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ruined and reborn
ruined and reborn drama
ruined and reborn dailymotion
ruined and reborn
ruined and reborn drama
ruined and reborn dailymotion
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Someone had spiked my fiancƩ's drink. When he started tearing open Serena Blackwood's dress at
00:04the Blackwood Gala, I did not rush in to stop him the way I had in my last life. Back
00:08then,
00:09I had been terrified he would offend Marcus Blackwood, a man famous for protecting his own
00:13at any cost. I threw myself between them, drugged out of his mind, dragged me into a guest room,
00:20and raped me. From that night on, the entire pack's old money circle said I had climbed into
00:24his bed on purpose. After I married him, the torment only got worse. In five years,
00:29I got pregnant seven times. Every baby was lost in another convenient accident. They called me a
00:34slut, a used-up whore, a woman who must have been passed around by half the men in town before
00:39she
00:39ever wore Evan's ring. My parents poured everything they had into making my life survivable in the
00:44Brooks household. They helped push Evan onto the council, and on the night I went into labor,
00:49Evan and Serena held me down and forced drug-laced water down my throat. I bled out on the birthing
00:53back. If you hadn't stuck your nose in that night, Serena and I would have completed our
00:56mate-hawned years ago. You ruined my fated mate. This is what you owe us.
01:02Then he smothered the baby I had nearly died delivering, right in front of me. Blood and
01:06tears soaked my face. When my last breath left me, there was nothing left in me but hatred.
01:11Then I opened my eyes again. I was back at the Blackwood Gala, back on the day someone spiked
01:16Evan's drink. This time, I would let them finish the bond they had spent a lifetime blaming me for.
01:21Evan, breathe! Don't!
01:23Serena Blackwood's breathy, embarrassed moan slipped out of the Lakeview guest suite.
01:27It sounded soft enough to pass for refusal, and loud enough to be meant for everyone in the hall.
01:31I stood outside the door, and my stomach dropped. Through the crack, Evan Brooks' eyes were bloodshot.
01:37Evan Brooks' eyes were bloodshot. His bowtie hung crooked at his throat as he pinned Serena against
01:42the floor-to-ceiling window and tore open her custom silver-green gown.
01:45Clara, we have to go in and save her.
01:48Her knuckles white. Grace Miller grabbed my sleeve.
01:50I looked at the two tangled shadows inside, then at Grace, who looked desperate to rush
01:55in on my behalf. I almost laughed. Save who? The woman who, in my last life, helped Evan drug
02:00me and leave me bleeding out on a birthing bed? Or the monster who smothered my child with
02:04his own hands?
02:05Evan comes from the minor pack branch.
02:10If he really hurts Serena tonight, Marcus Blackwield will never let him walk away.
02:14Clara, what are you waiting for? Did you forget what Mr. Ashford said?
02:17Evan's father had old ties with the Ashford's. You were supposed to look out for him.
02:21If Evan is ruined here, your father will blame you.
02:23Grace kept her voice low, but every word came faster than the last. She had wanted Evan for years.
02:28She could not wait for me to sign a mate contract with him, just so she could follow us into
02:32the
02:33Brooks household and become his hidden mistress. In my last life, when I crawled toward the door
02:37covered in blood and tried to call for help, Grace was the one who pinned my hands and feet
02:41down. She stepped on my bleeding stomach again and again, smiling as she said,
02:45Every dose Evan told me to. How are you still getting pregnant? Your body is disgusting.
02:51I clenched my fingers and swallowed the urge to strangle her on the spot.
02:54I'll go in and hold him off. I lowered my eyes. My voice shook.
02:58I'll go in and hold him off. You go to the front hall and get my mother in security.
03:01Remember, don't alarm the other guests. Remember, don't alarm the other guests.
03:04The excitement in Grace's eyes almost broke through her act. She agreed at once and hurried
03:09away. She moved like someone who had just been handed an exclusive scandal. It had been the
03:13same in my last life. The whole thing could still have been buried by the Blackwoods.
03:16But Grace had dragged over the council spouses, old money heiresses, and donors from the front
03:21hall. They all saw me half-dressed, pinned under Evan on the bed. My mother fainted on the spot.
03:26My father spent half a lifetime building his reputation, and that night, it was dragged
03:31through the mud. Even the Ashford girls became cocktail hour gossip because of me.
