Betrayal on a moonlit night

Chapter Three

Maria's wolf eyes glittered sharply in the moonlight as she suddenly dropped the mug in her hand to the floor, the harsh shattering sound echoing through the wolf pack's gathering hall and drawing the attention of all the wolves. Grace didn't react quickly enough, and the glass landed at her feet, splashing liquor all over her skirt, making her look like a wolf.

Lucy quickly pulled Grace to her side, making sure she wasn't hurt, and then she glared at Maria with a low growl characteristic of the wolf clan, "What are you doing!"

The corner of Maria's mouth curled up into a cold smile as she looked straight at Lucy and said in the characteristic nasal voice of a werewolf, "What she's lost, is the pair of wolf tooth earrings that my grandmother left me, right?"

"Yes." Lucy answered a little sheepishly, the earrings had been left to her by Maria's grandmother, she had intended to leave them to Maria, but Grace had seen them by accident and liked them very much.

Maria's sense of smell was sharp, she could smell Lucy's lie and Grace's envy. She knew that in this werewolf society, family honor and legacy were crucial. Lucy coldly continued, "I'll buy you another more expensive one, that earring is what I'm going to give to your sister, if you have anger at me, don't at your sister."

Maria's wolf ears twitched slightly as she could hear Daniel's footsteps coming closer and his scent becoming more pronounced. Daniel, a young wolf leader whose choices would affect the future of the entire wolf pack.

Daniel's voice was firm and strong, "Maria, stop in moderation, stop and give your sister back her earrings." He held Louisa's hand in a protective gesture, "And apologize to Louisa."

Maria's wolf eyes locked on Daniel, her wolf instincts were telling her that this man no longer belonged to her. She took a deep breath, the air thick with tension and betrayal. She suddenly snatched the champagne from the hand of a young werewolf next to her and smashed it toward Daniel, the glass shattering at his feet.

"I'm sorry." Maria's voice held a hint of the wolf's characteristic sarcasm.

The atmosphere was tense to the point where the peace of the werewolf gathering was shattered by this sudden clash. Just then, Ella, the nanny, came running over, holding a half-open carved brownish-red wooden box, inside of which the green glow of the wolf's tooth earrings could be vaguely seen.

The earrings were found, in the corner of the sofa in Grace's room. Grace slapped her forehead, as if suddenly remembering, and guiltily took Maria's arm, "I was so happy when Mom gave it to me, I took it out and looked at it for a while and forgot to put it in."

Maria's wolf ears twitched, and she could hear Grace's heartbeat accelerate, an instinctive reaction when a werewolf lies. Maria responded coldly, "Hear that? It's Grace's own brain that's bad, I didn't steal it... Daniel, your brain is bad too after you turned into a scum? Do I need to steal what I want?"

Maria's wolf eyes looked provocatively at Louisa, her voice echoing through the wolf gathering, "It's not like I'm so shabby as Louisa that I even steal from men."

Daniel's face darkened, his voice low with the authority of a wolf leader, "You're drunk."

Not to be deterred, Maria pulled her eyes back and snatched the box ahead of Grace as she went for the pair of earrings. Then in front of everyone, she removed her own earrings and put the wolfsbane earrings from the box on.

Grace tried to be as pleasant as possible, reminding, "Maria, this earring, Mom already gave it to me, it's not appropriate for you to put it on like that, is it?"

Maria's voice was firm and strong, "This was left to me by my grandmother, your foster mom has no business giving it to you. The only way you can take what is mine is if I don't want it, and if I don't agree, you are stealing."

Lucy shielded Grace, the anger of a she-wolf in her voice, "It has nothing to do with your sister, I told you, I'm the one giving it to her."

Maria's wolf eyes flashed with a cold light, "The earrings are an ancestral heirloom of the Michelle family, Grace is just an adopted daughter, has she entered the family tree yet? Family heirloom you give to an outsider, you are not afraid that the Michelle family's ancestors will crawl out from below to look for you."

The surrounding werewolves began to talk, Maria's outspokenness shocked some of them. Lucy's face couldn't hang on, she was already shaking with anger, Grace held her back and spoke understandingly, "Mom, forget it, Maria can have it if she likes it, I don't want it."

