He Doesn't Love You Anymore (Amber and Ethan) novel Chapter 85

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Painful Memories

(Amber’s POV)

I left Dominic’s arms slightly, the nightmare making my heart race, these memories buried for years were the first time I had recounted them in detail to anyone.

“When I was a pup,” I began, my voice barely above a whisper, “When I first realized that Harrison and the others favored Victoria more, I would feel like I was doing something wrong, that wasn’t doing enough. I tried very hard to be obedient.”

Dominic’s arms tightened around me, but I couldn’t look at him. The shame was too deep.

“I thought if I was the perfect daughter, they would love me the way they loved Victoria. I studied harder, helped more around the pack house, never complained.”

My throat constricted with the memory of that desperate little girl

“Only in grandmother Eleanor’s arms could I find any comfort. She was the only one who saw me, really saw me.”

“What happened to her?” Dominic asked gently.

“She passed away during my sophomore year of high school.” The words came out broken. “Before she died, she regretted that she had never given me a grand coming–of–age ceremony.”

I remembered the way her frail hands had stroked my hair, how she’d whispered apologies for the family’s treatment of me

“That year’s Spring Moon Festival, I finally gathered the courage to ask for my ceremony. Every werewolf deserves that

recognition when they turn eighteen.”

Dominic waited patiently as I struggled with the memory.

“Victoria started tearing up as soon as I mentioned it. The anniversary of her biological father’s death coincided with my birthday, and as a child she started crying every time it wasn’t even that day yet, so I never celebrated my birthday after that. But I didn’t realize that she didn’t want me to have a coming of age ceremony either. She cried herself hoarse that day, saying that the thought of the ceremony made her sad because she’d be reminded of her father, who’d been dead for years.”

The injustice of it still burned in my chest.

“Harrison and Melanie immediately agreed to postpone my ceremony. They didn’t even hesitate. They didn’t ask how I felt or

consider that I’d been waiting my whole life for this.”

My hands clenched into fists against Dominic’s chest.

“I was thoroughly outraged. A heated argument broke out. I overturned the dining room table and broke a newly hung family photo.”

I could still hear the crash of glass, still feel the satisfaction of destroying something the way th

“When a slap landed on my face, I instead quieted down.”

Dominic’s body went rigid. “Harrison hit you?”

estroyed my dreams.

“That slap changed everything,” I whispered. “It made me realize the futility of fighting for their love. Nothing I did would ever

be enough.”

The memory of Harrison’s hand across my cheek was still vivid. The shock, the pain, the final death of hope.

I laughed bitterly, “I was thinking childishly the other day, I don’t need them anymore. I think I’m going to turn eighteen soon.

I have an inheritance from my grandmother, enough to live well. Ethan promised we’d get married after college.”

I pulled back to meet Dominic’s eyes, needing him to understand.

“I saw a way out. A future away from the suffocating atmosphere of the Chase Pack. That day, I fled the pack house believing I

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Painful Memories

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was moving on to a new life.”

Dominic’s jaw clenched. “But something went wrong.”

“If there was a way back, if there was a regret pill, I would rather have believed Victoria that night than run out.”

The words tasted bitter in my mouth.

“I made it maybe a mile from the pack house when I felt a sudden, unbearable pain in the back of my head. There was this strong scent – wolfsbane. I lost consciousness immediately.”

Dominic’s breathing grew harsh, but I forced myself to continue.

“When I woke up, I was bound in a moving van. I couldn’t speak or move. I could hear the kidnapper on the phone, negotiating my sale.”

My voice cracked. “Sixty thousand dollars. That’s what I was worth to him.”

“Amber…”

“I was so confused. Why didn’t he just extort Harrison? My father was wealthy. Sixty thousand was nothing to him.”

I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly cold.

“After another period of unconsciousness, I was transferred to a second vehicle. The kidnapper’s final words before the transfer… they destroyed me.”