03:34Since Grace was so good at gathering an audience, I would let her. Let every important guest in
03:39that front hall come watch the live sex show already waiting for them. And let my dear
03:43husband from my last life have exactly what he deserved. A ladder straight into the Blackwood
03:47family. I crouched outside the Lakeview guest suite, and a savage kind of relief ran through
03:51my whole body. Patricia Brooks had not yet forced my face toward the fireplace, and burned a scar
03:56into me that no powder could hide. I had not yet smelled infected flesh mixed with burned salve.
04:01My knees had not yet been ruined from kneeling on the Brooks household stone floor until the tissue
04:05died. The Brooks household stone floor until the tissue died, turning me into the crippled
04:09whore everyone whispered about. My belly felt lighter too. It was not aching every hour from baby
04:14after baby being taken from me. My nails dug into my palm. The sharp pain told me this was not
04:19a dream.
04:19When footsteps sounded down the hall, I lifted my hand and slapped myself hard across the face,
04:25again and again. This face, still untouched by the ruin of my last life, swelled red almost at once.
04:31I had been slapped so often in the Brooks household that even now, when I split my own lip and
04:36felt
04:36blood drip down my chin, it barely hurt. Clara, why are you still here? Grace came rushing over with a
04:41crowd of donor wives and council spouses in evening gowns. The moment she saw me still guarding the door,
04:46panic flashed across her face. I pinched the soft inside of my thigh as hard as I could.
04:51My eyes went red at once. Then I rushed forward with tears all over my face and threw my arms
04:56out
04:56in front of the sweet door. The corridor's crystal light spilled over me. The handprints on my face
05:01and the blood at the corner of my mouth landed clearly in every pair of eyes.
05:04The handprints on my face and the blood at the corner of my mouth landed clearly in every pair of
05:09eyes. One woman's champagne glass rose halfway to her lips. Someone cursed under her breath.
05:13The daughter of the Ashford family was an old blood heiress. On any other day, even a scraped
05:18finger would have been enough to send the whole family office into a panic. Now half my face was
05:23swollen and blood was still running from my mouth. Catherine Blackwood was the first to frown.
05:27Tonight was the Blackwood Gallop. If a guest was injured in her family's private wing,
05:31it was the Blackwoods who lost face. She had just started toward me when I pressed myself flat
05:35against the door.
05:36somewhere else. Don't go in. Please don't go in. The warmth Catherine had been wearing for the room
05:42went cold at once.
05:44Clara, this is the private wing of the Blackwood estate. It is not an Ashford doorway for you to
05:49go. She lifted one hand and two house staff members immediately stepped forward to pull me away.
05:53I acted as if the lightest touch might shatter me. I was trembling hard, but I clung to the doorframe
05:59and would not let go. No, you can't go in. House staff and security came together to pry my hands
06:04loose. In the chaos, someone's stiletto came down hard on the back of my hand. Something in the bone
06:09shifted one. Something in the bone shifted one. I screamed before I could stop myself.
06:15Helena Ashford had stayed silent because this was the Blackwoods house, but now pain and fear broke
06:19across her face. She grabbed my arm. Clara, what are you doing? Making a scene at someone else's
06:24gala like this. What do you expect the Ashford family to do?
06:27I looked at my mother standing in front of me, alive and whole. Her hair not yet turned white
06:31overnight because of my scandal. Mom, don't make me. Tears flooded my eyes. I have a reason.
06:37I really can't let them go in. Helena's voice changed with panic. What are you even saying?
06:42My knees gave out, and I dropped directly in front of Catherine. Catherine, please. Don't.
06:47The whispers in the crowd finally broke loose. What is wrong with Clara Ashford? There isn't really
06:52something shameful behind that door. Is there? I curled up at the threshold, holding up the
06:57hand that was already swelling. My whole body shaking so hard I could not stop it. Catherine's
07:02face went completely dark. Very good. A perfectly decent Blackwood gala, and somehow Ashford's
07:08daughter is blocking my door. Since she has made this much of a scene, I will not be the
07:12only one deciding what happens next.
07:15Go to the front hall. Bring Marcus and Richard here. Go to the front hall. Bring Marcus and
07:21Richard here. I pressed down the smile, tugging at my mouth. Those slaps had not been wasted. At
07:26last, the scene was big enough. Tonight was the Blackwood Alliance gala. Marcus Blackwood and my
07:31father, Richard Ashford, were not the only powerful men in the front hall. Several Whitmore High Council
07:37candidates were here, too. Evan and I had been husband and wife for an entire lifetime, after all.
07:41This time, of course I had to make sure he and his beloved Serena had a full audience.
