Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

39 Chapter 39

39 Chapter 39

Valerie’s POV 1

The taste of blood still lingered in my mouth as I stumbled up the front steps of our shabby apartment complex, my designer dress torn and stained with dirt and my own blood. Every step sent fresh waves of pain shooting through my ribs where that freak Seraphina had

thrown me into the trophy case like I was nothing more than a ragdoll.

My hands shook as I fumbled with my keys, the metal slipping between my fingers that were slick with blood from the glass cuts. The hallway light flickered overhead, casting sickly yellow shadows that made everything look even more pathetic than usual.

“Fucking bitch,” I muttered under my breath, finally managing to unlock the door. “Fucking psycho omega freak.”

But the moment I stepped inside, I knew something was wrong. The apartment was trashed-not just Gabriel’s usual slovenly mess, but actually destroyed. Couch cushions were slashed open, stuffing scattered across the floor like snow. Our cheap particleboard

entertainment center had been kicked in, the television screen spider-webbed with cracks.

“What the hell-”

“Valerie!” My mother’s voice cracked like a whip from the kitchen doorway. Elizabeth emerged from the shadows, and for the first time in my life, she looked genuinely terrified. Her perfect blonde hair was disheveled, mascara streaked down her cheeks in dark rivulets, and

her hands were shaking as she clutched a dish towel like a lifeline.

“Mother?” I stared at the destruction around us, my brain struggling to process what I was seeing. “What happened here? Where’s-”

“Look at your face!” Elizabeth shrieked suddenly, her eyes focusing on the bloody scratches that decorated my cheek like war paint. “My

God, what did that little bitch do to you?”

I rushed to the bathroom mirror, and what I saw there made my blood turn to ice. Four parallel gashes ran from my temple to my jaw,

deep enough to scar, deep enough to ruin the perfect face I’d spent years perfecting. Blood had dried in ugly brown streaks, and I could

see that some of the cuts were still oozing.

“That psychotic whore!” I screamed, spinning around to face my mother. “Look what she did to me! LOOK AT MY FACE!”

“Harold came here. With friends. Big friends. They were not happy about your little failure.”

The bottom dropped out of my stomach. “Harold was here?”

“He wanted his money back,” Elizabeth said bitterly, gesturing at the destruction around us. “Fifty thousand dollars for a wife, he said.

Since you couldn’t deliver the merchandise, he felt entitled to compensation.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him the truth-that you’re a worthless disappointment who can’t even handle one pathetic omega!” Elizabeth’s voice rose to a shrick that made the broken windows rattle. “He took everything he could carry. Your father’s golf clubs, my jewelry, even the good china we got for our wedding” 1

“Where’s Dad?” I asked, though I already dreaded the answer.

174

<

39 Chapter 39

Elizabeth’s face crumpled briefly before the hardness returned. “The stress triggered another episode. They don’t

through

have brought me to my knees with grief and guilt. Instead, all I felt

my chest like

we owe for the medical bills now?”

voice hollow. “The insurance barely

the county hospital if we can’t make a

to face me fully, and I saw something in her eyes

money. Not the fantasy bullshit you’ve been feeding me about marrying into the

wrists, my neck. “That necklace you’re wearing-the one Gabriel gave you for our

it cost?”

throat, the

expensive thing I owned.

“Mother, no. This is-”

“How much, Valerie?”

I admitted reluctantly. “But Gabriel saved for months to buy it for me.

is dying, we’re about to lose everything, and

fucking necklace being special?”

exploded, my carefully controlled facade finally cracking completely.

And my rings? Everything

could smell the desperation rolling off her like sour sweat. “He’s

who can’t even get his own

he chose me!” I screamed back, tears streaming down my cheeks and stinging in the open

enough to put a ring on my finger! Which is more than I can

didn’t see it coming. Elizabeth’s palm connected

the deeper cuts split open again, sending fresh

you. I scrimp and save so you could have nice clothes and a good education. And this is how you repay

father dies?”

yourself!” I screamed, blood flying from my split lip. “You want to know what I really think? I think Dad is better off dying

but I was ready for it. I caught Elizabeth’s wrist

10.30

31A

<

39 Chapter 39

and slam her against the

EVER hit me again!” I snarled in her ear. “I sure as hell am not selling my

Her hair was disheveled, her makeup smeared, and there was actual fear in her

more blood from my mouth. “But at least I’m not stupid enough to throw

of medical bills

her voice shaking with fury. “Keep

could muster and

to

blood from my face one more time and headed for

pushed open the bedroom door and immediately

on our unmade bed, completely naked except for a pair of stained

soft stomach, the screen displaying some hardcore pornography that made my stomach turn. His

of his self-gratification filled the