Page 28 of Knot Heirs: Serenity's Reign

Elena held out the data drive.

"Everything you need is here. Security codes, account numbers, names of allies... and enemies. The truth about your mother's exile." She paused, her voice softening slightly. "And a message from Marcus, recorded a week before he died."

Serenity stared at the small device, her throat suddenly tight.

"Why should I trust you?"

"Because I've been watching over you since you were sixteen," Elena replied simply. "I was the one who made sure you got into Wharton. I was the one who diverted the assassins sent for you three years ago—before you even knew who your father was."

Serenity blinked, memories rearranging themselves. The scholarship that had appeared out of nowhere. The car accident that had killed her roommate but somehow spared her. The job offer that had seemed too perfect.

"I..." she began, uncertainty coloring her voice for the first time.

She wants to make the right decision but all of this is overwhelming. She doesn’t have the time to sit and “think” about it. You don’t get that privilege in the world of rich fuckers and cunning circumstances, but what would she get lying to me?

"I don't like being manipulated," Serenity finally said, her voice hardening as she took the drive from Elena's outstretched hand. The small device felt impossibly heavy in her palm. "My entire life has been a construct. A chess game where I didn't even know I was a piece on the board."

Elena remained unflinching.

"Your father was playing a longer game than anyone realized. The Vale name carries weight, but it's the Ryker blood in you that truly terrifies them."

"Ryker?" The name hit Serenity because she didn’t know that tidbit about her mother. "My mother was a Ryker?"

"Elise Vale. Preciously know as Elise Ryker. Eldest daughter of the Ryker pack. The most powerful Omega bloodline in North America." Elena's eyes held a mix of respect and wariness. "Those red flecks in your golden eyes? That's the Ryker marker. It's why those Alphas downstairs are salivating over you. Not just for the Vale empire, but for what your blood represents."

What?

She never knew there could be a powerful Omega Bloodline, let alone one worthy enough to be acknowledged in North America. Adding the fact that we live in a society that enjoys labeling Omegas as useless and didn’t hesitate to degrade my Mother as a “disgrace” to our society, it is almost hypocritical to think behind hidden walls, my mother’s bloodline held power, wealth, and enough interest for all these Alphas to come into my orbit to apparently “claim” me.

Serenity's legs felt suddenly weak. She sank onto the edge of the bed, her mind racing to assimilate this information.

"My mother wasn't exiled for being an Omega..."

She tried not to think about her mother.

To acknowledge the raw deal she got in the name of tradition and power. How she'd been cast aside and erased like her existence was a black mark on the family register. The idea of the cruelty she endured in plain sight made Serenity angry. How the hell had she managed to live with it all those years?

It was the injustice of it, the way they had labeled her as barely worth mentioning, that set Serenity's blood on fire. She wanted to scream at the world that had turned her mother into a ghost, her life a whisper of what it could have been.

It was enough to make anyone sick.

Enough to make Serenity feel utterly helpless.

Because really, what can another Omega do? Especially a child at that?

That memory stung more than any of the others. Her mother's letters, the ones colored with false cheer and real longing, always carried the heavy weight of apology. Like she knew Serenity would never really understand; like she thought Serenity would blame her. Even when Serenity was old enough to see the truth, to know that Marcus was the villain in this damn saga, what did it change?

Her letters had stopped when Serenity turned ten.

Marcus claimed Eliana had lost interest, but she found out otherwise.

They killed her.

Her wealthy, all-powerful father couldn't let his precious daughter be tainted by an Omega mother who would surely empower her to rebel in this world that begs for nothing but submission.

He'd ripped her away and left Serenity to grow up alone. Serenity's fists clenched. All the money and privilege in the world, and Marcus Vale hadn't been able to give her the one thing she wanted.

Her family. Her legacy. Her throne that she’d reign when ready and not contort into claiming.

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