The Alpha's Unwanted Bride novel Chapter 451

Chapter 451: ANNA’S SPIRAL

The shattered wine glass still lay on the stone tiles, its crimson contents drying like spilled blood in the afternoon sun. The other girls had scattered not long after Fiona and Nanny Nia’s dramatic departure, their laughter swallowed by a stunned silence. Now only Anna remained, standing amid the wreckage like a toppled queen.

She didn’t move. Couldn’t.

Erik is in love with me.

The words echoed relentlessly, stabbing through the walls of arrogance she’d built around her pride. Her fingers trembled as she clenched the edge of the table for support. No one had ever spoken to her like that before—not Fiona, not anyone. And certainly not in front of others.

Lisa had tried to speak to her before leaving, offering a half-hearted, "Are you okay?" but Anna had waved her off with a stiff shake of her head.

Now, alone with the wreckage of her illusion, Anna felt it—the cracks in her armor. The vulnerability she had refused to acknowledge.

Fiona’s face swam before her mind’s eye. So calm. So confident. So certain.

She had no right. No right to steal Erik. No right to humiliate her.

Anna stormed back into the house, footsteps heavy and uneven. She slammed the door of her room behind her and stood in the middle of the floor, breathing hard, fists balled at her sides.

The mirror above her vanity caught her reflection.

Tears burned in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Instead, she gritted her teeth and stared herself down.

"She’s lying," she whispered. "She has to be."

But the wineglass hadn’t shattered on a lie. Fiona’s voice hadn’t trembled with uncertainty.

And Erik... he’d been distant. Cold even. Ever since Jasmine arrived, ever since everything began unraveling, Anna had felt her grip loosening. First her brother, then Erik. Now even the girls who once followed her laughter were starting to doubt her.

She kicked the vanity stool with a snarl. It skidded across the room and slammed into the wall.

Jasmine. This was all Jasmine’s fault.

The girl had slithered her way into Xaden’s life, into his heart. She had bewitched him, distracted him, weakened him. And now, he was missing, bleeding in some ditch or dead in some forest—and Anna was left behind, powerless.

It had always been that way. No matter what she did, someone else got what she wanted.

She was the Alpha’s sister, and yet no one listened to her. She had warned them about Jasmine from the beginning, but everyone thought she was jealous.

Jealous. As though that flimsy girl was worth envying.

"I’m not jealous," Anna growled at the mirror. "I’m not."

But the reflection staring back at her said otherwise—messy hair, red-rimmed eyes, lips trembling.

She backed away, shaking her head, and sat down heavily on the bed.

The silence was deafening.

Memories began to stir. Erik helping Fiona down from her horse after training. The quiet looks they shared when they thought no one was watching. The way Erik always went still whenever Fiona entered a room, as though he couldn’t help it.

It had always been there, she realized.

She had just refused to see it.

A sob clawed up her throat and escaped before she could choke it down.

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