Chapter 173: Happy New Year!

Lorali

"Five... four... three... two... one... Happy New Year!"

A collective cheer echoed from the streets below, instantly swallowed by the deafening, thunderous roar of fireworks exploding across the midnight sky. Brilliant cascades of gold, crimson, and electric blue fractured against the clouds, painting Prone City in a dizzying, momentary brilliance.

I stood right near the edge of the rooftop, my hands shoved deep into the pockets of my oversized coat, my chin tilted upward as I watched the colorful debris drift down like falling stars.

The cold wind bit sharply at my skin, but I barely felt it. My thumb slid across the slick glass of my phone screen, checking the digital clock.

12:00 AM.

January first. And right on schedule, the official nationwide broadcast of the Royale Activewear campaign was set to drop.

A breathless chuckle escaped my lips as I thought about the absurdity of the situation. If anyone in the general public, or even worse Walters fans, knew what actually happened on that set, this campaign would have been buried in a shallow grave instead of aired across every major network in the country.

I had spent the entire day on set deliberately trying to sabotage him. I had stepped on his toes, tripped him up, thrown my shoulder into his ribs. And yet... human editing was a magical, miraculous thing..

Across the wide expanse of the city skyline, mounted directly against the side of a towering skyscraper opposite the hospital wing, was a massive digital billboard.

I leaned out slightly over the rooftop railing, my eyes tracking the screen.

The commercial was playing right now. Through some absolute sorcery in the post-production editing room, the agency had taken hours of outtakes, collisions, glares, and forced tension, cutting and pasting the clips so seamlessly that Walter and I looked like an absolute dream team. On screen, we looked athletic, synchronized, fiercely powerful, and, most hilariously, like two co-stars who genuinely enjoyed each other’s company.

Look at us, A wicked, triumphant smile spread across my face as I watched my digitally perfected self spin smoothly against a backdrop of floral basketballs. We look like power couple. If only they knew that five minutes after that cut was called, I was trying to rearrange his facial bone structure.

My phone suddenly vibrated violently against my palm, shattering the quiet hum of my thoughts.

I pulled it out. Scarlett.

I swiped to answer, lifting the phone to my ear. "Happy New Year, Scarlett. Are you calling to tell me I look phenomenal?"

"Are you seeing this?!" Scarlett’s voice shrieked through the speaker, high-energy and practically vibrating with joy over the sound of clinking champagne glasses in the background. "The ad just dropped nationwide! Are you watching it right now?!"

"Yeah, I can see it," I murmured, my eyes fixed on the massive billboard glowing in the distance. "I’m actually standing up on the hospital rooftop right now, and I have the absolute perfect view."

"Oh, thank the Goddess, it’s a masterpiece!" Scarlett babbled happily. "The engagement metrics are already breaking records online! You and Walter are trending top three worldwide! I have to run, though, I’m spending New Year’s Eve with my family, and my mother-in-law is glaring at me for being on my phone."

I let out a playful snort. "Oh, I am deeply offended you didn’t invite me. Am I not your family, Scarlett?"

"Oh, come on, Lorali, you’re literally recovering in a hospital wing," Scarlett shot back dryly. "Besides, if you didn’t decide to pull that massive, unhinged psycho scene with the scalpel at the end of the shoot, maybe I would have considered it."

"Relax, I’m just joking," I laughed softly. "Go enjoy dinner with your family, Scarlett. You totally earned it."

"Happy New Year, Lorali. Try not to slash anyone else’s face off this year!"

She hung up before I could reply.

The moment the call disconnected, my phone started buzzing continuously, flashing with a wave of text notifications. The group chat was lighting up. All my friends were exchanging New Year wishes. Cleo and Arabella had sent their messages hours ago, caught in entirely different time zones, while Astrid had dropped a quick, snarky note.

I tapped open Astrid’s message.

Astrid:

"Unfortunate that you couldn’t come to the New Year party with me tonight. It’s an absolute snoozefest without you here, my family sucks."

I typed back quickly.

Me:

"I haven’t been discharged from the hospital yet, unfortunately. If there’s one thing I deeply regret tonight, it’s not being able to attend your little party and terrorize your family."

A second later, another text popped up on my screen. This one was from Erin.

Nice Guy:

"Happy New Year, Lorali. Hope the hospital roof isn’t too freezing. Stay out of trouble tonight."

I smiled down at the screen, a genuine, warm feeling washing over me. Having Erin around over the past few weeks, playing along with my chaotic plans, helping me dodge alphas, and acting as my partner in crime, has been great fun.

I locked my phone, slipping it back into my coat pocket, and turned my face back toward the brilliant fireworks bursting across the night sky.

A new year, I thought, a deep, resonant sense of liberation settling into my bones.

For the past year, I had been hunted, cornered, manipulated, and treated like a prisoner in a gilded cage. I had lived under the suffocating thumb of the Spade Pack, suffocated by Yurena’s demands, tormented by Walter, and bound by a venomous mark that felt like poison in my veins.

And look at me now.

I had survived. I had carved my name into regional figure skating history, I had secured a deal worth half-million, Let the new year come. I am ready for it, this year, I will not cry, not even once and will live my best life.

Walter

In my private hospital room, the heavy blackout curtains were drawn shut tight, sealing out every single ray of moonlight, every flash of distant fireworks, and every trace of the festive New Year’s celebration happening outside. The room was dead silent. I sat propped up against a stack of stiff hospital pillows, staring blankly at the opposite wall.

My face throbbed with a dull ache. Every time I blinked, I could feel the pull of the thread, a physical, permanent reminder of how completely my life had derailed.

I was alone.

Visiting hours had ended hours ago. Oril, Keion, and the rest of the pack had been forced to clear out by the evening nurse. Even if they were allowed to stay, I would have made them leave, I didn’t want them here. I didn’t want to talk, I didn’t want comfort, and I certainly didn’t want pity.

I just wanted the silence.

How did it come to this? I closed my eyes as the darkness behind my eyelids offered no relief. A year ago, I was sitting at the top of the world. I was the golden omega of the Spade Pack, a premier model untouchable and admired. And now? I’m sitting in a dark, depressing hospital room on New Year’s Eve, my face permanently disfigured and entirely consumed by my own failures.

I knew the nurses had been whispering. Earlier in the evening, when one of them came in to check my IV drip, she had gently mentioned that patients were gathering up on the upper viewing deck and the rooftop to watch the midnight fireworks show. She had asked if I wanted help getting there so I could see the city lights.

I had snapped at her. I told her no.

My mind drifted back to the set. I remembered how I had tried to cover for her. Even as she stood over me, even as she deliberately sabotaged our shoot and drove everyone else crazy, I had sat in that medical room making excuses for her to the crew. I had tried to protect her because, deep down beneath all the guilt and the terror, a wretched, broken part of my omega still clung to the desperate fantasy that she was my fated mate, that if I just absorbed enough of her pain, she would eventually look at me and forgive me.

What a pathetic joke, I thought, a bitter, humorless laugh catching in my throat, sending a sharp twinge of pain through my stitched cheek.

She didn’t want my protection. She didn’t want my apologies, She wanted us to burn. She wanted destruction, and she had proven it. Outside my window, a muffled, distant cheer echoed from the street, another round of fireworks exploding, welcoming a future I wasn’t sure I had the strength to face.

I pulled the thin hospital blanket higher up over my shoulders, turning my face toward the dark, empty wall, and let the silence swallow me whole.