Fighting back
1465 Words
MILLIE'S POV
The estate felt too quiet without Braham.
I stood by the window in the living room, staring out at the manicured grounds while my mind replayed the look on his face before he left. Tension. Worry. That flash of gold in his eyes that I was starting to recognize meant his wolf was close to the surface.
Politics can be more dangerous than claws.
I'd said it without thinking, but now the words haunted me. What was happening at that Council meeting? Were they really questioning his leadership because of me?
"Mama?" Leo's small voice pulled me from my thoughts. He stood in the doorway, his dragon book tucked under his arm. "Is Braham okay?"
I forced a smile and crossed the room to kneel in front of him. "He's fine, baby. He just had to go take care of some important work."
"Alpha work?"
My breath caught. Leo had started using that word more often lately; 'Alpha.' Like he understood something I didn't. Like some instinct told him what Braham really was.
"Yes. Alpha work." I kissed his forehead. "Why don't you go play in your room for a bit? I'll come check on you soon."
He nodded and padded off, but not before giving me one of those too-knowing looks that made me wonder what was really going on in his three-year-old mind.
I was heading toward the kitchen when Callie appeared in the hallway, her laptop clutched in her hands and her face pale.
"Millie." Her voice was tight. "We need to talk. Now."
My stomach dropped. "What's wrong? Did something happen to Braham?"
"No, it's not..." She hesitated, then held out the laptop. "It's you. You're everywhere."
She pulled me into the living room and set the laptop on the coffee table. Within seconds, the screen was filled with headlines, photos, and videos I hadn't authorized.
"MILLIE-ROSE HARVEY: FROM EXPLOITATION TO VINDICATION"
"FROM VICTIM TO VINDICTIVE? Harvey Family Drama Explodes"
"Actress Exposes Family's Decades of Abuse and Murder"
My hands started shaking as Callie scrolled through article after article. Some had photos from the courthouse; me walking in with Braham, Martha being led away in handcuffs, Sabrina's mugshot. Others had dug up old modeling photos from when I was a child, juxtaposed with recent paparazzi shots.
"How did this...?" I couldn't finish the sentence.
"Someone leaked details from Sabrina's arrest. The confession about poisoning your mother, the blackmail, everything." Callie's voice was careful. "And once that got out, reporters started connecting all the dots."
I sank onto the couch, staring at the screen. There were hundreds of comments under each article. Thousands on social media posts.
@RealTruthSeeker: Finally! I always knew something was wrong with that wedding scandal. Millie was the victim all along!
@JusticeForMillie: Her stepmother MURDERED her mother and got away with it for 21 years?? This is insane.
@TeamMillieRose: Everyone who dragged her four years ago owes her an apology. She was pregnant and terrified and INNOCENT.
Relief flooded through me. People believed me. After four years of being painted as a cheater and a liar, people finally knew the truth.
But then Callie scrolled further, and my relief curdled into something else.
@FamilyFirst2024: I don't care what they did. That's still her FAMILY. Forgiveness is supposed to be unconditional.
@KeepingItReal: Easy to be "strong" when you have a billionaire boyfriend fighting your battles. Try doing it alone like the rest of us.
@SkepticalSally: Convenient that all this comes out NOW after she landed a rich man. Sounds like revenge funded by money.
Each comment felt like a physical blow, but I forced myself to keep reading. This was the cost of going public. Not everyone would understand.
Then Callie pulled up a new article, and my blood went cold.
"GOTHAN'S BURDEN: Billionaire's Private World Shattered by Partner's Family Drama"
The subheadline was worse: "Sources close to Braham Gothan express concern over the relentless public scrutiny affecting his business interests and personal life."
I read faster, my heart pounding.
"...while Martha Harvey faces kidnapping charges, insiders say the drama has been a significant distraction for the notoriously private businessman. Friends of Gothan worry that the relentless media attention surrounding his partner's legal battles is taking a toll..."
"Friends of Gothan," I whispered. "Callie, who are these 'friends'?"
Her expression was grim. "That's what you need to understand. This article? It didn't come from random reporters. Someone from Braham's world leaked this. Someone who wants to make you look like a liability."
The realization hit me like ice water. "The pack."
"Most likely." She scrolled down to show me more. "Look at the language. 'Burden.' 'Distraction.' 'Toll.' This isn't journalism. It's a political hit."
My hands clenched into fists. They were using the human media as a weapon. While Braham was in that Council meeting defending his choice to stand by me, members of his own pack were here, in my world, painting me as the problem.
"There's more." Callie pulled up another article, this one with a photo of me and Leo at the park, his face thankfully blurred. "They're calling it the 'Harvey Family Curse.' Making it sound like you're the common denominator of disaster."
@MoneyTalks: Must be nice having billionaire royalty bankrolling your revenge plot. The rest of us can't afford that kind of justice.
@AnonymousUser: She destroyed her whole family over money. That inheritance was the real goal all along.
"That's not true," I said, my voice breaking. "The inheritance was never about money..."
"We know that." Callie moved the laptop aside and took my hands. "Everyone who matters knows that. But Millie, this is what they want. They want you to look weak. They want Braham to look distracted. They're trying to prove that a human mate makes their Alpha King vulnerable."
My phone started buzzing. Text messages from unknown numbers. Emails flooding my inbox. Even my old social media accounts were exploding with notifications.
Then a message from a blocked number appeared:
You think you've won? You think destroying your family makes you strong? You're going to regret this. All of it.
I showed Callie. Her jaw tightened. "That's it. I'm calling security and getting your number changed."
But I barely heard her. My mind was racing, connecting dots.
Braham was at that Council meeting right now, facing accusations that I was weakening him. And while he defended me, his own pack members were here, leaking to the press, weaponizing my trauma against him.
They'd made this personal. They'd made this about him.
But this wasn't pack territory. This was my world. The human world. And here, I knew how to fight.
"No," I said suddenly, standing up. "Don't call security yet."
"What?"
"Get me my PR team. The ones who handled the inheritance press release." My voice was steady now, the panic hardening into strategy. "And my lawyer. Will Reid."
Callie blinked. "Millie, what are you going to do?"
"They want a story about a family curse? About a vindictive heiress dragging down her successful boyfriend?" I looked at her, letting her see the resolve. "I'll give them a different story. One about a mother protecting her child from a kidnapper. About a daughter uncovering her own mother's murder. About justice, not drama."
"But Braham..."
"Is handling the pack. I'll handle this." I grabbed my phone. "They think my humanity is a weakness? That my past makes him look bad? Fine. Then I'll use it as a weapon. I'll control this narrative so completely that no one... not his pack, not the media, not anyone...can use it against him again."
Callie studied me for a long moment. "You're sure about this?"
"I've never been more sure of anything." I pulled up Will Reid's number. "Braham's fighting for me in his world. It's time I fight for him in mine."
She nodded slowly. "Okay. But we do this smartly. No impulsive statements. We plan every word."
"Agreed." I hit the call, my hand steady despite the adrenaline. "Will? It's Millie. I need your advice on making a public statement... Yes, I know what I'm doing... No, I'm not waiting for the trials to be over. This needs to happen now."
As I spoke, laying out my strategy, I felt something shift inside me. The fear was still there...it always would be... but it was buried under something stronger.
Four years ago, I'd run from public scrutiny. I'd hidden, let others control my story, let shame and fear dictate my choices.
Not anymore.
They wanted to paint me as Braham's burden? As a distraction pulling him away from his duties?
I'd show them exactly what a burden could do when she stopped apologizing and started fighting back.
Let the pack see that his human mate didn't just bring drama.
She ended it.
- Writer