07:45Within minutes, Marcus arrived with a crowd of councilmen and donors at his back,
07:50security following close behind. Richard Ashford moved the fastest. The moment he saw me covered
07:55in mud and blood, guarding the door as if my life depended on it, his face changed. The next second,
08:00he lifted his hand and slapped me hard across the face.
08:03I've always known how to behave. Have you lost your mind tonight?
08:06The council spouses around us shook their heads. In the East Coast Pack Circle, I had always been
08:11the Ashford family's most proper daughter. Now I was crying and making a scene at the Blackwood
08:15Gala, blocking the private wing and refusing to let anyone through. Half the obedient reputation I
08:20had built over the years was already gone. Half the obedient reputation I had built over the years
08:25was already gone. Marcus's expression darkened. He gave me one cold glance. Then he simply raised his
08:31hand. The security men at his side stepped forward, lifted me away like they were removing
08:35an out-of-control guest, and threw me down near the rain-soaked edge of the lawn. It had rained
08:40two
08:40days ago. The Blackwood Estate's stone path had been scrubbed spotless, but the grass beside it was
08:45still full of mud. The hem of my pale lavender gown sank into the muck, filthy enough to make me
08:50look as
08:50if I had crawled out of a service alley. Everyone walked around me and headed straight for the sweet
08:54door. Helena's tears fell in a rush. I wiped the muddy water from my face and smiled at her.
09:03The crowd had barely reached the door when every step stopped at once. A woman's moan, soft and
09:08sticky, slid through the crack, tangled with a man's low, restrained panting. The sound was so obscene it
09:14made heat crawl up people's faces. Then came the dull thud of a headboard hitting the wall, again and
09:19again. No one needed to go in to know exactly how lively it was inside. Several donor wives who had
09:24brought young daughters with them immediately covered the girls' ears and ordered house staff
09:27to take them away. Then the woman inside let out another honey-sweet sound. Her voice stretched thin
09:32and breathless at the end. The guests looked from one face to another, each expression uglier than the
09:37last. The Blackwoods had humiliated themselves completely tonight. In broad daylight, in a guest
09:42wing, doing something this lewd, an outspoken council wife clutched her evening back. Her voice was low,
09:48but every word landed clearly. The way everyone looked at Marcus and Catherine now carried an
09:52unmistakable edge of mockery. Marcus's face flushed dark purple. Beneath his beard,
09:57his jaw clenched tight. I pushed in from the edge of the crowd and caught his sleeve with
10:01trembling fingers. Marcus's gaze cut quickly across the guests. The Whitmore heirs stood behind him
10:11in immaculate black formal wear. He was not afraid of offending some irrelevant guest, but whoever dared to
10:16do this at the Blackwood Alliance Gala had dragged the Blackwood name through the mud on purpose.
10:20There was no dignity left for him to protect. Marcus ripped the brass master key from the house
10:25steward's heavy key ring. The metal keys clattered hard against the doorframe. Move. His voice came
10:30out in a low growl. He shoved me aside without mercy and jammed. The brass key into the iron lock.
10:35With a violent crash, the frame of the Lakeview guest suite split open. Half the door hung crooked,
10:40then dropped hard onto the carpet. The sky outside had not gone fully dark, but the suite blazed with
10:44light. The white wall scouts lit up the mess on the floor. A kicked-side gown, a shirt,
10:49and a piece of red lace lingerie. The whole room reeked of sex and sweat, sharp and fishy like
10:53Bradford blossoms in spring, strong enough to tighten the back of the throat. Some council
10:57spouses covered their mouths. Others cried out. Marcus was already past reason. He overturned the
11:02frosted glass screen with one brutal shove. On the king bed, Evan Brooks was completely naked,
11:07with a woman's bare thighs hooked over his shoulders. The red lace lingerie was still clenched in
11:12his hand. The air went dead silent. Even the sound of high heels sinking into the carpet seemed
11:18loud. He fumbled for the comforter, trying to drag it over the woman beneath him and hide her from
11:25view. To Marcus, that looked less like shame than provocation. Evan might have been a rising pack
11:32attorney this year, but in Marcus's eyes, he was still nothing more than a lower pack legal associate
11:37with no real power and no real bloodline. A scholarship-born climber like him would not
11:43even have been allowed near the Blackwood side door on an ordinary night. And now he had dared to
11:47turn the Blackwood guest wing into this kind of debauchery. It was uglier than spitting in Marcus
11:51Blackwood's face. Low-born trash! Marcus's eyes went bloodshot. He grabbed the iron poker from beside
