Damian's words struck Elara like a bolt of lightning.

The Best Actress award... was supposed to be mine?

Their conversation continued, but Elara's eyes were fixed on the bouquet of red roses in Damian's hands.

The irony was suffocating.

She had just confidently defended him, insisting he would never stoop so low, only for reality to slap her brutally across the face.

Perhaps her stare was too intense, because Damian turned and looked directly at her.

The moment their eyes met, a flash of panic crossed his face, but it was quickly replaced by his usual calm.

Damian walked over, roses in hand, his tone laced with a weary sort of pleading.

"Elara, just let Chloe have the award this time. Keep this a secret for me, okay?"

Elara couldn't believe he could say the word "let" with such a straight face.

"Damian, that honor belonged to me. Why should I just let her have it?"

Damian loosened his tie, a hint of impatience in his voice.

"You're not acting anymore. What's the point of having these empty titles?"

"Besides, if you hadn't posted that comment today and pissed Chloe off, I wouldn't have had to come up with this plan to appease her."

His sharp words made Elara's eyes burn. Her voice trembled as she asked.

"So you're saying you stole my award, and somehow, it's my fault?"

Damian rarely saw Elara look so fragile. He stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, his voice softening.

"Elara, that's not what I meant."

"I'm just really into Chloe right now, so of course, I have to spoil her. The day I lose interest, I promise I'll get the award back for you."

"Don't worry. I know who my fated mate is. This thing with her is just for show. You don't need to get worked up about it."

For two years, Elara had heard these same lines until she was numb.

I'm just playing around with her. The Luna's position is still yours. It's all just an act...

In Damian's mind, his actions were perfectly reasonable.

It was she, his mate, who was being difficult, petty, and unaccommodating.

Elara pushed him away, forcing back the tears that threatened to fall.

"Don't trouble yourself, Alpha. I don't want a trophy that's been tainted by someone else."

And I don't want a man who's been tainted, either.

Without waiting to see his reaction, she stumbled away from the venue and drove home.

The next morning, she woke up early and began clearing out her belongings from the house.

Except for the essentials she would take to the UK, she packed everything else up and threw it away.

That included everything that had to do with her and Damian.

The photo albums that chronicled their journey from dating to mating, the massive, expensive portrait from their ceremony, the moonlight roses in the garden that Damian had planted himself because they were her favorite...

They had been in love for four years and mated for three. They had lived in this house for seven years, and memories of them were everywhere.

It took Elara a full two weeks to methodically erase every trace of those memories.

By the end, the once warm and welcoming home had reverted to the cold, empty villa it was when they first moved in.

Damian didn't come home once during those two weeks.

Elara knew where he was.

It was his pattern. Whenever he found a new lover, he would spend at least a month by her side.

And Chloe was a woman who loved the spotlight, posting about their romance on Instagram almost daily.

The day before yesterday, Damian took her sailing and cooked for her himself.

Yesterday, he visited her on set, giving her a gentle massage to help her relax.

...

As the shared memories in the house disappeared, Elara felt her feelings for Damian being slowly uprooted from her heart.

Now, when she saw those posts, she would pause for a moment before casually scrolling past.

After clearing out the house, she drove to the mall.

The film shoot would be long. Once she left for the UK, she wouldn't be back for at least two years, so she needed to pack a lot.

She spent the afternoon shopping, and by the end, her car's trunk was filled with bags.

Elara closed the trunk and opened the driver's side door to leave.

She had just put one foot inside when a force from behind yanked her out of the car.

Caught completely off guard, Elara fell hard onto the pavement.

A large patch of skin on her arm was scraped raw, and blood trickled down her arm.

She pushed through the pain and propped herself up, finally getting a clear look at her attackers. It was a group of five or six young girls.

She didn't recognize any of them.

"Who are you?"

As soon as she spoke, disgust twisted the girls' faces.

One of them stepped forward, grabbed a fistful of her hair, and snarled.

"It's all because of this bitch! If she wasn't clinging to the Luna position, Chloe would have been with the Alpha ages ago."

"Now that she's finally been rejected, she still has the nerve to spend the Alpha's money. Fucking shameless!"