Mila's POV.

I quickly crawled through the hidden passage and positioned myself where I could see into Lily's room through a crack in the bathroom door. What I was about to witness would be the final piece of evidence I needed to destroy their evil plan.

"It's about time," Lily said as she opened her door. "I was starting to think you weren't coming."

Ethan stepped into the room, his face still showing the bruises that Isabella had given him. "I had to make sure no one saw me coming up here. Nathan's declaration has everyone in the castle talking."

"That stupid little whore," Lily spat, pacing around the room like a caged animal. "How dare she steal my husband? How dare she make me look like a fool in front of everyone?"

Ethan grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her against his chest. "Calm down, Lily. This is actually perfect for our plan."

"Perfect? How is this perfect? Nathan just declared that slut as his mistress in front of the entire pack!"

"Because now we can play the sympathy card," Ethan explained, his voice cold and calculating. "Poor Lily, betrayed by her unfaithful husband. The pack will feel sorry for you."

"I don't want their pity," Lily said, but I could tell she was listening to his plan.

"You won't need their pity for long," Ethan said with a cruel smile. "Because you're going to give Nathan something that Isabella can't."

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering with words, Ethan grabbed Lily roughly and kissed her like a man who had been starving for weeks. Their kiss was desperate, hungry, filled with the kind of passion that two people feel when they've been forced to hide their relationship.

"I've missed you so much," Lily moaned against his lips. "It's been torture pretending to be in love with Nathan when all I want is you."

"I know, baby," Ethan said, his hands already starting to roam over her body. "But tonight, we're going to ensure our future together."

I grabbed my cell phone and started recording a video. I knew I wouldn't be able to watch much of what was about to happen without getting sick, but I needed evidence of their betrayal.

What happened next was both disgusting and revealing. Ethan pushed Lily toward the bed, but it wasn't romantic or tender. It was rough, desperate, like he was on some kind of mission.

"We have to be quick," he said, already unzipping his pants. "Nathan could come back at any time."

"He won't," Lily said breathlessly. "He's too busy fucking his precious little mate."

The word 'mate' came out of her mouth like poison. She knew exactly what Nathan and Isabella were to each other, and she hated it.

Ethan didn't even bother with foreplay. He just lifted the bottom of Lily's dress and pushed himself inside her without any preparation or gentleness.

Lily had to bite down on the bedsheets to keep from screaming. Whether it was from pain or pleasure, I couldn't tell, and I didn't want to know.

"Shh," Ethan whispered harshly, covering her mouth with his hand. "You can't make any noise. If anyone hears us, we're both dead."

The irony wasn't lost on me. Here they were, fucking on Nathan's own bed, in the room he shared with his supposed wife. If Nathan had walked in and caught them, he would have been within his rights to execute them both on the spot.

"How can they be so reckless?" I whispered to myself, making sure my phone was capturing everything.

But then I heard something that made my blood run cold.

"That's it," Ethan grunted as he reached his climax inside Lily. "Mission accomplished."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, sounding confused and breathless.

Ethan pulled out of her and zipped up his pants like nothing had happened. He didn't kiss her or hold her or show any affection at all.

"I mean you're going to get pregnant," he said matter-of-factly. "That's the whole point of this."

Lily sat up on the bed, adjusting her dress. "Pregnant? With your baby?"

"Of course with my baby. Do you think I want Nathan's bastard growing inside you?"

The pieces of their twisted plan were finally becoming clear to me. They wanted Lily to get pregnant so they could convince Nathan that the baby was his. It would be the perfect way to keep him tied to Lily forever.

"But what if Nathan figures out the timing?" Lily asked, looking worried.

"He won't," Ethan said confidently. "Men never pay attention to that stuff. Besides, you'll just tell him that the stress of his affair caused you to miscalculate your cycle."

Lily nodded slowly. "And then what?"

"Then you use the pregnancy to guilt him into choosing you over Isabella. What kind of Alpha abandons his pregnant Luna for some servant girl?"

"You really think it will work?"

Ethan sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Lily into his lap. For the first time since he'd entered the room, he showed her some genuine affection.

"Baby, this plan has been three years in the making. We've come too far to fail now."

