Chapter 237

Chapter 237:

Her words slammed into me like a sledgehammer. I stumbled back, my legs trembling. The woman who had kissed my scraped knees, who had whispered comforting words in the dead of night, who had called me her daughter—she had never truly cared for me. I was just… a tool. A weapon she polished and sharpened, waiting for the right moment to wield me.

A bitter laugh bubbled up from my throat, harsh and ragged. “You sound like the witch from Rapunzel,” I spat, my voice cracking. “Except in her story, the witch didn’t try to marry her off to her own son p>

Luna Anna’s eyes narrowed, her lips curling into a sneer. “You always had such a flair for the dramatic, Jasmine p>

Dramatic? I wanted to scream. To rip my heart out and shove it at her, to show her the broken, bleeding pieces she’d left behind. My entire life—the love I thought I knew, the safety I believed in—was just a twisted fairy tale. And now the mask had slipped. The witch wasn’t hiding anymore.

“Was any of it real?” I whispered, the question fragile. My voice quivered like a child’s, and the vulnerability in it disgusted me. “Did you ever… did you ever love me p>

For a moment, just a second, something flickered in her eyes. But then it was gone, replaced by that cold, detached gaze. “Love makes you weak. What mattered was your potential. And you threw it away p>

My stomach twisted. My knees buckled, and I sank to the floor, the weight of her betrayal dragging me down. My chest ached as if a gaping hole had opened there, bleeding out everything I was. I had spent years…

Running to her for comfort, for advice, for love. And now… now I realized she’d been holding the knife the whole time.

I hugged my arms to my chest, trying to hold myself together. But the pieces were slipping through my fingers, scattering like ashes in the wind.

“You were my mother,” I choked out. “I trusted you. I loved you p>

She scoffed, her face a mask of disdain. “You were never meant to be anything more than a tool, Jasmine. Your foolish belief in love ruined everything p>

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The tears came harder now, hot and relentless, carving rivers down my face. My wolf, Layla, whimpered inside me, her presence weak but alive. I could feel her pain mingling with mine, a shared agony so deep it felt like drowning.

I thought back to all the moments we’d spent together. The bedtime stories, the birthday celebrations, the quiet evenings by the fire. I’d believed in those memories, clung to them like lifelines. But now they were poison. Every smile, every kind word was a lie wrapped in pretty packaging.

My voice trembled as I spoke. “You planned this from the beginning, didn’t you? You planned me p>

Her eyes glinted with something sharp and unfeeling. “Yes. And you could’ve been great, Jasmine. You could’ve been part of something powerful. But you chose weakness p>

A broken sob escaped my lips. I felt like a child again, lost and scared, searching for comfort that no longer existed. I had always sensed a distance between us, a chill beneath her warmth, but I’d buried those doubts deep, convincing myself I was just being paranoid.

Now, the truth was a blade slicing through those old wounds, leaving me raw and exposed.

I closed my eyes, tears slipping through the cracks. I was nothing but a pawn,

A pawn who had loved her captor. A pawn who had called the witch “Mom p>

I thought of Ryder—his smile, his touch, the way his presence had always wrapped around me like a shield. Our bond had been my one certainty, my refuge in the storm. But Jason had ripped it away. And Luna Anna had helped him do it.

I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms. The pain grounded me, kept me from spiraling into the darkness that threatened to swallow me whole.

Jason’s voice broke through the haze. “You should’ve just accepted your fate. Now look where you are p>