Chapter 38
Harper's POV
The morning after the wedding was a punch to the gut. I woke up on the couch, my body stiff, my heart a cold, heavy stone. Aiden was gone. Just like that. No sound, no sign he'd even been in the room. It was his way of telling me: I was nothing. Invisible. A ghost.
Going downstairs felt like walking into a firing squad. Every single eye in the pack house turned to me.
The whispers started, then grew louder as I passed. "The shame," they hissed.
"The conniving sister." "She trapped him." I kept my chin up, my gaze straight ahead. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing me break. Not now. Not ever.
Ethan, the firstborn, the one Ava truly wanted, sat at the head table. He looked uncomfortable, his usual quietness even more pronounced. And right there, p