Maria sneered, her voice carried the pride of the wolf clan, "You don't want it? Is it something that belongs to you? Who are you to say you don't want it. You arranged this play tonight, didn't you, conspiring with Louisa to provoke me first, to force me to admit that Daniel doesn't love me anymore, to make me recognize my position in the Michel family."

No sooner had Maria's words left her mouth than Lucy's slap landed with a crisp sound on her face. Maria's wolf eyes flashed with a trace of pain, but she didn't retreat, instead, she became more determined, "Try hitting me again, do you believe it or not, I'll break the news, and Grace won't be able to get married for the rest of her life!"

The surrounding wolves stretched their ears almost instantly, curious about the secrets and conflicts within the wolf clan. Only Daniel furrowed his brows, he had known Maria since childhood and knew her better than the next person. He knew that the harder the girl felt inside, the louder and more rowdy she would get, but not crazy like this.

Maria's behavior was off, and Daniel sensed a change that he had never seen before. The commotion in the hall was making too much noise, Frank's father and son had been in the study talking to someone about something, and had been listening to the commotion without really hearing it, thinking it was the playfulness down there, and then they finally heard something was wrong.

Daniel walked over and took Maria's wrist, a hint of concern in his voice, "Come out with me."

Maria looked at him steadily, her eyes already red, and there was a hint of a tremor in her voice, "Daniel, I'm going to give you one last chance, really one last time."

Before Daniel could understand what she meant, Maria had already shaken off his hand with all her might. Then, in front of the stunned eyes of the crowd, she grabbed Louisa with one hand and Grace with the other and yanked her way out the door. Louisa subconsciously struggled, and when Grace gave her a look, Louisa went quiet.

There was a swimming pool in the yard, and Maria was a notoriously dry duck who couldn't swim, and no one expected that she would kick one, and after kicking both Grace and Louisa down, she jumped in herself.

While submerged in water, Maria heard four voices. One her own brother Jack, calling out for Grace. One was her own father, Frank, calling out for Grace. One was her own mom, Lucy, calling out for Grace. One was her fiancé, Daniel, calling out for Louisa.

Before her vision was completely blurred, she saw two people jump down first, Jack holding Grace and Daniel holding Louisa. Once the four of them were on shore, Lucy fumbled to wrap her cloak around Grace, and Daniel, not caring about his own mess, held Louisa in his arms with residual fear.

Grace and Louisa were both good swimmers. They were afraid they'd be cold, but forgot that Maria couldn't swim. Maria was rescued, naturally, and with so many people, someone could always see her struggling in the water. A young man fished her out of the water and was a gentleman enough to lend her his jacket.

Daniel made sure Louisa was okay before calming down, noticing a line of sight and turning his head to look over, his body jerking. Maria was sitting on the floor soaked to the skin, the man's suit jacket draped over her shoulders, her long, slender lashes fluttering, her watery eyes staring straight at him. No crying, no fuss, a dead silence. Very unusual.

If it were the past, Maria would have been cursing by now. Daniel thought of her sentence "I'll give you one last chance", and suddenly felt that from this moment on, something was quietly dispersing. At first he didn't know what it was. It soon became clear.

After this tossing and turning, the guests left of their own accord. Maria went to her room to shower and change, Grace took Louisa to her room, and Daniel went to Jack's room. Later a few people packed up and came down and Louisa stayed in her room. Frank saw Maria and chopped his head off. He was focused on his face, and he had lost it after such a big incident tonight.

Maria ignored his anger and went around, sitting on her ass on the single couch and taking her phone to send a message. Daniel's cell phone rang, and he subconsciously looked up at Maria before picking it up to read it.

[100]

Before he could respond, Maria's voice rang again, "I'm not marrying Daniel, the wedding is off."

Daniel's head snapped up, "What did you say? The wedding is canceled?" Michelle's family also looked at Maria in unison, completely incredulous. Only Grace quickly withdrew her gaze, absently ruffling her half-dried blow-dried hair, the corners of her lips pulling in a faint arc. Seemingly triumphant.

Daniel decided that Maria was gambling again and scratched his hair in annoyance, "Maria, you need to stop."

