telling her he was free to love her, he'd been living a complete fabrication.