11:58the fireplace and swung it down hard at the bedpost. Evan clutched the woman against himself and
12:03scrambled naked across the bed, trying to dodge. The sight of him stumbling bare in front of every
12:07important guest nearly drove Marcus and Catherine mad. One council space after another looked away,
12:12stepping back on their heels. Catherine's chest rose and fell with fury. She had no polished hostess
12:18mask left to wear. At this point, the Blackwoods had no dignity left to protect. I want to see which
12:33to speak of in the Blackwood house. Catherine let out a cold laugh and pulled with both hands. With
12:37one harsh rip, she tore the entire comforter away. A completely naked woman was exposed in front of
12:42everyone. She covered her face with both hands, her legs pressed tightly together, too afraid to lift
12:47her head. Several bright red hickeys stood out on her pale shoulders. Her hair was damp and tangled,
12:52as if she had just been dragged out of the sheets. The Blackwood female aides beside Catherine reacted
12:57first. They stepped forward, pinned the woman's wrists and ankles, and yanked her hair back,
13:01forcing her face up for everyone to see. And that beautiful, sweat-damp, painfully familiar face
13:08was shown to every person in the suite. A glass knocked against a serving tray with a bright,
13:12brittle sound. The entire room seemed to explode. Serena Blackwood was there, naked and exposed,
13:17helplessly displayed in front of every council witness. Catherine Black froze on the spot. She
13:20looked as if someone had struck her straight between the eyes. One hand flew to her head as she
13:24staggered back. The guests looked from the scandal pair on the bed to me. My eyes reddened and tears
13:29rolled down my face at exactly the right moment. I did not need to say anything anymore. Everyone
13:34had already put the story together for themselves. I was an old-blood Ashvind heiress. Who would dare
13:40put a hand on me so easily? The answer seemed obvious. I must have stumbled onto Serena's filthy
13:45secret. Serena must have slapped me, and then she must have forced me to stand outside and guard the
13:50door for the two of them. He tightened his grip on the fireplace poker and brought it down hard across
13:56Evan Brooks' back. The iron edge scraped through flesh, and a long, ugly gash split open at once.
14:01I lowered my head and used the back of my mudsteed hand to hide the corner of my mouth.
14:06Evan Brooks, you deserve that one. A raw scream tore out of Evan's throat. He touched the torn skin on
14:12his back and tried desperately to explain. Marcus, listen. I was drugged. Someone set me up.
14:18Marcus was beyond listening. He raised the fireplace pinal again and swung it straight for Evan's neck.
14:23Marcus, stand down. He's still a licensed council attorney. We investigate first.
14:28I watched coldly, almost regretful. What a shame. One cleaner hit and he might have died right there.
14:33No matter how furious Marcus was, he could not ignore the Whitmerts in front of them.
14:37Investigate! Tear the Blackwood estate apart if you have to. Bar logs, cameras, badge swipes,
14:42sweet access. I want everything!
14:45Evan let out a breath of relief, then swept one cold glance over me. That single look told me
14:50everything. He had come back too. Those were not the eyes of a newly admitted PAC attorney.
14:55They were Evan Brooks's eyes after years soaked in council politics in our last life.
14:59Still on his knees, he planted both hands against his thighs and slowly straightened his spine.
15:04However I was set up tonight, Serena's public standing is already ruined. I'm willing to sign a
15:08responsibility statement, acknowledge this mate bond scandal, and enter an alliance engagement with Serena.
15:12He thought that sounded noble. He thought Marcus and Catherine would be grateful that he was
15:16offering to clean up Blackwood's mess.
15:18P! You think you're what exactly? A no-pittage low-pack cur thinks he can crawl into the Blackwood
15:23bloodline?
15:24Evan squeezed his eyes shut, his entire face flushed red. In all his years, no one had ever
15:29humiliated him like this in public. After all, in my last life, whenever he dealt with Marcus,
15:35Marcus had always clapped him on the shoulder and called him promising.
15:38Marcus had even said he admired a man who climbed by talent. What a joke.
15:43In that life, Evan Brooks had been my husband. My father, Richard Ashford, was the PAC council's
15:47chief legal strategist. The respect Marcus gave him had never belonged to Evan. It had belonged
15:52to the Ashford family.
15:53I would snap my own daughter's neck and dump her in the Hudson before I let trash like you
15:58touch my bloodline!
15:59In a fresh burst of age, he kicked Evan hard enough to send him crashing into the low table.
16:05Evan coughed up a mouthful of blood on the spot.
16:08You touched a Blackwood daughter, and now you dare use her as your ladder?
16:13Security! Drag him out! Beat him until he can't open his mouth again!
