Not Good Enough for the Duke?

My sister is in the hospital. Her body suddenly rejected the wolf poison, and she needs a life-saving shot.

The secretary of my husband, Alpha CEO Ryker, brought three vials. When I opened them, they were all expired vitamins.

I called Ryker and asked him to send the family helicopter to bring the real medicine.

A woman answered. It was his secretary, Maggie.

"Miss Talbot, you must be mistaken. I handed you the wolf-poison inhibitor myself. How could it turn into vitamins?"

"Mr. Ryker just finished his full-moon shift and is resting. He has to attend a transnational tycoon banquet, so please don't disturb him."

I begged a black-market dealer and signed a blood contract with a loan shark to get the real serum.

My sister got the shot in time and survived, but she lost her wolf form for good.

For the next three days, I stayed in the hospital room and took care of her.

Ryker took Maggie to Las Vegas, booked an entire casino, rode a yacht, and bought a private island.

Three days later, I went to the clinic to have the mate mark removed from my neck.

I canceled every merger marriage contract under my name and got ready to leave.

1

I pushed open the manor gates, carrying my medical kit.

Ryker was sitting on a leather sofa.

Maggie was kneeling on the floor, polishing his shoes.

I walked up and slammed the three expired vitamin bottles onto the glass coffee table.

The bottles shattered, and the liquid splashed over Ryker's pant leg.

"Ryker! Why did you use fake medicine to hurt my sister?"

"She got treatment too late, lost her wolf form, and she's good for nothing now!"

Maggie dropped her polishing cloth, curled up in Ryker's arms, and sobbed.

"Miss Talbot, I sent the wolf-poison inhibitor to the hospital!"

"I ran around in high heels all day just to deliver it. How can you blame me?"

"Are you hiding the real medicine so you can take the family's medical supplies and sell them on the black market?"

"You're using expired vitamins to frame me now. What kind of heart do you even have?"

I stared at Maggie.

"What nonsense are you spouting! The attending doctor checked the medicine on the spot. It was a few dollars' worth of vitamins!"

Ryker raised his arm and pulled Maggie behind him.

"Enough! Wren Talbot, how long are you going to keep making a scene?"

"I give you a generous allowance every month. Do you really need money for medicine?"

I think your sister's disability is fake, and you're just looking for an excuse to get rid of my secretary!

"Maggie handles the company's affairs for me every day. Can't you tolerate even that much?"

I touched the raw laser-removal wound on my neck, where the scab was forming.

"Generous allowance? Ryker, for the past six months you've let Maggie wear my gowns and move into the side room of our master suite."

"You froze my family black card and gave me a two-thousand-dollar debit card!"

"Two thousand dollars doesn't even cover one day of hospital bed fees!"

"Every time I complained, you called me greedy. Is that what you call an allowance?"

Ryker leaned back against the sofa and adjusted his cuffs.

"Two thousand dollars is enough for an ordinary family to live on for a month. You waste money without limit."

"Your sister is a useless little she-wolf. Wasting the pack's medicine was a bad investment from the start."

"Maggie brings the company ten million dollars in value. What can you possibly compare to her?"

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

I pulled it out and glanced at the screen.

A confirmation letter from a gene therapy clinic in Switzerland.

A private jet would take off tomorrow night to take me and my sister overseas, where we could go into hiding.

This marriage had only twenty-four hours left.

I put my phone away and looked at Ryker.

"Ryker, you'll pay for what you said today."

Maggie leaned over and whispered in Ryker's ear. Then she stuck out her foot and kicked the vitamin fragments under the coffee table into the trash can.

"Miss Talbot, Mr. Ryker is kind and won't argue with you. Don't be ungrateful."

"Your sister is a half-dead burden. The sooner she goes, the more money the family saves."

"If I were you, I'd have pulled her tubes ages ago. Why keep her around for the holidays?"

I rushed forward, grabbed Maggie by the hair, and dragged her out of Ryker's arms.

I raised my hand and slapped her across the face.

Smack!

Maggie screamed, clutched her face, and fell onto the rug.

"You dare hit me! If my face is ruined, can you afford to pay for it?"

"My sister may have lost her wolf form, but she's still worth ten of you, you thieving tramp!"

I grabbed the collar of her blouse and raised my hand for a second slap.

Ryker rose to his feet and let his Alpha aura flare.