I wept in Ethan''s arms, my tears soaking through his shirt. To anyone watching, I appeared devastated by grief over Lily''s death. But hidden against his chest, my lips curled into a


    satisfied smile.


    "I''m so sorry," I sobbed, my voice breaking perfectly. "If only I hadn''t called you that day..."


    My mind drifted back to that pivotal afternoon five years ago. I remembered how I''d deliberately called Ethan away when Lily was critically ill. I knew exactly what I was doing


    when I made that call, iming Emma needed him urgently.


    I had watched Olivia''s desperate calls light up Ethan''s phone throughout the day. Each time, I''d casually dismissed the notifications before he could see them. I hadn''t deleted them-that would have been too obvious. I simply made sure he was too distracted to notice.


    "Emma needs you," I had told him, my voice trembling with manufactured concern. "The doctors say her condition is worsening."


    It wasn''t entirely a lie. Emma had been ill, but not critically so. Nothing that required Ethan''s immediate presence. But it had been enough to pull him away from his promise to Lily.


    While Ethan rushed to Emma''s side at the Silvercrest Pack Medical Den, I had slipped away, iming to fetch medicine. Instead, I drove to Moonlight Fair, parking at a distance to watch.


    the drama unfold.


    I saw Olivia''s frantic search for Ethan. I witnessed Lily''s copse, her tiny body crumpling to the ground as her mother screamed for help. The sight had filled me with a dark satisfaction.


    "One less obstacle," I had thought, watching the ambnce speed away.


    Lily had always been in my way-a constant reminder that Ethan had chosen Olivia first. The child''s emerald eyes, so like her mother''s, seemed to see through my facade. Even at four years old, she had regarded me with suspicion.


    And she had been right to do so. I had never wanted her happiness. I had wanted her gone.