"I love you so much, Ethan," Lily said, resting her head against his chest. "I can't wait until we don't have to hide anymore."

"Soon," he promised, stroking her hair. "Very soon, I'll be the Alpha of this pack, and you'll be my official Luna. Nathan and his little whore will be nothing but a bad memory."

"When will you come to me again?" Lily asked as Ethan prepared to leave.

He gave her that devilish smile that made my skin crawl. "I'll come fuck you every time I'm horny and Nathan is busy with Isabella. I'll fill you with my cum until you're definitely pregnant."

"What the fuck!" I muttered internally, struggling to keep quiet.

This was even worse than I had imagined. They weren't just planning to deceive Nathan about one pregnancy – they were planning to keep having sex regularly, using Nathan's relationship with Isabella as cover for their own affair.

I realized I didn't have much time to process what I'd just witnessed. Ethan was getting ready to leave, and I needed to get back to my room before anyone discovered I had been spying.

But just as I was preparing to crawl back through the hidden passage, I heard my mate's voice shouting my name from somewhere in the castle.

"Mila! Mila, where are you?"

"Damn it," I whispered. I had completely forgotten about my own relationship drama in all the excitement of Nathan and Isabella's revelation.

I rushed back to my room as quickly as I could, unlocked the door, and there he was. Marcus, my mate, standing in the hallway with flowers in his hand and a desperate expression on his face.

Marcus and I had been having our own problems lately. I had caught him with another woman a few weeks ago, and we'd been separated ever since. He'd been trying to win me back, but I hadn't been ready to forgive him.

I huffed and looked him up and down with obvious irritation. "What the hell are you doing here, Marcus?"

He shrugged his shoulders and held out the flowers. "Trying to get my Luna back?"

The word 'Luna' coming from his mouth made me even angrier. How dare he call me his Luna after what he'd done?

I tried to push him away from my door. "Don't you dare call me your Luna! You fucked another woman! How can you come here and say that garbage?"

Marcus dropped the flowers and fell to his knees right there in the hallway. He grabbed my hands and started crying like a baby.

"Please, Mila," he sobbed. "I want you back. I know I made a horrible, unforgivable mistake. But I swear on my life that I was drunk! I wasn't thinking clearly. Please, I'll do anything, but don't break our mating bond. Please."

My heart melted a little bit when I saw his tears. I couldn't deny that I still loved him deeply, despite what he'd done. The mating bond between us was still strong, and seeing him in pain hurt me too.

"Marcus," I said softly, "what you did... it nearly destroyed me. How am I supposed to trust you again?"

"I know," he said, not letting go of my hands. "I know I fucked up. I know I hurt you. But Mila, you're my everything. You're my mate, my love, my whole world. I can't live without you."

I sighed in frustration. The idea of actually breaking our mating bond had never seriously crossed my mind. I was angry and hurt, but I wasn't ready to give up on us completely.

"I need more time to think about it," I said finally.

Marcus looked up at me with hope in his eyes. "How much time?"

"I don't know. However long it takes for me to figure out if I can forgive you."

He gulped nervously and then said with complete stubbornness, "Then I'm not leaving this spot. I'll stay right here on my knees until you accept my apology and forgive me."

I pulled my hands away from his and walked past him into my room. "Whatever," I said over my shoulder. "Stay there as long as you want. I'm going to take all the time I need."

I slammed the door in his face and locked it with my keys. Then I jumped onto my bed, feeling a mixture of emotions I couldn't quite sort out.

Part of me was happy that Marcus had come back to apologize. Part of me was still furious about his betrayal. And part of me was worried about what I'd just witnessed between Lily and Ethan.

"What a crazy day," I muttered to myself as I tried to fall asleep.

But when I woke up the next morning, several things hit me all at once. First, I remembered the video I had recorded of Lily and Ethan. Second, I realized that James wasn't sleeping next to me like he usually did. And third, I could hear Marcus's voice outside my door, which meant he had actually spent the entire night kneeling in the hallway.

I bolted upright in bed, suddenly panicked about my son's whereabouts.

"Oh my God! James! Where are you?" I screamed, jumping out of bed and running to open my door.

