Chapter 57. The Wrong Ceremony

Ryder’s POV

The suit fitted perfectly. and that was where everything went wrong. I stood before the mirror, dressed all in black and looking like I stepped out of a royal catalog.

Custom jacket, pressed clean, family crest stitched right there by the collar like I was supposed to be proud of it or something.

I looked every inch like royalty.

But damn, I felt like such a fake.

My fingers kept messing with this tie. Too tight. Way too tight. I want to just rip it off. Breathe without choking on all this guilt that’s sitting in my throat like a stone. And I actually did, I pulled it off and tossed it to God- knows -where.

The mirror didn’t lie though.

I looked devastatingly handsome. Powerful-looking. Future Alpha material and everything Aunt Helena wanted and dreamed of.

But I didn’t see me.

Not really.

Because the real me? He wouldn’t be doing this. Wouldn’t be standing here getting dressed for some ceremony he didn’t