TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 315

Three hundred and fifteen

Isabella POV

I headed toward the staircase.

Family portraits lined the walls. A perfect family preserved inside polished frames.

I stopped at the fourth stair. Whenever they summoned me upstairs, I’d stop there, praying that whatever punishment waited for me would be bearable.

I drew a deep breath.

I hated that I’d moved out and still my palms were damp and my throat was dry. My body remembered this house far better than my mind wanted to admit.

At the landing, their voices drifted from the upstairs sitting room.

The old instinct to apologize rose, but I bit the inside of my cheek until the urge passed.

I pushed the door open. Father sat on the sofa beside Gwen while Barbara stood near the window, swirling her wine.

The silence after the door clicked shut stretched across the room.

“So you came,” Stepmother Gwen said, without bothering to sound welcoming.

Barbara spared me a glance before returning her attention to the garden outside. Father gestured toward the empty chair opposite him.

“Come. Sit.”

He sounded like a man settling an inconvenience.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” he said after I sat. “I have to leave for Red Ridge tomorrow morning. The lumber shipment won’t negotiate itself.”

The explanation felt rehearsed, as though he needed reminding why those business trips had always mattered.

Growing up, I’d heard countless versions of that story. According to Grandma, my mom had been working in one of the pleasure houses near the logging settlements where wealthy traders and businessmen stayed whenever they traveled.

Grandma always said women like her existed to please men. But my father kept returning. One night bled into the next, then another, until what should’ve been a passing affair stretched into weeks. He’d remained at the settlement far longer than business required while a wife waited for him here.

Grandma used to say my mom had been foolish enough to mistake attention for love, and that the moment Father returned to his real life, reality returned with him and Mom was left carrying the consequences.

Father folded his hands.

“No family is perfect, Isabella.”

I met his eyes without speaking.

“Every powerful family has secrets and complications it prefers to keep private. The wise thing is to handle those matters quietly instead of airing them in public.”

He reached for a brown envelope resting on the coffee table and slid it toward me with a pen.

“We can resolve everything today.”

The eagerness in his eyes made the offer feel less like generosity and more like paperwork he desperately needed completed.

I opened it. Four pages. The very first page hit exactly where I was weakest. It listed the family registration, listing healthcare, Maverick’s school enrollment, and every other legal recognition he would need.

Everything I’d spent years struggling to secure for Maverick was suddenly laid out in neat legal language.

I turned the page, and the writing became denser. Clauses crowded every page until each paragraph blurred into the next.

Unease settled over me.

“Can I read everything first?” I asked.

“Of course,” Father said. “Take your time.”

I gathered the documents and rose from my chair.

“Where are you going?” Gwen snapped.

“I’d like to read them properly. I’d also like a lawyer to look them over. From what I’ve learned in administration, you don’t sign whatever’s put in front of you.”

Stepmother Gwen laughed.

“Isabella? Since when do favors require lawyers? This isn’t a business negotiation.”

Barbara turned from the window.

“I told you this would happen. Ever since she started mixing with important people, she’s forgotten who she is. Last weekend she was upstairs in the VIP section at Anita’s event, acting like the slut she is. Now she thinks she’s too important to trust her own family.”

Father rubbed the back of his neck.

“Everyone, calm down.”

He turned to face me.

“If taking the documents helps you feel better, at least read the first page and the last page now. You’ll see there’s nothing unreasonable. After that, if you still want to take them home, we’ll discuss it.”

The urgency and impatience all three of them had forgotten to hide told me everything I needed to know. I shouldn’t trust them until I’d read every clause and questioned every line.

I slipped the papers back into the envelope.

Father tried another approach. His voice softened.

“Bella, let’s put everything else aside and talk about your future.”

I remained standing.

“I’ve been thinking about your talent lately.” He smiled, as though conversations like this had always come naturally between us. “You’re a gifted designer. I made a few calls. There’s a fashion house willing to take you in for a six-month apprenticeship. Learn the business, build your portfolio, understand the industry. After that…” He spread his hands. “I’ll help you open your own boutique. I know suppliers and investors who would support a young designer with potential. My wife and I will help make sure your business succeeds. You won’t regret this.”

It sounded effortlessly generous, as though he’d always intended to build a future for me.

None of those opportunities had existed when I was sewing clothes by candlelight or trying to earn enough money to buy diapers. They hadn’t existed when I needed hospital bills paid or when Maverick almost died of a fever a month ago. They only appeared after Luna Lisa took me in and I had become inconvenient to ignore.

Their carefully packaged concern almost made me laugh.

People without family protection disappeared every year. They were exploited, forced into abusive labor, driven from one pack to another until eventually nobody asked where they’d gone.

The law protected those it recognized. Everyone else simply slipped through the cracks.

Gwen chuckled.

“You’re exactly like your whore mother, always trying to climb above your place and looking for the next powerful Alpha to spread your legs for.”

Barbara folded her arms.

“And I swear, if you refuse this, I’ll make one phone call. Try finding another respectable employer after that.”

I picked up my bag. Ignoring both women, I looked only at Father.

“You called me. I didn’t ask you for money or work. For the past month under Luna Lisa’s roof, I haven’t spoken about this family to anyone. I’ve done my job. I’ve tried to build a better life for Maverick.”

“Oh, enough of this,” Gwen snapped.

I continued speaking as though she hadn’t spoken.

“I don’t want an inheritance, revenge, or even this family’s name.” My gaze shifted briefly toward Gwen and Barbara. “Luna Lisa has shown me more dignity in one month than anyone in this room has shown me my entire life. All I want is the chance to earn an honest living.”

“Enough, you filth,” Barbara said.

I ignored her.

“If I’m truly the danger you claim I am, why haven’t you already told Luna Lisa who I am? I respected your secret enough to leave her house. Even that wasn’t enough.”

“You won’t just leave the house,” Barbara shouted. “You’ll leave the administration entirely. Father is offering you a future and you’re acting like you’re too good for it.”

“I am not your threat, Barbara. Whatever fantasy you’ve built that I ruin your life… it doesn’t exist.”

“You’re not a threat?” Gwen barked, jabbing a finger toward me. “You could never be. You’re a disgrace. A bastard. I still don’t know why you were ever born.”

She pointed at the envelope. “Now sit down and sign!”

Years ago those words would’ve crushed me. Now they sounded pathetic.

I placed the envelope back onto the table and turned to Father.

“Thank you for the offer and for thinking about my future. But I’m not signing it. And after today/please don’t call me again.”

I turned and walked toward the door.

“Come back here, Isabella!” Father shouted.

Behind me, Gwen’s voice slithered after me.

“Whore! Just like your mother! Go on! Find another Alpha family to trap! Maybe you’ll get pregnant again. That’s what women like you do best.”

I ran down the staircase. At the front door, I pulled my phone from my bag. My hands shook as I looked at the recording, then pressed Save.