The drive to my parents’ imposing mansion seemed to have happened in a blur. I just drove, barely noticing things around me.

I burst through their front door without knocking, the polished veneer of the dutiful daughter obliterated. They were in the sitting room, sipping sherry like it was any other Tuesday night. My father looked up, annoyance already creasing his brow. My mother’s eyes widened slightly in feigned surprise.

"Aurora? What on earth—"

"Brielle," I choked out, the name tasting like ash. "She’s alive. I saw her. With Ethan."

My mother gasped, a theatrical hand flying to her chest. My father’s face hardened. "Don’t be ridiculous, Aurora. Your sister is—"

"Don’t!" I shouted, the sound raw and foreign in the hushed room. "Don’t lie to me! I saw her! The birthmark! Why? Why would you tell me she was dead? Why force me into that… that farce of a marriage?"

My father slammed his glass down, sherry sloshing over the rim. "Because it was necessary, you ungrateful child! We needed the connection! The prestige of having both daughters married to the King! Brielle’s… situation… required discretion!"

"Situation?" I echoed, icy dread replacing the rage. "What situation?"

My mother looked away, fiddling with her pearls. My father’s glare was pure venom. "She was pregnant, you little fool! By some low-born tracker! Ruined! We had to hide her, get her out of sight until the mess was dealt with. And you," he spat the word, "you were the spare. Always were. Useful for once."

The words hit me like physical blows. Spare. Useful. The room swam. "Pregnant? But… you said rogues…"

"An easy story," my father scoffed. "Neater. And you believed it, like the gullible idiot you are. We took you in out of obligation, Aurora. A burden dumped on us by some dead Alpha’s misplaced sentiment. We never wanted you. Never loved you. You were just… convenient."

The final brick in the fragile dam holding my world together crumbled. Obligation. Burden. Convenient. The truth of my entire existence, laid bare with brutal, hateful clarity. The love I’d craved, the family I’d tried so desperately to please… it was all a lie.

Tears streamed down my face now, hot and unchecked, but they were tears of fury, of shattering pain. "You monsters," I whispered, the sound trembling but fierce.

"Get out," my father snarled. "You’re no daughter of ours. And don’t bother crawling back to Ethan. He’s done with you too. Now that Brielle’s back… well, you’re obsolete."

Obsolete. The word echoed in the cavernous silence they left behind as I stumbled back out into the night. The cool air did nothing to numb the raw, gaping wound where my heart used to be.

Betrayed. Replaced.

Thrown away.

Happy Anniversary, indeed. The only gift I’d received was the crushing knowledge that my whole life was a lie and the only place I had left to go… was nowhere.

————————————————————————

The cold night air slapped my face, a pathetic attempt to shock me out of the numbness spreading from my chest to my fingertips. Obsolete. The word echoed in the hollow space where my family was supposed to be. Where my life was supposed to be.

I stood on the curb outside the Hudson mansion – no, not my mansion, theirs – feeling less like a person and more like discarded packaging. Five foot seven of inconvenient curves and auburn hair they’d finally managed to bin. My sky-blue dress, picked for a pathetic anniversary dinner with a husband who despised me, felt like a cruel joke. Happy freaking Tuesday.

Where did you go when you had nowhere? The Stonecreek palace? Ha. Ethan would probably have the guards toss me out like yesterday’s trash now that his real prize, Brielle the miraculously un-dead and conveniently un-pregnant (apparently that mess was ‘dealt with’), was back in his icy arms. My parents’ words, my father’s words, played on a vicious loop: Burden. Obligation. Convenient. Never wanted you. Never loved you.

The tears had dried up somewhere between their marble foyer and this cold sidewalk, leaving behind a raw, scraping emptiness. A void. It wasn't just sadness; it was the complete annihilation of everything I thought I knew. My foundation wasn't just cracked; it was vaporized.

A low, throaty rumble broke the silence. A sleek, black town car idled nearby. Ethan’s driver, Carl. He must have followed me from the palace. The tinted window slid down silently. Carl’s face, usually impassive, held a flicker of something… pity? Or maybe just professional distaste for messy emotional scenes.

"Luna?" he inquired, his voice carefully neutral. "Shall I take you home?"

Home? The word tasted like ash. The gilded cage? The monument to my utter irrelevance? The place where my husband was likely currently celebrating his reunion with my viper of a sister?

"No," I rasped, the sound grating against my throat. "Not there."

Carl’s brow furrowed slightly. "Where would you like to go, Luna?"

Anywhere but here. Anywhere that isn’t a reminder of how utterly unwanted I am. The thought was a scream inside my skull. But outwardly? The meek Aurora, the one trained to avoid trouble, to fold in on herself, surfaced automatically. "Just… drive. Please. Anywhere."

Carl hesitated for a fraction of a second, then nodded. "As you wish, Luna."

I slid into the plush leather interior, the familiar scent of polish and Ethan’s faint, expensive cologne making my stomach lurch. I hugged my arms around myself, staring blankly out the window as the city lights blurred past. Each illuminated window felt like a glimpse into a life I’d never have. Warmth. Family. Love. Things that were apparently reserved for people who weren’t cosmic mistakes.

We drove in suffocating silence. Carl didn’t ask again. He just drove, aimlessly circling through districts I barely recognized. The opulent pack neighborhoods gave way to brighter, noisier streets. Neon signs blinked garish promises: Karaoke! All Night! Lucky’s Tavern – Coldest Beer in Town! Open Late!

Perfect

Exactly what I needed, someone no one would bother looking but who was I kidding no one was gonna come looking for me I was nothing to them.

Well at least I am at a place where nobodies

were welcomed.