Chapter 5: Blending In Until The Ghost Of The Past Appeared
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Then I smashed the computer, grabbed my suitcase and headed to the airport alone. As I was going through security, countless messages and calls flooded in.
I could see it in my head–Lukas‘ face, beautified in rage. His eyes, ice–cold, seething with that venomous anger I had spent so long being terrified of. But now? Now it didn’t matter. It was just another part of my past.
I pulled the SIM card out of my phone and tossed it into the trash with a quick, decisive flick. Watching it fall felt like the last shred of my old life slipping away. Lukas, my mother, everything that kept me shackled–they were gone now. Forever.
As the plane soared, I leaned against the window, my mind empty for the first time
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Chapter 5: Blending In Until The Ghost Of The Past Appeared
in years. The world below looked like a fresh start–an empty canvas waiting to be painted. My childhood, my love, my family. -gone, gone, gone. The weight that had crushed me for so long was finally lifted.
Lukas wouldn’t follow me. He‘ d throw a fit, scream, beg, but he would never leave. his precious pack. And my mother? She‘ di curse me to hell, all while sitting in her house, sipping wine and pretending to care. They wouldn’t change. Not for me.
Not ever.
The turbulence rocked the plane, but I slept through it. Deep, uninterrupted sleep. No more nightmares of Lukas‘ cold eyes or my mother’s endless criticisms. The past had no place in my dreams. Only the future.
When I landed, the first breath of fresh air filled my lungs, and I almost wanted to breathe it in forever. Selene stood waiting, arms waving excitedly as if she were trying to stop the world for me. But when she saw
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Chapter 5: Blending In Until The Ghost Of The Past Appeared (
me, the excitement died. Her eyes swept
over me, taking in the bruises, the cuts, the marks Lukas had left behind.
“Ayla, what the hell happened to you?” she demanded, her voice sharp with disbelief. “And your hand–Jesus, you‘ ve lost so much weight. What did Lukas do to you?”
Her eyes flickered over the marks on my neck, her lips trembling. “You look like a ghost. He did this to you, didn‘ the?”
I swallowed hard. “It’s nothing. It doesn’t hurt. It’s just… the past,” I mumbled, but the words felt hollow.
Selene wasn’t having it. She pulled me into a fierce hug, her warmth a sharp contrast to the chill of my skin. “You‘ re safe now, Ayla,” she whispered, her voice. thick with emotion. “He’s gone. He
can’t hurt you anymore.
She pulled away, but the fire in her eyes. hadn’t dimmed. “I just wish you’d done
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Chapter 5: Blending In Until The Ghost Of The Past Appeared
something to him, Ayla. He deserved it. You should‘ ve ruined him. Poisoned his damn food, or something. Give him a taste of his own medicine. Make him sick, make him feel the way he made you feel all these years. He’s a fool. A big, arrogant, clueless idiot. An Alpha with no sense of who he was dealing with.”
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I laughed, bitterly. “I don‘ t know if I’m strong enough for that….but I did a little revenge”
“Bullshit. You should‘ ve made him regret the day he ever laid a finger on you.” Selene‘ s fists clenched. “He was a fucking coward. Hiding behind that pack of his, letting you suffer while he went off to play pretend with his shiny little world. If I ever see him again, I swear, I’ll knock some sense into him. What a fucking fool. An Alpha who couldn’t even see his own weakness. What a goddamn waste.”
ka
I bit back a smile at her fire, but I wasn’t going back. Not for anything. I was slowly
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Chapter 5: Blending In Until The Ghost Of The Past Appeared
changing from that woman he knew.
The next few days passed in a blur. Selene kept me busy, helping me sift through job. listings, pushing me to believe in myself again. “Ayla,” she said one night, over a bottle of wine, “I’m so proud of you for leaving Lukas. You finally cut that weight off your chest. It was killing you, you know? You‘ re thirty–thirty. You have the whole damn world ahead of you. You don‘ t need him. Or your mother. You deserve so much more.”
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