No Past, No Pain, No Return Chapter 04

No Past, No Pain, No Return Chapter 04

I was prepared. But it still hit me like a freight train. The pill bottle slipped from my hand.

“Hello? Ms. Moore? Are you still there?”

My throat closed up. No matter how many times they called, I couldn’t speak.

I hung up with shaking hands. I slid down the wall.

I didn’t know how long I sat there. My hands finally stopped shaking.

I laughed bitterly. I took a painkiller and a sleeping pill together.

This has to be a dream.

A nightmare.

Sleep, Serena.

Everything will be gone when you wake up.

But the next morning, I woke to Caleb’s roar. I was sweating. My heart was pounding.

“Serena! Stop pretending. Get up!”

He dragged me off the couch. My head hit the coffee table. The world went black.

“I know Vanessa and I wronged you. Take it out on me. Why did you have to push Vanessa to the edge? She just had a pup. She’s at her most vulnerable!”

I didn’t know what happened.

But I knew I’d been blamed for something else.

Vanessa was being cyberbullied.

She was a webcomic artist. Her claim to fame was a comic about us. Two pack-sisters growing up together.

She had hundreds of thousands of followers.

Last night, someone found holes in her story. They posted that Vanessa seduced her best friend’s mate.

That they hid the affair. That they had a pup. That they forced the best friend to be the godmother.

The comments exploded. They called her fake. Shameless. Disgusting.

Everyone assumed the post came from her best friend. Me.

I laughed.

Vanessa was ruthless.

She destroyed her own career and reputation just to frame me. To push me out.

Why bother?

I had already agreed to sever the bond.

“I didn’t do it.” I showed him my phone.

He didn’t listen.

He knocked my phone away. Rage filled his eyes. His face and neck turned red. His Alpha aura crushed me.

“Someone came to the clinic. They hit Vanessa. They almost hurt the pup. You sent them, didn’t you? Enjoy your revenge?”

“Record a video. Right now. Say the post was a lie.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t do any of this. And the post was true. I won’t lie.”

Caleb clenched his jaw. He punched the coffee table.

“Serena. Don’t make me hate you.” His voice was rough. Complicated.

“Don’t worry, Caleb. I hate you more.” I stared at him. Dried blood stained the corner of my mouth.

We locked eyes.

He stood up and stormed out.

Soon, a video appeared online.

My mother recorded it.

She spoke with red eyes.

“I don’t know what the poster was thinking. Vanessa is my adopted pack-daughter. My biological daughter Serena died in a rogue attack when she was twelve.”

“Serena only drew the daughter I imagined she would become.”

“Vanessa and Caleb have been together since high school. They are fated mates chosen by the Moon Goddess. There was no betrayal.”

She even attached a death certificate and cremation records.

I recognized them.

They belonged to Vanessa’s mother. The personal details were just covered.

That was enough.

The internet flipped. Everyone pitied Vanessa.

I replayed it a dozen times. I listened to her say, “My biological daughter Serena died,” a dozen times.

My heart went numb.

I called my mother with shaking hands. I wanted to ask why she hated me so much. Why she made me dead.

But the call went to voicemail.

She knew I’d confront her. She had already blocked me.

Bitterness flooded my chest.

If they wanted me dead, I’d disappear.

My stomach twisted in agony. My vision faded.

Right before I blacked out, my phone rang.

A calm male voice came through.

“Where are you? Are you okay? I’ll come get you.”