The Woman He Mocked Is An Alpha Heiress

Chapter 2

HAILEY

I feel the shift again.

“Tell them, Dominic,” she snaps suddenly, turning to her son. “Go on. Tell everyone the truth about this useless mate of yours.”

The room goes still.

But he says nothing and his mother just took the reins for him.

“She doesn’t deserve him,” she says, her voice cold, and certain, without even a moment of hesitation. “She never has.”

Then, she pauses just long enough for it to settle.

“For all these years, she’s done nothing,” she continues. “While Jade has been the one standing by him. Supporting him and helping him build everything he has.”

Murmurs of agreement grow in the room because this makes sense to them.

This version of the story.

This version of me.

And I…

I just stand there.

Because the words should hurt more than this.

They should break something.

But they don’t.

Not anymore.

Because somewhere between the hospital room… and this moment—

I think I already broke.

And for a long moment, I say nothing.

It's not because I don’t have words. Instead, it's because I have too many and none of them seem worth it anymore.

I look at him.

Really look at him.

At the man I loved. The man I chose.

The man I gave everything up for, just so he could love me without my name, without my power, without everything that came with me.

And somehow…

He still couldn’t.

Clarity settles heavily in my chest. Maybe it's from the ache in my bones and the deep wound on my heart.

“The truth?” I start softly.

Then I nod once.

“You’re right.”

He stares at me, confusion in his gaze but I’m already past that..

Because the thing about broken bonds and broken marriages is that—

They never really happen in a day or overnight.

You don't catch your mate cheating or his mother spewing hurtful words at you and be really surprised.

Because, deep inside, you've already noticed.

In moments no one else sees.

In the way he stopped looking at you like you mattered.

In the way his mother calls you worthless and he didn't stand up to protect you.

In the way your calls started going unanswered.

In the way you began to shrink yourself just to keep the peace.

In the way his silence grew louder than any argument you could have had.

In the way you kept telling yourself it was just a phase.

In the infamous roommate phase.

And above all…

In the way my patience is thinning but I’d believed so much in the mate bond because of my mama and my daddies.

Even when everything inside me already knew.

And in the way I'd overthought everything, because I was so stressed and too depressed that I kept losing my babies.

My nails dig into my palm to stop the tears and my attention drifts back to him.

“So,” I say softly, my voice steady, almost detached.

“What do you want us to do, Dominic?”

It's like the room held its breath.

He glances behind him, at the people watching, at the eyes waiting for how this will unfold, how the future Alpha of Wolfborne pack will reject his fated mate, and then he turns back to me.

“Let’s talk somewhere private,” he says, his voice lower now.

I shake my head.

“No. Say it here.”

His jaw tightens as he grits his teeth, gaze hardening and he steps closer.

“Hailey—”

“Say it.” I repeat.

Something flickers in his eyes, irritation, hesitation, something that almost looks like restraint, but it’s gone just as quickly as it comes.

His shoulders straighten and his expression hardens.

And then—

“Fine.”

The word lands flat.

“This isn’t working,” he says, loud enough for everyone to hear, like he wants them to. “It hasn’t been for a long time.”

A soft murmur moves through the room but I don’t look away from him.

“You’ve become…” he pauses, like he’s choosing the right word, like this is something he’s thought about before. “Difficult and… unstable. You create problems where there shouldn’t be any.”

Unstable.

My fingers twitch slightly at my sides.

“I need someone who understands what I’m building,” he continues, his tone calmer now, almost reasonable. “Someone who can stand beside me and contribute. Not someone who drags me down with… this.”

His gaze flickers briefly over me, lingering on my stomach.

My throat tightens.

And then he looks away like it’s nothing.

“Jade has been there for me,” he adds, sparing her a brief glance like he needs to make the point clearer. “She understands me and the pack. She supports me. She’s been doing that long before you even tried.”

Tried.

Something inside me almost laughs.

But it doesn’t come out.

Because I remember. I remember the nights he didn’t see. The calls I made. The decisions I influenced. The doors I opened quietly, without ever attaching my name to it.

Especially the Wolfe contract.

The same thing he is celebrating tonight.

The same thing they are all praising him for.

The same thing that came to him because of me and because of who I am.

And still—

I say nothing because none of it matters anymore.

“You don’t deserve this position,” he finishes, his voice colder now. “And you don’t deserve me.”

Silence follows and then—

“I think it’s time we end this.”

And even though I've overthought this scene a thousand times, I can still hear my heart breaking.

I hold his gaze for a moment longer.

And then, slowly—

I nod in acknowledgement.

My hand lifts slightly, brushing against the hospital band still wrapped around my wrist and a slow breath leaves me.

And when I speak, my voice is softer than before.

“Okay.”

The word surprises him.

I can see it in the slight shift in his expression because he expected resistance or emotion or anything.

But I give him nothing except this final thing,

“I Hailey Merrick, reject you—”

His hand shoots forward, and his eyes widen like he is only just realizing what I am about to do.