Chapter Four

Selina's POV

Life with Gareth is the easiest it's been in four years.

He doesn't talk much, but every night he gets home from work, he quietly takes care of all the heavy lifting around the house.

He treats my parents with real respect, more than Derek ever managed, and Derek's the one everybody calls polished.

My parents and my brother see how well things are going for me, and it puts their minds at ease.

One weekend, I'm out at the new supermarket in town, pushing a cart down the aisles by myself. I'm bent over checking something on a shelf when a sharp, nasty voice comes from behind me.

"Well, look who it is. Selina. Guess this is where you end up once they kick you out, picking through some backwater store."

I stop and turn around. Derek's mother, Martha, has Paige on her arm, both of them looking at me like I'm something they scraped off a shoe. Paige's belly is starting to show, and she's wearing an expensive maternity dress, grinning like she's already won.

"Watch your mouth, Martha," I say flatly.

"Watch my mouth? A worthless she-wolf who can't even carry a pup doesn't get to demand respect." Martha lets out a snort. "If Paige wasn't kind enough to have a baby for you, Derek would've dropped you a long time ago."

People in the store start turning to look, whispering.

Paige tugs gently at Martha's sleeve, all fake sympathy. "Martha, don't talk to her like that. She's got it hard enough already, playing stepmom to somebody else's kids. I heard her new husband's some rough fisherman, saddled with two kids that aren't even his. Can't be an easy life."

"Selina, ever since you left, Derek's been beating himself up over it. If things aren't going well for you, I could get Derek to make it up to you somehow..."

"Make it up to me?" I let out a cold laugh, my eyes landing on Paige's put-on face. "For what? For climbing into bed with my husband?"

The shoppers nearby stop what they're doing, watching now, eating it up.

Martha jabs a finger right in my face. "Don't you dare stand here with that smart mouth of yours. You're a broken she-wolf who can't give Derek an heir, and you want the family line to just die out? Paige is a good girl. She knows what gratitude looks like, and she's willing to carry his child. Not like you, sitting on something you can't even use."

"Gratitude?" I almost laugh in her face. I take a step closer, staring Paige down. "Go ahead. Tell everyone here exactly what you're so grateful for."

Paige flinches back, stammering. "Der... Derek took me in, gave me a job as a nanny, paid me. I just wanted to pay him back somehow..."

"That's rich." I raise my voice. "I hired you to clean my house. I paid you every month, on time. That's called employment. Since when does paying somebody back mean sleeping with their husband? You took my money and slept with my husband, and now you want to stand here acting all noble about it? You're not some grateful little employee. You're just a homewrecker who wanted a rich man."

A ripple of whispers spreads through the crowd around us.

"Oh my god, so she's the mistress."

"Unbelievable, calling it gratitude. She just wanted his money."

"God, poor Selina."

Paige's face goes red, then white, listening to everyone talk. Tears start rolling down her cheeks. "Selina, how can you say that about me... I really just wanted to give Derek a child of his own..."

Martha's had enough. She lunges at me, hands out. "You little tramp, how dare you talk to my grandson's mother like that! You need to be taught a lesson!"

Her hand doesn't even reach me. I catch her wrist and twist, just enough. She screams.

I stare down at her face, twisted up in pain, and I don't hold back. "I got mauled by a rogue wolf saving his life. That's how I ended up unable to have kids. And your whole family turned around and screwed me over for it, and you still think you can stand here acting high and mighty in front of me?"

I shove her hand away and look over at Paige, who's shaking, terrified. I laugh, cold and mean.

"You keep saying you're doing this for me, having this baby. So how about this. Once it's born, why don't you have it call me Mom?"