TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 359

Three hundred and fifty-nine

Barbara POV

Isabella walked away without looking back. Not even a glance. The dismissal burned worse than any insult. I clenched my teeth and followed my parents toward the meeting room. I’d disliked people before, even wanted some of them ruined, but I had never hated anyone the way I hated Isabella.

I wanted her gone, that smug confidence wiped from her face. I wanted to strip away everything she’d gained and watch her crawl back to the life she came from.

The thought gave me grim satisfaction.

Who did she think she was? Some golden girl who could simply sashay into Wesley’s life?

My fingers curled against my palms. I would find a way to destroy her. And the sooner I did, the better.

I followed my parents into the meeting room, anger sitting beneath my skin. My father’s steps had slowed and fear showed in every movement.

Coward.

From the moment we received the summons, he had barely slept. He paced around the house, imagining everything Luna Lisa could accuse us of. My mother had spent most of the night reminding him that this was his fault.

“If you hadn’t gotten some cheap slut pregnant, would we be sitting here now?” she had snapped.

My father finally lost his temper.

“Shut up Gwen!”

She stared at him.

“Don’t tell me to shut up. You’re the one who created this mess.”

“Some people take care of their illegitimate children.”

“And whose fault is it that we didn’t?” she shot back.

“Weren’t you the one who told me to choose between our marriage and Isabella?”

She burst out laughing and clapped her hands.

“Why didn’t you choose her, then?” she mocked. “Maybe you could have spent all these years preparing to become the father of the Alpha’s son’s slut.”

My father had looked ready to explode. I had listened without sympathy.

Luna Lisa didn’t frighten me. What could she do? I had never considered her particularly formidable. She had spent years bending around her son, protecting him, supporting him, and making ridiculous excuses for him. She had never struck me as someone who could make a decision without considering what her family wanted.

To crown it all, she wasn’t even from noble blood. Perhaps that explained why she had taken to Isabella so easily.

Women like them recognized each other. Isabella had climbed into a world that wasn’t hers, just as Luna Lisa had. Alpha Cameron was the one who deserved respect. He came from noble blood and his position carried weight. His wife barely registered as a threat.

I entered the meeting room and sat beside my parents, my posture composed despite the hatred burning beneath my skin.

Let them summon or threaten me.

+20 Bonus

I had survived worse.

And while they talked, I would find Isabella’s weakness, then I would use it.

The friendliness Luna Lisa had shown during dinner, when she believed I was Wesley’s girlfriend, was gone.

She frowned when she spotted us while finishing a conversation with a male elder. He thanked her profusely before leaving, and my father stepped forward to greet her with a respectful bow. My mother followed. We took our seats, and I noticed Isabella had chosen the chair closest to Luna Lisa. The stupid girl looked far too comfortable for someone who had dragged an entire family into a summons.

Luna Lisa’s attention settled on my parents.

“Lord Henry and Lady Gwen, I must express my utmost disappointment at recently learning that Isabella is your daughter.”

My mother exchanged a glance with my father.

“How did you manage to hide a daughter from everyone for all these years?”

Luna Lisa’s voice carried no warmth. My father shifted in his seat.

My mother leaned forward. “Luna, we took Isabella in when she returned pregnant after living a reckless life. We gave her a place to stay and did what we could for her.”

Luna Lisa’s expression didn’t change. “Did what you could?”

“Yes. We even asked her to register herself and Maverick under the family name. She refused. She chose to stay at the Alpha House instead.”

“Then why does her evidence tell a very different story?” Luna Lisa asked. “What I’ve heard so far doesn’t sound like a daughter who was given a home and treated with care. I listened to several voice recordings of your threats and maltreatment.”

Isabella played the recordings. The room changed as familiar voices filled it. My mother’s voice threatening her. Isabella crying that she was bleeding. The cheer in my voice as I beat her.

There were recordings from different occasions, each exposing another piece of what they had tried to dismiss as a family

matter.

I didn’t even know the bastard was recording us.

My father’s face fell with shame.