That's when I heard Nathan's voice echoing down from the third floor. "He's up here with us!"

Relief flooded through me. Of course James was with Nathan and Isabella. He'd probably gone looking for his new friend and ended up falling asleep in Nathan's private room.

Marcus was indeed still kneeling outside my door, though he looked exhausted and stiff from spending the night on the hard stone floor.

"Mila," he said weakly, "I told you I wasn't leaving until you forgave me."

"Marcus, you idiot," I said, kneeling down beside him. "You could have gotten sick staying out here all night."

"I don't care about being sick. I only care about getting you back."

Despite everything, I felt my resolve starting to weaken. The fact that he'd actually spent the entire night on his knees in the cold hallway proved that he was serious about wanting to make things right.

But before I could respond, Marcus said something that changed everything.

"Pack your things, Mila. We're going home."

"What?" I stared at him in confusion. "What do you mean, going home?"

"I mean we're leaving this castle. Today. I'm taking you and James back to our own house where we belong."

I felt a surge of panic. I couldn't leave now, not when Nathan and Isabella needed my support. Not when I had crucial evidence that could expose Lily and Ethan's deception.

"Marcus, I can't leave right now. My brother needs me."

"Your brother has his new mate to take care of him. You need to focus on our family."

I wanted to explain about the video, about the plot against Nathan, about everything I'd discovered. But I couldn't tell Marcus the truth without revealing that I'd been spying and breaking into people's rooms.

"Just give me a few more days," I pleaded. "There are some things I need to take care of first."

"No," Marcus said firmly. "We're leaving today. I've already arranged for our things to be packed."

Before I could argue further, I heard footsteps on the stairs and turned to see Isabella running down toward us. She looked panicked, desperate, like someone who'd just been told that her lifeline was being taken away.

When she reached us, she stood there staring at me with tears in her eyes.

"Please," she said in a trembling voice, "please don't leave me here alone."

My heart broke for her. Isabella had no family, no real friends except for me and James. If I left now, she'd be completely vulnerable to whatever Lily and Ethan had planned.

"Isabella," I said gently, "I don't want to leave you. But I have to work things out with Marcus."

"Can't you work things out here?" she asked hopefully.

I looked between Isabella's pleading face and Marcus's determined expression. I was being pulled in two different directions by the two people I cared about most.

"I'm sorry," I said finally, pulling Isabella into a tight bear hug. "I'm leaving today. But I promise you, I will come back soon. And when I do, I'll have some very important information for Nathan."

Isabella pulled back and looked at me with confusion. "What kind of information?"

I glanced at Marcus, who was watching our conversation with growing impatience.

"I can't explain everything right now," I whispered to Isabella. "But I need you to be very careful around Lily and Ethan. Don't trust them, don't be alone with them, and don't believe anything they tell you about Nathan."

"Mila, what are you talking about?"

"Just promise me you'll be careful," I said urgently. "And promise me you'll tell Nathan that I said to watch out for surprises. Bad surprises."

"I promise," Isabella said, though she clearly didn't understand what I meant.

Marcus stood up and put his arm around my waist. "It's time to go, Mila."

I looked up toward the third floor, where I knew Nathan and James were probably playing together. I wanted to say goodbye to my brother and explain why I was leaving so suddenly, but Marcus was already guiding me toward the castle's exit.

"Tell Nathan I love him," I called to Isabella as Marcus led me away. "And tell him to be smarter than he's been lately."

"I will," Isabella promised.

As we walked away from the castle, I clutched my phone tightly in my pocket. The video of Lily and Ethan was still there, waiting to be revealed at the right moment.

"I'll be back," I whispered to myself. "And when I come back, I'm going to make sure those bastards pay for what they've done."

Marcus squeezed my hand as we climbed into his carriage. "Are you ready to come home and work on us?"

I looked back at the castle one more time, thinking about Nathan and Isabella and the battle they didn't even know they were fighting.

"Yeah," I said finally. "Let's go home and figure this out."

But even as I said it, I was already planning my return. Nathan and Isabella were going to need all the help they could get, and I had the evidence that could save them both.

The question was: would I make it back in time?