16:17Evan had not even managed to get up before Blackwood's security prissed his arms and legs.
16:21They dragged him toward the door like a bag of rotting trash.
16:24No! No! This isn't how it was supposed to happen! Marcus! Serena Rina, save me!
16:29Marcus grabbed a whiskey tumbler and smashed it against Evan's head. Glass splattered,
16:32Evan's scalp slid open at once. Blood ran down his brow and dripped all over the floor.
16:36Gag him. A cur like him doesn't deserve to say Serena's name.
16:42Serena Blackwood was completely stunned. She kept her head down and did not dare say a single
16:46word for Evan Brooks.
16:48Marcus! You can't be this heartless! She is our daughter! She was harmed! How can you tell her to
16:54die?
16:55Of course Marcus had spoken in rage. Serena was still his own blood. He could not truly bring
17:01himself to kill her. But after saying so much in front of everyone, he could not simply let it go
17:05either. So he slammed one hand down on the coffee table. Are my investigators dead? Who dared touch
17:10the drinks at a Blackwood gala? Do I pay security to be useless? If you can't give me an answer,
17:15I will tear apart the entire staff chain. A security supervisor came in with his shoulders hunched,
17:19his voice shaking. Marcus, the badge log shows that Maya Ellis, Serena's personal aide,
17:23handled Evan's glass. The room broke into low, crackling murmurs. Every pair of eyes turned to
17:27Serena. A personal aide usually acted on her employer's instructions.
17:30No! It wasn't me! It was Maya! Maya wanted to hurt me!
17:35Maya Ellis looked less like a living person than a ghost. Trembling all over, she collapsed onto the
17:40floor.
17:41No. I didn't.
17:45She had just started to defend herself when she looked up and met Serena's eyes. The rest of the
17:49words died in her throat. If Maya told the truth, the Black Hills had a hundred ways to strip her
17:54of
17:54her job and every clean reference she had left. Serena threw herself at Maya, sobbing as she beat
18:00her.
18:00Was I not good to you? Why would you stab me in the back? It was me. I thought Serena
18:06favored Tessa
18:06Rowe and treated me unfairly. I lost my- The guests looked at one another. The same faint mockery appeared
18:12on every face. That excuse was too weak to stand. But what else could they do? Serena was Marcus and
18:17Catherine's daughter. If they did not let Maya take the fall, were they supposed to admit Serena herself
18:22had gone into heat and dragged a man into bed? Marcus, who had been ready to beat someone to
18:26death a moment ago, suddenly looked as if a dirty rag had been shoved into his mouth. Serena was still
18:31hitting Maya and crying. Then, from the jacket draped over Serena's shoulders, a sealed clinic
18:35pouch slipped out. Maya had already been beaten weak. Her body tilted and she landed directly on top of
18:40the pouch. A small blood vial shattered under her weight. Fresh red spread instantly across the pale
18:45carpet.
18:45What is that?
18:46A private pack clinic label was stuck to the clear bag. Half a sheet of paper, already soaked at the
18:51edge with
18:51blood showed through. An ordinary gala guest might not have a clue, but among the council wives,
18:56healer donors, and old money maidens here, who hasn't had to deal with a fertility scandal for
19:00the family? CG blood test results from a private clinic, a forged healer intake form, and a fake
19:04bond status file. All that stuff is enough to rip the mask off Serena as the innocent, wronged Luna
19:08candidate. Most of the gogglers don't know the ins and outs, so they're craning their necks asking
19:12everyone around. Every time someone asks, Serena's face goes even peeler. Evan Brooks, beaten bloody and
19:17dragged back into the suite, saw the evidence explode at exactly the wrong moment. He was still
19:22a licensed council attorney. No matter how furious Marcus was, Blackwood's security did not dare beat
19:27him to death. If this had been Evan before the last life, he would have been nothing more than a
19:31newly
19:31risen PAC lawyer. A shattered blood vial and half a sheet of HCG paperwork might not have meant much to
19:36him, but he had lived an entire life already. In his last life, he had climbed high in council circles.
19:42Paternity fraud, forged healer files, backroom scandal cleanup. What had he not seen? One look
19:47at the blood on the carpet, the soaked clinic date, and he understood. Evan was barely holding
19:52together from the beating, yet somehow he found strength. He forced himself up and lunged toward
19:57the king bed. With one hand, he ripped back the comforter. The white fitted sheet was clean. There
20:02was nothing there that could shove the pup in Serena's belly onto tonight. The truly glaring proof was the
20:07blood-soaked paper. Sample collected, four weeks before gala. Gestational estimate, five weeks.
