I thought that after that, Alpha Joseph and Hallie’s melodramatic “love and death” would no longer concern me.

But to my surprise, that evening, Alpha Joseph called, demanding to know why I had hurt Hallie. As I listened to the man I once loved hurl accusations at me, I could only find him laughably childish and pitiable now.

“Alpha Joseph, you need to understand—it’s Hallie who was being shameless and provocative. I was simply reclaiming my earring, the one she snatched from my makeup box that day,” I said.

Alpha Joseph was taken aback. “Haven’t I already given you 10 billion as compensation? Isn’t that enough?”

I scoffed. “My father’s...