First

Chapter 53

Tatum squints his eyes at Leila, surprised by what she just did.

“You did that on purpose! Tatum can you see? Did you see what she just did? She hates me,” Carmela cries out, tugging on Tatum’s sleeve.

“Calm down Carmi, I’m sure it was just a mistake,” Tatum replies, even if he knows the truth.

Leila dropped the cake on purpose and she wasn’t really trying to hide. it, even though she’s acting like she’s shocked.

What has gotten into her?

He has never seen her this….he doesn’t want to call her crafty but that is exactly how she is right now.

“I swear….it was a mistake,” Leila pouts, her eyes flushing with pity. Why would I drop the cake you baked for me out of your pure love? I’m sure you put so much effort into it.”

Leila puts her hands to her chest. “I’m really sorry Carmi….I know I was mean to you but I was just bitter, you are right, let’s put it all behind us. Let’s bake another cake, we can even bake it together.”

Carmela instantly looks puzzled by Leila’s reaction, her mouth falling slightly open.

“It’s okay, I just want us to be friends again,” Carmela says in a more calm tone. “We can always bake another one.”

Leila’s expression immediately shifts from apologetic to ice cold when Carmela says that, shocking Tatum and Carmela.

“You’re not the only one who can put up a silly pathetic act Carmela. I don’t point it out because there is no need. I don’t want anything from you and even if I did, it would be for you to help me beg Tatum to sign

my divorce papers so I can get out of your lives,” Lolla’s voice is calm. yet cold as ice.

Tatum fools pain fiddling with his heart when Lella breaks the news to Carmela. He has avoided that conversation with Carmela whenever she asked when he is going to divorce Lella but now Carmela knows he is the one holding back.

Leila is putting him in an even tighter spot.

Carmela’s eyes stay full of shock, her mouth agape and she’s unable to come back with a reply as Leila stands up, leaving her and Tatum at the table.

It’s the eve of Carmela’s welcome back party and the whole pack is abuzz with joy and merriment, rumours that the Alpha may engage her at the party is rampant in the air,

Lella feels bitterness swirling in her gut, sitting in the back of the car driving her to the party, staring at Tatum’s text.

[Be at the party tonight. You need to show up, as Luna.]

It’s always about his image for him. Can he not even spare her the shame of being there tonight?

Everyone knows Carmela is eventually going to replace her and tonight. she will be in the spotlight as Luna one last time, a mockery before everyone but that is not what hurts her the most.

It’s the fact that tonight, she has to bear seeing Carmela all over Tatum. and no matter how much she tries to tell herself that she is over him. and she doesn’t care, her heart still yearns deeply for him.

She still feels pain that he doesn’t love her but he doesn’t want to let her go either.

BONUS

She knows when Tatum looks at her, he doesn’t see a woman he can love or spend the rest of his life with, all he sees is a perfect Luna, someone who fits a role in his life so well that he is not eager to lose.

If he even told her he loved her once, just once, maybe even by mistake, she would have held onto it and tried to fight for him but he never said those words, his heart beats for another and her hearts need to accept the truth.

She needs to let it go, these feelings for him that she is still holding on to but it’s just so tough, because the more time she spends apart from him, the more she sees how he has influenced her life so much, her habits, the way she talks, certain phrases, even her dress sense, everything.

She has lived her life for him so much that she doesn’t know how to start living for herself.

“Leila, are you okay?” You’re crying,” Amanda says, placing her hands on Leila’s thigh. “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to. We can tell the Alpha you fell ill.”

Leila looks at Amanda with pitiful eyes. “Maybe it’s best I don’t go, I don’t know why Amanda but my heart feels like it’s going to burst open.”

“Turn the car around,” Amanda says to the driver immediately.

Leila takes out her phone and texts Tatum with trembling hands.

[I caught a fever, I won’t be able to make it.]

Tatum replies immediately.

[Just come Leila, you will get what you want after.]

“Keep going,” Leila says to the driver, fighting the jarring pain in her heart.

+25 ROHUS

If he plans to give her the divorce paper at the party, that can only mean one thing, the rumours are true, he will engage Carmela tonight.