He Came Back Begging After The Damage Was Already Done.

Mira's POV

The night my stepsister's dead body was found at the bottom of the stairs, I was the only witness. That was all the evidence they needed and that made me the prime suspect in a murder I didn't commit.

To avoid prison or banishment, they forced me to marry my stepsister's mate, Alpha Ragnar and become guardian to their son.

On little Jace's tenth birthday, I accidentally wore my stepsister's diamond earrings that had been mixed with my jewelry.

In front of everyone, Jace threw his mother's cherished vase straight at my head, sending me falling.

"Don't think you can steal what's left of my mom just because you wormed your way back into this family," he snarled. "You attention-seeking fraud."

He leaned down, deliberately pressing his foot onto my hand where it lay among the glass pieces.

"I wish they would've just let you go to jail. Then, we'd be visiting you behind bars... not pretending to celebrate my birthday with you."

"I swear, I'll never call you mom, not even if you stay here for a hundred years!"

Blood trickled down my palm where a glass piece had sliced through skin, but all I felt was emptiness.

I stared at the child I was supposed to raise as my own and, strangely, I just felt... finished.

If a child's hate runs this deep, maybe it's time to disappear.

What I never expected was how desperately they'd search for me afterward.

—------------

I sat on the cold bathroom floor, pressing an ice pack to my face where the vase had struck me. The mirror showed my swollen face, blood still falling from the cut.

Jace appeared in the doorway, his small face twisted with hatred.

"You're pathetic. Look at you crying over a little scratch when my mom is dead because of you," he sneered. "My dad only keeps you around because he feels sorry for you."

I dabbed at my wound silently, which only seemed to make him angrier.

"Stop acting like you're some victim! Everyone knows what you did. You're just a dirty criminal who should be rotting in jail instead of living in our house," he spat, his voice getting louder. "My mom would still be alive if it wasn't for you and your jealousy!"

Jace kicked the first aid kit across the floor, scattering bandages everywhere.

"You'll never be part of this family. Never! I hate you more every single day you pretend to be my mom," he snarled at me.

This wasn't the first time. Every single day for the past two years had been the same torment.

Whenever I accidentally used anything that once belonged to his mother - her hairbrush, her chair in the dining room, even when I stood in spots where she used to stand. Jace would fly into a rage.

Last month, he'd dumped an entire bottle of juice on me for using his mother's coffee mug. The month before, he'd stepped on my hand when I wore a similar hairstyle to her old photos.

All this hatred from a child I was supposed to mother.

"You know what, Jace? I've had enough." My voice shook as I stood up. "I've tried for two years to love you, to care for you, but you don't want that."

"I didn't kill your mother, Tessa. But you're killing whatever's left of me every single day."

"You don't get to speak her name with your filthy mouth. I hate you! I HATE YOU!" Jace's face crumpled. He ran away sobbing, no doubt to tell his father how mean I'd been to him.

I wanted nothing more than to bandage my wound and sleep, but I remembered Ragnar's stern warning that I must attend Jace's birthday celebration. Sighing, I headed upstairs to change into the dress I'd prepared.

What I found on the bed made my heart stop. My mother's favorite dress, the only thing I had left of her was shredded to pieces and covered with red paint spelling out KILLER, PRISONER and DIE across what remained of the cloth.

She'd worn this dress at her last birthday before the cancer took her and it had been my most treasured possession. I'd planned to honor her memory by wearing it today.

My gaze traveled around the room. All my clothes, my shoes were all destroyed.

I cried out, picking up the ruined dress and turning around when my foot slipped on wet paint. I tumbled down the stairs, landing in a broken heap at the bottom while Jace watched from above.

"Look at the murderer falling just like my mom did," Jace laughed coldly. "Bet it hurts, doesn't it? That's nothing compared to what you did to her."

"Maybe this time you'll die too and we can be free of you."

"This house will never be yours, no matter how long you stay. If you disappeared tomorrow, we'd celebrate it as a holiday." he finished before walking away.

I didn't bother explaining that the day his mother died, it was because of him. He'd been rushing her to his soccer game, pressuring her to hurry and in her haste, she'd tripped.

I saw it happen and tried to save her, but that's when his grandmother arrived, screaming that I'd killed her daughter and forcing me to marry Ragnar to care for Jace or face prison.

Ragnar found me still lying at the bottom of the stairs, blood pooling beneath my head.

"What have you done now?" he sighed, not even helping me up. "Jace is crying in his room on his birthday. Can't you keep peace for one day?"

"I didn't do anything," I whispered through split lips. "Your son destroyed my mother's dress and set a trap for me."

"You're always blaming a child for your failures," Ragnar sneered. "Maybe if you weren't such a pathetic excuse for a mate and guardian, he wouldn't need to teach you your place."

"This pack took you in instead of letting you rot in prison where you belong," he spat. "You should lick the ground we walk on every single day and thank us for our mercy."

His eyes narrowed as he saw the fury building inside me.

"Let me help you up," his tone softened as he reached for my arm. "We can mend the dress and get this over with. "

I pulled my hand away from his grasp, looking directly into his eyes.

"I want to reject our bond," I said firmly. "I'm done with you."