Chapter 5: The Confession He Never Wanted

A few days later.

Camilla had finally recovered under the healers' careful watch after taking the antidote.

"Derek, going through all this made me realize my true feelings for you. I like you..."

"A woman like Chloe doesn't deserve you. Are you really going to stay with her?"

Derek's expression hardened. His voice turned cold.

"Camilla, from the very first day you came to work for me, I told you—my mate will only ever be Chloe."

"If you bring this up again, whatever relationship we have will end here."

Camilla's face paled. She had expected Derek to comfort her after everything she had supposedly suffered, but she had never expected him to threaten her so directly.

"Derek, I nearly died. I only wanted you to understand how much you mean to me."

"And I told you that Chloe is my mate." Derek turned away, his jaw tight. "Don't mistake my concern for your recovery as something else."

Tears gathered in Camilla's eyes, but beneath them, jealousy burned hotter than ever.

Chloe had left him. She had walked away without begging, without looking back, and without giving Camilla the victory she had always wanted.

Yet Derek still refused to let her go.

"What if Chloe never comes back?" Camilla whispered.

Derek stopped at the door.

"Then I'll find her."

The answer came so quickly that even Derek seemed surprised by his own words.

Camilla lowered her head, hiding the hatred in her eyes. If Chloe returned, everything Camilla had worked for would collapse. She couldn't allow that to happen.

Meanwhile, far from the villa, Chloe sat beside a wide hospital window, watching rain slide down the glass. Her body was slowly healing, but the loss inside her felt impossible to name.

The healer had confirmed what she already feared. The pregnancy was gone.

For a long time, Chloe had stared at the report without crying. She had spent six years trying to become the kind of Luna Derek might finally cherish. She had endured insults, loneliness, and humiliation, always believing that one day their bond would mean something to him.

Now she understood how foolish that hope had been.

Her phone lit up with Derek's name.

One call. Then another. Then a string of messages demanding that she tell him where she was.

Chloe watched the screen until it went dark. She didn't answer.

A new message arrived a moment later.

"Chloe, stop acting like a child and come home. We need to talk."

She let out a quiet, bitter laugh. Even now, he spoke as if she were a disobedient wife who would eventually return when her Alpha ordered her to.

She opened their marriage contract and found the clause she had read countless times during sleepless nights. Once the six-year term ended, either party could terminate the arrangement without further obligation.

The final day was approaching.

Chloe placed the contract beside her hospital papers and began preparing the documents her lawyer had requested. This time, she would not let fear or love change her decision.

At the villa, Derek stood in the doorway of their empty bedroom. Chloe's clothes were gone. Her jewelry box sat open and bare. Even the little things she had left around the room—the book beside the bed, the mug she used every morning—had disappeared.

For the first time, the silence felt unbearable.

He called her again. No answer.

"Find out where she is," he ordered his Beta. "And don't tell her I sent you."

"Yes, Alpha."

Derek looked down at his phone, his thumb hovering over Chloe's name. He told himself he was angry because she had abandoned her duties as Luna. He told himself he only wanted to bring her home so they could settle the matter properly.

But when he remembered her pale face in the rain, and the way she had looked at him before leaving, an unfamiliar unease tightened around his chest.

Across town, Chloe signed the first page of the separation papers.

Her hand trembled once, then steadied.

"Six years are enough," she whispered. "I'm done waiting for you to love me, Derek."

She put down the pen and looked out at the distant city lights. She didn't know where she would go next, but for the first time in years, the future belonged to her.

Then her lawyer called with an unexpected warning.

"Chloe, there's something you should know. Derek's family has already been asking questions about the contract. If they discover you've started the termination process, they may try to stop you."

Chloe's expression grew serious.

"Let them try," she replied. "This time, nobody gets to decide my life for me."