Elinor POV:

"Just drop me here, please."

The taxi pulled over in front of a brightly lit, 24-hour diner. I needed a place to think, a neutral corner to regroup before the world completely fell apart.

I slid into a booth at the back, the cracked vinyl cool against my skin. The waitress came over, her expression tired but kind.

"Black coffee," I ordered.

The bitterness of the coffee when it arrived was a welcome shock to my system, grounding me in the present. But my mind, a traitor, dragged me back into the past.

Three years ago. A rainy night.

I was an intern at Northwood, our family's company. A jealous colleague had sabotaged my inventory report, leaving me stranded in a cold, cavernous warehouse to recount thousands of units by myself. The rain was hammering against the metal roof. I was running a high fever, the numbers on the page blurring together.

I was about to pass out when the warehouse door burst open.

It was Ewing Charles.

He swept me up, carried me out of the cold, and drove me to the hospital. He stayed with me, his presence a warm, comforting weight in the sterile room.

That was the night I fell in love with him. He was my hero, my savior.

Or so I thought.

A year ago, at a family barbecue, I overheard a drunk Kayla bragging to her friends. She was the one who had called Ewing that night, telling him in a panicked voice that she was trapped at the warehouse.

Ewing had rushed over to save her.

In the dark, feverish haze, he never saw my face clearly. He just felt a desperate girl clinging to his jacket. He assumed that girl was Kayla. The sweet, fragile Omega he'd always had a soft spot for.

He saved me by mistake. He fell in love with the idea of saving Kayla.

I was just a stand-in.

The truth had been a poison I'd chosen to ignore, a lie I'd told myself to keep the fairy tale alive. Now, the fairy tale was a pile of ash.

The coffee's bitterness seeped from my tongue into my soul. I had never been truly chosen. Not by my family, not by the man I thought I loved. I was always the second choice, the convenient option, the one who could be sacrificed.

I couldn't let that happen again. I knew what Warren would do next. He'd find another alliance, another family to marry me off to, using me as a pawn to secure another business deal.

I had to save myself.

And as I sat there, staring into the black depths of my coffee cup, a wild, insane idea began to form.

I thought of the man in the airport lounge. The one with eyes like a winter storm.

Alaric Charles.

Ewing's uncle. The true power behind the Charles family. A man so formidable, even my father spoke his name with a measure of fear.

The rumors about him were legendary. He was ruthless, reclusive, and supposedly repulsed by the scent of all women. A powerful Alpha with no interest in a mate.

What if... what if I could offer him a deal he couldn't refuse?

If I married Alaric Charles, I would become Ewing and Kayla's aunt by marriage. The thought of them having to greet me with deference, with respect, sent a thrill of vicious satisfaction through me. It would be the ultimate revenge.

And with the power of the Charles name behind me, Warren wouldn't dare touch my position at Northwood. I could finally secure my footing, take back what was rightfully mine.

It was a gamble. A terrifying, high-stakes gamble.

But I had nothing left to lose.

I turned my phone back on, ignoring the flood of missed calls and angry texts. I scrolled straight to one name.

Hannah Sullivan. My best friend.

I pressed the call button. She picked up on the first ring.

"Elinor! Oh my god, are you okay? I heard..."

I cut her off, my voice steady and clear, forged in the fire of my newfound resolve. "Hannah, I need your help."

"Anything. What is it?"

"I need you to tell me everything you know about Alaric Charles. Every single detail."

There was a stunned silence on the other end of the line. "Alaric? Why?"

I looked out the diner window at the dark, sleeping city. A flame of determination flickered to life in my reflection's eyes.

"Because I'm going to marry him."