“She was nursing a child while you expected her to survive on scraps, and you threatened her because she refused to leave the Alpha House. You call that acceptable?”

My father swallowed.

“I took her in when she was pregnant,” he said. “The person she was involved with wanted her, and her mother’s family said she was in danger. I fed her and gave her a place to stay. I didn’t know all of this was happening.”

“That doesn’t excuse your carelessness,” Luna Lisa snapped. “You were her father. Did you never look at what was happening under your own roof?”

My father had no answer.

My mother tried to recover. “Luna, this is a family matter. We can settle it ourselves. Isabella is exaggerating because she’s upset. Besides, it’s not as though Wesley is marrying her. They’re simply together for now.”

Luna Lisa turned toward her.

“Is that what you think?”

215

My mother’s inouth closed.

+20 Bonus

“Isabella is more important tony family than all of you combined. The only reason I’m handling this without dragging your names through the mud is because I respect Beatrice’s memory. She was my son’s first love, and she deserves better than to have her family destroyed because of what you did to her sister. But there will be consequences.”

My father straightened.

“Henry, you will pay four thousand tokens every three months into an account designated for Maverick’s upkeep. Whether Isabella needs the money or not is irrelevant. It is your responsibility.”

My mother leaned forward. “That’s unnecessary. We can—”

“You will also add Isabella and Maverick to the family name and publicly acknowledge Isabella as your daughter.” 1

“We don’t need to make this public,” my mother protested.

“You will do it.”

Her voice left no room for argument.

My mother sank back into her chair.

“Finally, Barbara.”

Luna Lisa looked directly at me.

“You will issue a public statement acknowledging that your relationship with Wesley has ended. You will make it clear that you both chose to go your separate ways and that there is no ongoing dispute between you. After that, you will leave him and Isabella alone. No more confrontations or attempts to create problems around him or Isabella.”

I forced myself to nod.

“Yes, Luna.”

Inside, hatred crawled through me. I hated Isabella. But Luna Lisa had earned a place beside her. That woman was nothing more than a gold-digging surrogate who had climbed her way into a position she had never been born to hold.

She had no idea how much I despised her.

She would learn the hard way.

I called Charlie three times. The first two calls went unanswered, and by the third, my heart was pounding hard enough to make my chest ache. I hated knowing someone could ignore me and make me wonder whether I had already lost them.

When he finally answered, I begged him to see me before he left. He agreed.

I went to one of the guest houses and waited near the pool, ordering something to drink while I waited for him. Charlie hadn’t arrived when a man walking past slowed down, looked at me, then turned back.

“Can I buy you a drink?”

I stared at him. “Do you not consider who you’re approaching before speaking to them?”

His eyebrows rose. “Why wouldn’t I talk to you? You’re not the most glamorous woman in the pack.”

My mouth fell open.

“Emma and Anita are related to the Alpha’s family, yet neither walks around with the kind of arrogance you’re showing. I should probably thank you for letting me see this side of you. Who wants to be with someone who can’t control herself and

Tram hubored and fatty no

+20 Bonus

treats people like they’re beneath her?”

He walked away before coulanswer.

I sat there, furious. If I had some kind of magic that could make people drop dead with a look, Isabella would have been the first person I used it on. Luna Lisa would have followed. Then that idiot who was determined to test my patience.

Charlie finally arrived, and I glared at him.

“If you’d taken any longer, I would’ve had every man in this place trying to ask me out.”

He apologized and sat across from me. There was hesitation in his gaze, and I felt my stomach tighten.

“What? Are you going to reject me too?”

“Of course not.”

I looked away.

“I’m sorry about this morning. I get agitated when things become overwhelming, and when my anxiety spikes, I don’t always react the way I should. I wasn’t myself. I want to try again, but I need you to give me some time.”

“I understand,” he said. “That’s what I was trying to explain to Wesley.”

“See how selfish Wesley is? You shouldn’t feel guilty for choosing someone who actually cares about you. He’ll throw you under the bus the moment it suits him.”

Charlie nodded, but something about the way he did it made me study him.

I held his hands.

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