20:13Sire pending. Everyone had just seen Evan naked and pressed over Serena, but the evidence told them
20:18Serena had already been pregnant before tonight. She had even prepared a forged healer intake in
20:22advance, ready to frame herself as a Luna candidate ruined by this one night. Please. What a perfect
20:28little paternity trap. Too bad it had not closed neatly around Evan's throat. Even I had not expected
20:33the scene to turn this ugly this fast. In my last life, after I married Evan, I went to a
20:38private
20:38pack clinic during my first pregnancy. There, I happened to see a woman in a hood quietly asking
20:43for abortion medication. The clinic healer warned her that she was already close to 16 weeks.
20:48If she forced a termination at that stage, her body might not withstand it. The woman had wrapped
20:52herself up carefully, but when she passed near me, I still caught a faint trace of custom scent suppressor.
20:58Across the entire East Coast pack circle, only Serena Blackwood loved that scent. At that point,
21:03three months had passed since the night at the Lakeview guest suite, which meant that when Evan
21:07was drugged tonight, Serena already had a pup more than a month along. Who dared bring that filthy
21:11drug into the Blackwood gala? The answer was suddenly obvious. Serena had wanted to find a
21:16public sire for somebody else's pup, and Evan Brooks was supposed to be the fall guy. Once I pieced it
21:21together, I could only think how ugly this world really was. In my last life, Evan and I had already
21:27been bound by the scandal. Trying to reopen the Blackwood incident from three months earlier would have
21:31been a joke. So I buried the truth and locked it away. This time, my plan had been simple.
21:35Let Serena and Evan both get what they wanted. One would find a father for the pup in her belly.
21:40The other would climb the Blackwood old blood ladder at last. I had not expected Serena's own
21:45clinic evidence to tear open first. Evan's face looked as if someone had slapped him in front of
21:49the entire room. He threw himself at Serena and seized her shoulders, shaking her heart.
21:55You set me up! You told me you had no registered bond. You said you wanted me and no one
21:59else.
22:00You told me you couldn't hold back your scent. That you would break council protocol just to give
22:04yourself to me. You used me as a public seer for another man's pup, you pregnant little whore!
22:09Serena shook in his grip like a silk silk scarf, as if she might fall apart at any second. Her
22:14mouth
22:14opened and closed, but not a single word came out. Marcus heard every word, and his brows drew tight
22:20again. But this time, he had no ground to stand on. Even if he hated that a low-pack liability
22:25like
22:26Evan had overstepped, he had no reason left to keep beating him. Evan Brooks had been beaten too
22:30badly, and the truth had struck him too hard. Blood surged up his throat and sprayed across Serena
22:35Blackwood's face. Then he fell backward and passed out cold. The room erupted into chaos again.
22:41No matter how unwilling Marcus was, no matter how badly he still wanted to kill someone, he had to call
22:45in the estate medic and the pack healer. Several council wives looked at me with pity and tenderness.
22:50How did she get dragged into something like this? Clara has suffered too much tonight.
22:55One after another, they sighed for me. They believed I was a young heiress with no registered
23:00mate bond. Dragged for no reason into a sex scandal this filthy. Even if I was innocent,
23:04it was still a stain. My pack reputation and alliance prospects would take a hit.
23:09After tonight, the mate alliances open to me would probably drop by an entire tier.
23:13The Whitmore heirs especially would never consider me now. They had no idea. Compared with my last life,
23:19when I married Evan and was slowly ground down inside the Brooks household, this was already an
23:23escape from death. Later, I heard that when Evan was carried back, he looked as if he had been dragged
23:28out of a pool of blood. Blackwood security knew Marcus was still furious, so they had put their backs
23:33into it. From the ER surgeon to the pack healer to the spinal specialist, every doctor who saw him
23:37only shook their head.
23:41Difficult case. The right leg is especially bad.
23:44Even if it heals, he may need a cane.
23:47If recovery goes poorly, he may never leave a wheelchair.
23:50Some said Evan was pitiful. A scholarship-born legal climber, ruined like this by the Blackwoods.
23:55Others said Evan deserved it. If he had not wanted to climb the Blackwood old blood ladder himself,
24:00he would never have suffered like this.
24:02The person who reacted most violently inside Ashford House was Grace Miller.
24:06Clara! If you had gone in and stopped it, Evan would never have ended up like this!
24:11He was perfectly fine and now he's lying in a bed half-broken! How can you still eat?
24:17I held a bowl of chilled almond porridge and took my time swallowing a spoonful.