Dominic waited, his face a mask of controlled fury.

“He said, ‘Girl, don’t blame me, just blame your parents for adopting a snake–hearted foster daughter. It’s your sister who wants to get you, I’m just doing it for money.“”

The words hung in the air like poison.

“Victoria orchestrated my kidnapping. My own sister sold me for sixty thousand dollars.”

Dominic’s growl was barely human. “I’ll kill her.”

“Half a month,” I continued, needing to get it all out. “To be precise, I stayed in that dark room for sixteen days.”

I could feel myself dissociating, speaking as if this had happened to someone else.

“It was a rogue wolf territory, far from any pack lands. There were three people there – a scarred old rogue wolf, a developmentally disabled young wolf, and a limping woman.”

My hands started shaking again.

“Through gestures, I understood I had been purchased to be the disabled wolf’s mate. To bear his pups.

Dominic’s body went completely still.

“That first night, they put me in his room. I was already weak. My newly awakened wolf Cora wolfsbane. But I fought him.”

The memory of that night was a blur of terror and desperation.

དཀའ

barely conscious from the

“I injured him trying to defend myself. The old rogue beat me with a silver–tipped stick. The burns covered my entire back.”

I could still feel the agony of silver against my skin.

“He kept trying to force me to mate with the disabled wolf. He threatened me with a silver knife, held it to my throat.”

My voice became barely audible.

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“On the ninth day, I found a small silver folding knife that the limping woman had secretly left behind. But instead of using it for défense…”

I couldn’t finish the sentence.

“You tried to end it,” Dominic said quietly.

I nodded, tears finally spilling over.

“It’s a shame I didn’t die, after all, I was bought for sixty thousand dollars, and the old rascal didn’t want to waste the money, so he bought moonshine and had the crippled woman watch me.”

“The limping woman was named Nova. She nursed me back to health and revealed that she, too, had been kidnapped years ago.”

Nova’s face flashed in my memory – kind eyes in a broken body.

“She was a college student, abducted by fake reporters who sold her to the rogue pack. She’d tried to escape multiple times, lost two pregnancies. The old rogue broke her leg with silver implements.”

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

“Nova had been living there for over a decade. She knew the escape routes. She urged me to run, promised to cover my escape.”

“She saved your life,” Dominic said.

“She admitted to deliberately leaving the silver knife for me, hoping I would defend myself. But when she saw my despair, she couldn’t watch me die.”

Nova’s words echoed in my memory, “I waited too long for someone to save me. But no one saved me, don’t make the same mistake I made, you run away.”

“The nearest pack territory was seven or eight hours away on foot. Nova told me to run up the mountain by the narrow path behind the village.”

I could still see her crude map, drawn on a piece of torn fabric.

“On the sixteenth day, the old rogue stayed overnight at another den. At 3:30 AM, Nova led me to the mountain path.”

The night air had been so cold, cutting through my torn clothes.

“Despite my injuries and a fall that reopened my silver burns, I pushed on. My wolf Cora was finally beginning to stir as the wolfsbane left my system.”

I remembered the first flicker of our bond returning.

“Looking back, I saw a fiery glow. Nova had set the room on fire to create a distraction.”

The orange flames against the black sky haunted my dreams.

“I got lost in the mountains, disoriented. I hid in a cave, unable to find the landmark tree on Nova’s map.”

The cave had been dark and cold, filled with the sounds of wild animals.

“Outside there were howls of wild animals. I hid in the cave and dared not go out. And then day, Oliver broke in.”

Dominic’s grip on me tightened.

“My reluctance to see Oliver isn’t his fault,” I said quickly. “Meeting him forces me to relive all of this. The horrors I desperately want to forget.”

I pressed my face against Dominic’s chest.

“The silver wounds and wolfsbane I received at that time severely affected Cora,for a long time I couldn’t control my wolf shift and my mind would go into turmoil, It traumatized me tremendously.”