Maria took the ginger tea handed to her by her nanny and gently shook it. "Daniel, I was away for five years and when I came back you told me that you were in love with Louisa and you wanted to call off the engagement. I didn't want to let go, so I forced myself, I tried to tie you down with marriage, but you hurt me over and over again for Louisa."

She pointed to his cell phone, the pathos clearly visible in her pretty, delicate features. "I just decided that I would give you a hundred chances, and if you hurt me once, I would deduct one point for you. If it's deducted before the wedding, I'll resign myself to the fact that I don't actually deduct it every time we argue, and I'll only remember it once when your knife goes deep."

Her voice echoed through the gathering of wolves, all of them could feel her pain and determination. "But you see, even though I've let it go over and over again, the hundred points are still deducted. I'm absolutely certain now that you don't love me anymore, and if you want to marry Louisa, go ahead, I'll make way for you."

Daniel, also holding ginger tea in his hand, froze slightly after hearing those words from Maria until the crisp slap rang out in the living room. Maria received another slap, from Frank, and the left and right sides of her face were symmetrical.

"You were the one who insisted on getting engaged in the first place, and now you say cancel? The invitations went out and now you're canceling the wedding, what's the face of my old Michelle family?" Frank tonight in the study with someone to talk about business, talk is not very good, the mood is already bad, a good birthday banquet and by Maria made a joke, even more unpleasant.

This would hear her wanting to give up the Brown family's marriage, the fire came up. "You are arrogant and bossy, bratty and capricious, besides Daniel, which good family dares to want you? Daniel just said, that Louisa, he won't marry, won't affect your status, what else do you want?"

"Can't you put up with it? You had a bad reputation to begin with after that incident in your high school ......" Frank mouthed off in his heightened anger, and the sudden mention of high school caused an eerie silence to fall over the living room.

Lucy reacted and busied herself with tugging at his arm, it was too late. Snap! Maria finished the ginger tea in her hand and slammed her third cup of the night. This time, on a rare occasion, no one spoke up, even Frank stopped talking, chagrin on his face.

Like nothing else, Maria looked to Daniel, "The wedding is off, do you agree?" Daniel looked at her bloodless, expressionless face and took a slow breath, murmuring, "How do I agree? You didn't agree when I wanted it canceled in the first place. You had the audacity to go to my Uncle Junior, you're my Uncle Junior's benefactor, my Uncle Junior told me to marry you, the Brown family, who would dare mess with my Uncle Junior?"

Maria didn't say another word and got up with her cell phone, giving Grace a thumbs up before she left. "You're good, I finished the play with you tonight, you got your aim, very proud of yourself. But I'm not pleased, so wash your neck at home and wait for me."

The wind was bitterly cold, Maria called Mia as soon as she left the house, the other person was off, she thought about it and flipped to another number and dialed it, this time it went through.

"Maria?" The man's low voice held surprise, obviously surprised.

Maria hmmmed, "Mia's cell phone was off, so I called you directly. Jason, can you give me Jacob's cell phone number?"

In the quaint booth, Jason inclined his head to look at the man next to him who was being toasted and was more than a little surprised. "What do you want with him? Something wrong?"

Jacob was Daniel's brother-in-law, uncle and nephew didn't have a good relationship, and Maria liked Daniel and had basically nothing to do with Jacob. Why were you suddenly looking for Jacob?

"I want to call off the wedding with Daniel." Jason was Jacob's hairdresser, there were no secrets between the two, Maria had nothing to hide.

"Daniel doesn't agree and I want to ask him for help." "Cancel the wedding?" Thinking he'd heard wrong, Jason asked again, was silent for a short while after making sure, and finally tsked, "That bastard Daniel really isn't worth trusting."

He asked Maria if she was in a hurry, and Maria said yes. Jason covered his cell phone and elbowed the man next to him, "That little princess of the Michelle family wants to break off her engagement to your nephew and wants to see you."

Jacob's fingertips pause slightly, silent for a little while, putting down his glass, his low voice with a dull huskiness. "Send her."

Jason gave Maria an address. "I've got dinner here with Jacob, it'll be over in about half an hour, so it's not too late for you to get here."