24:22What reaction should I have? Should I go mourn at Evan's bedside like he's already dead?
24:27Grace's face flushed with anger.
24:29He is still alive, isn't he?
24:31How can you be so heartless?!
24:34She realized she had crossed the line, her voice going soft at once.
24:37I only think Evan is pitiful. I didn't mean it that way.
24:41I looked coldly at Grace, the girl who had grown up beside me.
24:44If you pity Evan so much, then go take care of him. You don't need to enter my suite again.
24:50Grace snapped her head up as if she could not believe what she had heard.
24:53Marion, pull Grace's staff file, NDA, access badge, and housing agreement.
24:57Suspend her Ashford access immediately.
25:01The Brooks household needs a live-in aid, doesn't it? Send over her caregiving contract.
25:06If she refuses to leave, have security escort her off the property.
25:10Tell them the Ashford's and the Brooks go back years.
25:13We arrange someone specially to help care for Evan.
25:15After that, she does not come back.
25:19Only then did Grace seem to wake up.
25:21Clara, I was wrong. I shouldn't have said that.
25:23She crawled toward me, sobbing and begging.
25:25For the sake of all the years we grew up together, please forgive me this once.
25:29I almost wanted to forgive her.
25:31But when had Grace ever spared me for the sake of all the years we grew up together?
25:34It was not until the day I died in my last life, after hearing her words, that I finally understood.
25:39Why? After I became pregnant, after I had been careful and then more careful, I still lost one baby after
25:45another.
25:46With Grace at my side, altering my medication and my care records for Evan again and again,
25:50how could any child in my belly have survived?
25:52Of course she did not want to go to the Brooks household now.
25:55Of course.
25:56Evan and his mother, Patricia Brooks, lived in a worn-down duplex outside town.
26:00They were so poor that all they had left was one aging aid.
26:03Now that Evan Brooks' leg was damaged, his council career was as good as over.
26:07On paper, no one could throw him out simply because he might need a cane.
26:11But after the sweet scandal at Blackwood Ridge, with a license review, an ethics complaint,
26:16and a DA inquiry pressing down layer after layer, who would dare put him anywhere near the public eye?
26:21Unless someone with real votes chose to protect him.
26:23And now, who would protect Evan Brooks?
26:25Ashford would not.
26:26Blackwood certainly would not.
26:27He had no family strong enough to lift him.
26:30He did have a handsome face, and at first, a few old-money families had considered him as a potential
26:35son-in-law.
26:35Now, those heiresses probably thought he carried bad luck.
26:39Because the scandal touched the High Council's reputation, Eleanor Whitmore took a personal interest.
26:43The High Council and the DA liaison turned Blackwood Ridge inside out.
26:47As for the pup in Serena Blackwood's belly, no one could say for certain who had fathered it.
26:51The personal aides around Serena had tried to protect her at first.
26:54But once the perjury warnings and immunity deals came down, one after another, they cracked.
26:59A stable hand.
27:00Gate security.
27:01A procurement runner.
27:03A jewelry store sales guy.
27:05Serena had never been picky.
27:06As long as a man had a decent face, she dared drag him into her bed.
27:10After a while, the number of men she had slept with was not just 10 or 12.
27:14It was more.
27:15If the pup in her belly had actually been born, only a DNA panel could have sorted out the father.
27:19After a disgrace like that, how can Marcus allow her to give birth to another man's pup?
27:24I heard he found some dirty private clinic and forced Serena through a termination.
27:27At first, Marcus even wanted them to prepare an overdose of sedatives.
27:31Only after Catherine cried, begged, and nearly threw herself over a balcony was Serena's life spared.
27:37Her life was spared.
27:38The rest of her did not.
27:40After that forced termination, Serena's bleeding would not stop.
27:43Her periods never settled.
27:45She grew thin very quickly.
27:47Her face pale.
27:48Her legs too weak to hold her steady.
27:49Marcus lost the old lift of his chin in council rooms.
27:53He had been proud his whole life, and now one daughter had dragged the Blackwood name through filth.
27:57People said he spent his days drinking himself senseless.
28:00When he finished drinking, he would go to Serena's room, smash whatever he could reach, and curse her until security
28:05came over.
28:06Every day, Blackwood Ridge was full of screaming, breaking glass, and the sound of guard's footsteps.
28:11Less than three months later, Serena, driven past the edge, grabbed a kitchen knife, and stabbed her own father to
28:18death.
28:18A roomful of aides and guards watched it happen.
28:20She could not run from that.
28:22Once the murder charge landed, it was enough to seal her fate.
