Claimed by My Bestie's Alpha Daddy novel Chapter 91

My heart ached. I stepped forward again. “He still loves you. You’re his daughter.”

“He looks at me like a duty. He looks at you like salvation.”

She turned away for a moment, arms crossed. Her breath was ragged.

When she turned back around, her face was hard again, but I could see the cracks beneath it. Her lips trembled as she flipped another page.

*There are days I think Jenny’s obsession with control is the only thing keeping her from unraveling completely.” She scoffed. “That one hurt.

That one hurt more than all the rest. Because it might even be true.

But that doesn’t give you the right to say it.”

I lowered my voice. “I was scared, and I was angry, and I was trying to figure out who I was and where I stood. The journal wasn’t meant to be shared. It wasn’t meant to judge you.”

“But it does,” she shouted. “Every sentence. Every scribble. You laid me bare and picked me apart and still walked away with everything.”

“That’s not how it happened.”

She stepped in closer, and her eyes narrowed. “And Adam. Even he looked at you like you hung the moon. And you didn’t even want him.

He loved you more than he ever looked at me, and you didn’t care. You don’t care about anyone but yourself.”

Her voice cracked and faltered, and for a moment I saw the Jenny I remembered. The one who braided my hair before school dinners and smuggled me snacks during long classes. The girl who had once let me cry in her lap the night I told her about my parents.

“I missed you,” I said, barely a whisper.

She blinked hard. Her shoulders shuddered. For a moment I thought she might cry.

Then her face twisted. She bent down, grabbed the journal, and threw it against my chest so hard it stung.

“Take it. Memorize it. Burn it for all I care. But don’t think for a second this is over. I will not let you stand beside him while I disappear.”

She turned on her heel. “You think this Kingdom wants a Luna like you?

You think they’ll forget what you were before you climbed into his bed?

Then she disappeared down the hedge path without another word.

The wind rustled through the leaves, filling the silence she left behind.

I stood there for a while, breathing shallowly, arms wrapped around the journal. Then I knelt slowly and gathered the pages that had fallen out.

It didn’t feel like mine anymore. It felt like evidence of everything I had ever done wrong.

I didn’t hear Richard until he knelt beside me.

“Amelia.”

I couldn’t meet his eyes. I sat frozen with the journal in my lap, pages crinkling under my fingertips.

“She read it,” I said, my voice hollow.

He nodded once.

“She read all of it. She quoted it back to me. I think she memorized half the pages.”

He looked down at the mess in my lap. “It wasn’t meant to be seen. It wasn’t meant to be used against you.””But it will be.”

He reached out and touched my arm gently. “That journal was how you survived. It was your place to think and grieve and process. That doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you human.”

I looked at him. “She said she’s going to ruin me.”

“Alpha,” he said with a respectful nod, then turned to me. “Amelia. You look radiant tonight. The media will have a field day.”

“Jason,” Richard said without looking up. “Stop bothering us and go back to your table.”

Jason chuckled. “Of course. Just thought I’d say hello. It’s such a momentous occasion. First public appearance. And here, of all places.” He looked around. “Bold choice. I’m sure it’ll make a statement.”

His smile lingered on me a moment too long. “Some people climb fast, don’t they? Makes you wonder what they’re reaching for.”

I smiled back. “Some people forget how steep the fall is when they’re standing too close to the edge.”

Jason’s expression flickered. “Enjoy your evening,” he said, and walked away.

Richard didn’t look at him. He kept his gaze on me. “You didn’t flinch.”

“I’ve had practice.””You didn’t used to have that kind of steel.”

I looked down at our hands. “You didn’t used to show me off like this.”

He leaned closer. “I’m not showing you off. I’m showing you what you deserve.”

By the time dessert came, I felt lighter. Still tight with nerves, but steadier. Stronger

We walked out of the restaurant just after dusk. The sky was a bruised violet, and the street outside was lined with flashing lights. Cameras.

Journalists. Onlookers with their phones raised.

Someone shouted my name.

Then, without hesitation, Richard turned to me and kissed me. Not a polite kiss. Not one done for show. His hands were firm on my waist and his mouth was warm and sure against mine. The flashes surged. I could hear gasps, the click of shutters, the murmurs rising. But I didn’t care. I leaned into him. The kiss tasted like fire and silk and something we didn’t have to hide anymore.