Chapter 3
Anastasia Konstantinos
"It is with a heavy heart that I'm making this announcement today, because my late wife is not here." Father began his speech, and I felt a sting in my heart at the mention of my mother, but I couldn't deny the excitement I felt at the thought of him remembering her on this special day of his life.
When I looked at my stepmom and her kids, they were burning in rage that the Alpha was talking about his late wife.
"Twenty-four years ago, I caught my late wife, Ivanova, in bed with another man." He dropped the bombshell that left me frozen on the spot, my eyes narrowing in shock and my heart stopped beating. Wait… what!
"What!"
"She cheated? I never heard of that."
"How could she cheat on the Alpha? He was the best husband to her."
When I looked at my father, he had a smirk on his face as he was also looking at me with that satisfactory expression on his face.
Tears gathered in my eyes and dropped down my cheeks as I clenched my jaw tightly and clutched my fingers around the portion of my dress that I held.
"I know I shouldn't have tolerated such, but I just couldn't bring myself to humiliate my wife whom I loved so much, and that was the reason I kept it a secret from everyone, ensuring the pain."
'The Alpha is really a nice man. I would never tolerate a cheating woman'.
''He shouldn't have let her off the hook. That bitch. I thought she was a noble woman'.
'Some women are just crazy. How could she cheat on her husband when he was so perfect?'
My heart wrenched painfully and more tears poured down my cheeks as I watched helplessly, unable to say anything even though I wanted to defend my mother.
Although I was just a little girl when my mom passed, I could still remember the kind of person she was. My mom would never do such a thing to my father. She never cheated on him, and I was sure about that. My mom wasn't the type to do that.
"The result of her infidelity then…" he paused, a smirk laced up his lips as he looked at me, and I staggered back, shaking my head. He wouldn't do that to me, right? He wasn't going to do that, yeah?
"Is this. Anastasia is not my daughter, but the product of Ivanova's infidelity, whom I adopted because I loved my wife." My heart sank into my stomach and my jaw dropped to the ground when my father announced to everyone that I wasn't his daughter.
I opened my mouth to talk as if I could, but no sound came out as I struggled, so I gave up, resorting to only shedding tears.
'I have always suspected her to be a bastard child'.
'The Alpha is so kind to have allowed her to stay in his house. She should've been thrown out long ago'.
'Gosh! This is disgusting'.
"For years, I didn't reveal the cause of Ivanova's death, but I'm going to do that today…" he paused while I just stared into space, waiting for him to drop the lies he had brewed.
"Ivanova wasn't murdered… She commited suicide after I caught her cheating again." He acted it so well that he sounded hurt. I wasn't so surprised about that because somehow, I had expected something like that.
If I didn't watch my mother being killed eighteen years ago, I would've sworn he was telling the truth. That horrible incident that has etched in my memory for years and would continue to haunt me forever. That memory that had me traumatized for years.
A heavy weight settled on my chest as I looked at him with resentment, wishing he could die that instant. It's fine to hate me, but telling lies on my mother? That was the height of it all.
'Now, this is crazy. She cheated again?'
''Gosh! I'm so pissed. She really deserved death'.
'Ok. Now I've given up on marriage. There is no way I'm getting married again'.
The crowd didn't fail to add spice to it as they kept throwing disgusting and hateful comments without even confirming if what he was saying was true.
"I brought her up since she was a kid, cherished her, and loved her like my own daughter, but what I got in return was betrayal. Anastasia here, tried to kill my wife and daughter." A gasp tore through my throat, my eyes narrowing as I snapped my head to look at him, and his lips curled up in a smirk that only lasted for a couple of seconds before disappearing.
"I, Alpha Konstantinos, demote you, Anastasia, to an omega. That is your punishment for betraying me." My father's voice was hardened and filled with resentment as he spoke, and I scoffed silently. Have I not been living like that from the onset? What was the point of demoting me when I was literally an omega.
I looked down at myself, letting out a scoff again as I was getting the piece together. He wanted me to be well presentable so they would think I wasn't being maltreated and was living a beautiful life. Wow! This was a real life plot twist I didn't expect.
'She deserves more than just being demoted. She should be banished or killed instead'.
'Alpha, you didn't deserve to be treated this way by this pathetic loser and her mother. You deserve better'.
'You should kill or banish her instead. She deserves worse than that'.
Came the suggestion of the crowd who obviously hated me already for what my father said.
Was death not better than living like this? Why didn't I just die with mom?
I looked over to my stepmom and Ophelia, and as I had expected, they looked satisfied and excited about the drama. Dimitri wasn't an exception.
I was at the verge of breaking down when I felt the sudden rush of energy out of nowhere, my heart pounding hard against my chest, my fingers tingled with anticipation for nothing, and I felt my wolf jumping excitedly inside me like it had never been before.
'Mate!' I swear I heard the silent and excited whisper of my wolf inside me. I didn't expect I'd find my mate in a place like this and on a day like this, but still, my eyes searched the crowd for him.
I was still trying to figure out who it was, when a deep masculine voice spoke from the crowd.
"And who dares to demote Alpha Viktor's mate to an omega?" Came a deep baritone voice that sent shivers down my spine. My jaw dropped to the ground and I froze on the spot when I saw him.
He was about 6'5ft tall, underneath his cloth, laid a perfectly built body that had me drooling for a few seconds. He had a beautiful chiseled face, sharp jawlines, and semi-bearded chin. Pointed nose, and when my eyes met with his pair of sharp and sparkling amber eyes, my breath hitched and my wolf growled again.
'Mate!'
'Alpha Viktor? My mate?'