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~Elara’s POV
I stood there staring at the water long after Stella ended the call. The wind kept blowing my hair back and the cold night air kept reminding that I was alone. I hugged my arms around myself and tried to understand things that did not make sense. My parents used to say I would always have a ho, that I would always be safe, because I was the princess of Blueberry Pack and nothing could touch .
But now? They could barely send any money. They were broke. Alpha Darlon had taken full ownership of the company, of everything that kept us standing. They did not even try to fight him, because if they did, it would expose everything I had done and we would all go down together. They could not even send money freely because any large transfer would alert him, and he would trace it, and I would be finished. That part hurt more than anything. Not the money, but the fact that my own parents were too scared to reach out.
Why would Stella do what she did? Why would she give money that looked like her life savings? Why did the amount feel like a goodbye mixed with a warning? I let those questions sit in my chest because answers were not coming.
I stayed at the beach until the waves started to look blurry from my tired eyes. The darkness began to lift a little and the sky turned the kind of pale color that looked sick. My body was cold and shaking by the ti I walked back to the hotel, the sand stuck to my shoes and the wind following like a reminder.
The mont I stepped into the lobby, the sll of the place hit again. Damp wood, old bedsheets, sothing rotten beneath the walls. I wrinkled my nose, but the receptionist looked up at with fear like she expected to scream again.
"I got what you asked for," she said quickly, trying to smile. She slid a brown paper bag across the counter. In it were bottles of cheap alcoholic wine and cigarettes. "We do not sell... harder things," she said quietly, voice shaking. "But I hope this helps."
I stared at the bag, then at her. For a second, sothing inside softened, but then I rembered who I had beco and it closed back up.
"Thank you," I muttered. My voice was flat but not cruel this ti. I picked up the bag and turned toward the stairs.
She called after quietly, "Miss Lira... please be careful."
I didn’t answer. I just kept walking.
The room slled like old sweat and mold when I got inside. The door closed behind with a weak click. I dropped the bag on the bed and pulled out a bottle. It was not the kind of wine I was used to. It looked cheap, tasted cheap, but I drank it anyway, straight from the bottle. I lit one of the cigarettes, even though I hated the sll of smoke. I hated what it did to my throat. But I needed sothing to drown out the fear inside my head.
The alcohol hit fast, burning my chest. I felt it in my stomach and behind my eyes. My body got warm and heavy. The cigarette smoke filled the room like a cloud, mixing with the sll of the hotel. I put music on my phone, sothing loud and ssy, sothing that sounded like everything crashing.
Before I could think, I was dancing. Not pretty dancing. Not graceful dancing. Just movent. Wild, sloppy, uncontrolled movent. I knocked into the table. I spun too fast and stumbled. I laughed at nothing and then laughed harder because the sound didn’t even feel like it ca from .
Soone banged on my door.
"Keep it down!" a man yelled from the hallway.
Another voice joined him. "So of us are trying to sleep!"
I rolled my eyes and took another long drag of the cigarette. My head felt light. My body felt loose. I marched to the door and yelled through it, my voice loud and drunken.
"Mind your business!" I shouted. "I paid for this room just like you idiots, so if I want to dance and drink, then I will!"
There was silence for a second, and then soone knocked again, harder.
"You are disturbing everyone!"
That made laugh. "Oh please," I slurred, leaning against the doorfra. "I have been disturbing people my whole life. Get used to it. Or go complain to the Alpha. Maybe he will send guards for his criminal princess."
I heard them mutter and walk away. I turned back toward the room, breathing heavily, chest rising and falling too fast. The music kept playing, the cigarette burned low, the bottle was almost empty.
I dropped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. The smoke curled up like ghosts. My vision blurred. The room spun slowly.
"I ssed up," I whispered to no one. "I ruined everything because I wanted sothing that was never mine."
My throat tightened. "Alpha Darlon never loved ," I said, the truth finally settling in my chest like a stone. "He was never going to love . And now he has a wife. And she is pregnant. And he is happy."
That part hurt like fire.
"He is happy," I repeated, because maybe if I said it enough, it would stop feeling like a knife.
My phone buzzed again, but I ignored it. I didn’t want to know what the world was saying. I didn’t want to see the pictures or the headlines or the comnts calling stupid or evil or desperate. Even though they were right. Even though I could feel their words crawling under my skin.
I poured another drink. I smoked another cigarette. It was like trying to erase myself piece by piece.
"I don’t know why Stella helped ," I whispered. "I don’t know why she cares."
My voice broke. "I don’t know why anyone would."
The music softened, like it was fading through water. I laid back, dizzy, tired, breathing smoke and regret. I closed my eyes because the room was too heavy to look at. My body felt like it was sinking into the mattress.
Soone knocked again, softer this ti, but I didn’t move. I didn’t care enough to get up. I drifted in and out of sleep, the music still playing, the wine bottle half empty beside .
The last thought I had before slipping under was quiet and painful.
"I don’t want to die like this," I whispered. "But I don’t know how to live either."
And the night swallowed .
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