"Thank you," I said softly, taking the handle and turning toward the brightly lit manor ahead.
I walked up the gravel driveway, my heels crunching loudly in the quiet night while my heart beat faster against my ribs.
Tomorrow was my twenty-sixth birthday, and I had postponed an online board meeting at Marrow Core just to fly across the ocean and have dinner with my husband, Frazier Hodges, and our daughter, Grayce.
Five years of a cold marriage built on a ninety-six percent match index - resonance tier, the Registry clerk had told us. What the number meant was that our glands were built to fit each other.
But I still understand that I shouldn't expect too much, yet my palms still sweated around the cold metal handle.
Reaching the heavy oak front doors, I did not ring the bell, typing in the passkey I knew by heart.
The lock clicked, and I pushed the door open, freezing when warm light and soft laughter spilled through the gap.
Standing inside the entryway Scent Buffer Room, I did not unfasten my collar, looking instead through the half-open French doors into the living room.
A fire crackled in the hearth, but my stomach dropped like lead as my eyes locked onto the three people on the sofa.
My five-year-old undifferentiated daughter, Grayce, lay on her stomach by the coffee table, coloring a greeting card with bright markers.
The gland at the back of her neck was still a small flat knot, unawakened. Children do not carry a signature until they differentiate
Beside her sat Charlsie Burt, the high-tier Omega socialite Frazier had protected for years as his savior, wearing a silk lounge dress with her blonde waves loose over her shoulders.
A hundred percent Omega - a perfect resonance match for Frazier, a pairing so rare that only a handful of cases had ever been recorded in this world, and one of them was sitting in my living room.
The number went through me like a blade under the ribs.
On Charlsie's other side sat my husband, Frazier Hodges, the S-class Alpha head of the Hodges Consortium who always treated me like a stranger, leaning back with his long legs crossed.
Frazier's cold gray eyes rested on Grayce's drawing with a gentle patience he had never once shown me.
Grayce clutched her worn white plush rabbit-the one with the frayed right ear that she needed to sleep-and rubbed its soft head against Charlsie's bare arm.
My fingers tightened around the suitcase handle until my knuckles turned white, my nails digging into my palm to fight the suffocating pressure in my chest.
Worse than the sight was the air leaking through the doorway, carrying the crisp, exclusive scent of snow-covered cedar-Frazier's S-class Alpha pheromones.
Instead of carrying its usual dominant pressure, his cedar scent formed a warm, protective barrier around Charlsie and Grayce, wrapping them in an invisible territory that shut everyone else out.
Two Beta maids wearing Scent Barrier Badges on their lapels walked past the buffer room hallway, their voices dropping low.
"Mr. Hodges canceled his dinner meeting tonight just to help Miss Burt and Little Miss Grayce with her craft project," one whispered.
"Even a blind Beta can see who the real lady of this house is," the other replied before their footsteps faded.
I drew in a sharp breath, released my bitten lower lip, and pushed the French doors wide, rolling my suitcase across the's marble floor.
The hard wheels echoed loudly against the stone, shattering their warm family moment.
All three heads snapped toward me at once, and the smile vanished from Grayce's face as she shrank back into Charlsie's chest.
Frazier's brows pulled together, one hand rising to tug his tie loose as annoyance flashed in his gray eyes.
Charlsie stood up smoothly, the emerald ring on her right index finger catching the firelight as she offered me a practiced smile.
"Dagny, you picked a terrible time to show up. We're helping Grayce finish her kindergarten craft assignment for tomorrow."
I ignored Charlsie and walked straight up to Frazier, keeping my gaze steady on his face.
"Do you remember what day tomorrow is?"
Frazier leaned back against the cushions, his voice flat and distant.
"I have a cross-border merger review tomorrow morning. I'm busy."
Cold water seemed to pour straight into my lungs, but I kept my chin up and my voice even.
"Tomorrow is my birthday. We agreed last week to have dinner together."
Frazier paused, his fingers stopping on his silk tie as if recalling a minor memo, though not a trace of apology crossed his face.
"Got it."
I turned my head toward Grayce, my throat tightening as I looked at the child I had carried and nursed through every fever.
"Grayce, will you eat birthday cake with Mom tomorrow night?"
Grayce wrapped both arms around Charlsie's neck and jutted out her lower lip.
"No! You always boss me around and make me take bitter shots! I want Auntie Charlsie to stay with me!"
Looking from my daughter's hostile eyes to Frazier's indifferent face and Charlsie's smug smile, a hollow chill settled deep in my bones.
I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them again, every bit of warmth was gone from my voice.
"I see."
Without another glance at the three of them, I turned around, gripped my suitcase handle, and walked toward the grand staircase with my back straight.
As I climbed the steps one by one, Charlsie's soft voice coaxed Grayce back to her drawing downstairs, and Frazier did not say a single word to call me back.