28:25That same day, the high council stripped her of every inheritance right.
28:29When the criminal court sentenced her, she was sent to a women's prison for life without parole.
28:33On the day Serena was sentenced, I was having tea at the newly opened laurel room in the city.
28:38Mrs. Ashfield, this is from a gentleman downstairs.
28:41He said he would like to see you and say a few words.
28:44A server brought over a hibiscus chestnut tea cake I had not ordered.
28:47I looked at the small pastry and suddenly found it funny.
28:50During my marriage to Evan, he had bought the same thing for me a few times.
28:53After I lost our first child.
28:55After Patricia Brooks forced me to kneel every few steps in the name of pack discipline until I passed out.
29:00Until my knees split open and festered.
29:02Evan probably always believed that as long as he handed me this one sweet little cake,
29:06I should calm down.
29:08I should forgive him.
29:09I should make peace with him.
29:10But to me, it had never recorded comfort.
29:13It recorded every injury Evan and the Brooks household had dealt me again and again.
29:17Please return it to the gentleman downstairs.
29:20Tell him I don't dare eat it.
29:21I'm afraid there might be something in it.
29:23The server quickly carried the tea cake back.
29:25But Evan did not leave.
29:27When I stepped out of the laurel room, he was waiting at the entrance.
29:30Clara.
29:31His voice broke and he reached for the edge of my coat.
29:34Mr. Brooks, step back.
29:36Don't touch her.
29:37Harper Lane, the new aide at my side, immediately stepped between Evan and me.
29:41Evan's face twisted with misery.
29:42Clara, I treated you terribly before.
29:46I let people lie to me.
29:48I misunderstood you.
29:49I thought that scandal was something you set up so you could marry me.
29:52I never meant to hurt you.
29:54Evan, were you lied to or did you choose to lie to yourself?
29:57I am an old blood Ashford heiress.
29:59You?
30:00If I had wanted it, even the Whitmore line would have been within reach.
30:04Why would I need to scheme my way into marrying you?
30:06The color drained from Evan's already ruined face.
30:09He had once been handsome in a clean, refined way.
30:12After all these days of pain, he had wasted down until he was almost nothing but bone.
30:16Whatever dignity he once had was gone.
30:19He was lucky, really.
30:20At least both legs had not been ruined.
30:22Only his right leg would never be steady again.
30:25From now on, he could not walk without a cane.
30:27My gaze swept once over his right leg.
30:30Evan immediately pulled it back.
30:31Maybe he remembered my last life, when he and Patricia Brooks had ruined my leg.
30:35Maybe he remembered how many times he had sneered at me and called me a crippled little liability.
30:40One of the Ashford House staff hurried toward me.
30:42Mrs. Ashford, we've been looking everywhere for you.
30:45Please return at once.
30:46The High Council just sent word.
30:48Sebastian Whitmore has been confirmed as High Alpha Elect.
30:51The Whitmore line has also filed a Maid Alliance statement.
30:54Once you personally confirm it, the Council will publicly recognize you as Luna Elect.
30:58Evan's mouth fell open.
30:59He looked as if he could not believe what he had just heard.
31:02In my last life, Sebastian had become High Alpha too.
31:05Only then, he had never publicly recognized a Luna.
31:08Even after he took full power, he never brought anyone to stand beside him.
31:12So that was why...
31:15Sebastian likes her, doesn't he?
31:17Evan muttered the questions to Grace Miller beside him.
31:19They were together already, weren't they?
31:21Bracing him like a cane, and Patricia had worn her down until she barely looked human.
31:25No secret dates.
31:27No private gifts.
31:29Nothing improper.
31:30Only...
31:31Only what?
31:34Only that every time Sebastian saw her, he smiled.
31:37For the decades that followed, Sebastian proved Grace right.
31:41He was a good husband.
31:42A very good one.
31:43As for Evan, I never saw him again for the rest of my life.
31:47The last time I heard news of him was before I moved into the Whitmore Council residence.
31:50I heard there was no path left for him back to the Council.
31:53He could not stay in the East Coast Pack Circle either.
31:56So he took Grace and Patricia back to that low-pack hometown of his.
31:59Maybe Blackwood Ridge had damaged more than his leg.
32:02Later, Patricia arranged engagements for him and pushed a few dependent girlfriends into his life.
32:07But in this life, no one ever carried his pup.
32:09But in this life, no one ever carried his pup.
32:09Third milk came out.
32:09Myäŗē¬¬äø praise to earth's a holiday match.
32:09I had never been baptized.
32:09He was like a Christian meter.
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