The Alpha's Secret Heiress: Marriage To The Most Powerful Alpha

Cadence POV:

I stood in the shadows of the champagne tower, the crystal flutes catching the light like a thousand captured stars. My gaze was locked on him.

Alpha Karter Hahn, the man who held my heart in his hands.

My fingers smoothed a non-existent wrinkle on my silk dress. A breath hitched in my throat, my heart hammering against my ribs in a frantic rhythm. Tonight, he had said. He had something important to announce.

Three years. Three years of stolen moments, of being his secret. Tonight, that could all change.

My fingertips traced the cool, curved surface of a champagne flute. I imagined his words, a subtle hint, a shared glance that would finally acknowledge me. That would finally give me a place in his world, out of the shadows.

"My brother is looking extra handsome tonight, isn't he?"

I jumped as his sister and my friend, Tatum Hahn, bumped her shoulder against mine. Her eyes, the same warm brown as his, were dancing with mischief.

A blush crept up my neck. I picked up a glass of vintage champagne, trying to hide my shyness and nervousness.

But then, a single spotlight cut through the ballroom's ambient glow, pinning Karter to the high platform. He cleared his throat, and a hush fell over the crowd.

His eyes swept the room, and for a breathtaking second, they met mine. Something complex flickered in their depths—a flash of something I couldn't name—before it was gone.

My heart leaped into my throat. I froze, my feet rooted to the marble floor, my entire being focused on him.

"Thank you all for coming tonight," Karter's voice, amplified by the microphone, washed over the hall. "Tonight, I want to introduce someone incredibly important to me."

A smile I couldn't contain bloomed on my face. I felt my own breath catch, suspended in the space between heartbeats.

But he didn't move toward me.

He turned, extending a hand to a figure standing just beside him, cloaked in the stage's penumbra.

My stepsister, Bridgette Davidson, stepped into the light.

She was wearing a gown of pure white, an innocent angel in the spotlight's glare. She shyly placed her hand in Karter's.

The smile on my face froze, then cracked. My mind went utterly, terrifyingly blank.

A wave of polite, knowing laughter and applause rippled through the guests. The sound was a physical thing, a thousand tiny needles piercing my eardrums.

Karter pulled Bridgette to his front, raising their joined hands high for everyone to see. "Bridgette is not only the love of my life, but she will also be my mate. The future Luna of our pack."

Nestled against Karter's chest, Bridgette's eyes found mine across the room. Her gaze was not shy. It was triumphant. It was contemptuous.

A rush of heat flooded my body, so intense I thought I might faint. Then, just as quickly, it receded, leaving an arctic chill in its wake. My hands and feet turned to ice.

Crack.

The sound was sharp, violent. The crystal flute slipped from my numb fingers, exploding against the polished marble floor.

The noise drew a few glances, including Karter's from the stage. His brow furrowed, a flicker of annoyance crossing his perfect features.

To cover the awkward moment, he dipped his head and captured Bridgette's lips in a deep, possessive kiss that declared his ownership to the world.

The room erupted in thunderous applause and cheers, a roar that completely drowned out the sound of my heart shattering alongside the glass.

I stood there, a statue of ice and broken dreams. I was a fool. A clown stripped bare for the amusement of the court.

The three-year secret romance was a joke.

I had to get out.

I spun around, desperate to flee the suffocating room, to escape the hundreds of eyes that I felt boring into my back.

Suddenly, a cold, unforgiving hand clamped down on my wrist.

It wasn't Karter.

It was my mother, Joyce Owens.

A hint of excitement and calculation crossed her face. "Cadence, I've arranged a blind date for you."

She completely ignored my struggles, gripped me tightly with both hands like iron clamps, and dragged me toward the side door of the banquet hall.

She said in a low voice, her tone filled with malice, "He's a remarkable man. He's a great help to our family. You need to humble yourself and curry favor with him."

The heavy door swung open, and she pulled me into a dim, quiet corridor. The sounds of Karter and Bridgette being celebrated, of their perfect future being toasted, faded behind me, as if I had been cast out into another world entirely.

A world of cold, hard transactions. In this world, I am nothing more than a commodity that needs to bring benefits to the family.