Page 49 of Knot Your Fated M.U.S.E.

Her hands clench and unclench rhythmically.

"But my mother spent every last penny. Vacations. Designer bags. Anything to create this illusion of wealth to attract alphas. She never understood. They don't care about that superficial bullshit. They want an omega to love, to cherish. Someone withprinciples, with resilience. Not some fake socialite playing dress-up with stolen money."

Bitterness drips from every word as she continues.

"And you know what's really fucking rich? Most alphas want pups. But my mother's history of abandoning her children? That's not exactly an attractive quality. So all her efforts, all my money, went into this hopeless fantasy while my actual future circled the drain."

The raw pain in her voice makes even Luna flinch.

Azurite's calculating expression has transformed into something harder, colder – recognition of a specific kind of betrayal that cuts deeper than physical wounds.

"I still refused to sell myself," Riot says, her fists clenching tight enough that her knuckles turn white. "My virginity was the one thing I still controlled. Everything else had been stolen…my money, my time, my chances at a normal life. But that one thing? That was still mine."

Her eyes take on a haunted quality.

"But my mother saw it as just another untapped resource. Another way to fund her delusions. So she tried to set me up..."

"Hell no," I whisper, the voices in my head raging at this final betrayal.

The very air seems to grow heavier as we absorb the magnitude of it – a mother attempting to sell her own daughter's virginity after stealing her entire future.

It's the kind of violation that transforms victims into survivors, that forges softer emotions into steel.

"Mina helped me break free," Riot's voice softens when she speaks her savior's name. "She understood the cycle I was trapped in, saw how it would destroy me if I didn't escape. Found me this tiny bachelor apartment – barely bigger than a closet, but it was mine. Helped me gather the essentials, the bare minimum I needed to start over."

Her fingers trace one of her tattoos absently as she speaks.

"The hardest part was cutting the financial ties. The debt was astronomical – easily a hundred grand, probably more. But Mina... she loaned me enough to start clearing it. Taught me how to cancel those credit cards, and how to get my name off everything my mother had access to. She even helped set up a new account through her connections, somewhere my mother couldn't touch."

The voices in my head whisper recognition of this kind of calculated escape, this careful dismantling of chains disguised as family bonds.

"My mother didn't notice at first," Riot continues with a hint of savage satisfaction. "She was too busy spending on new credit cards in her own name, never realizing I'd removed myself from her web of debt. She went on vacation – another luxury trip funded by God knows what – and that's when we made the final move."

Her eyes take on a distant look.

"I dropped her off at her place when she got back, fed her some bullshit about working triple shifts to make more money. She actually praised me for once – not because she was proud, but because more money meant more for her to spend." A bitter laugh escapes her. "It took six months before reality caught up with her. By then, I was... different."

She looks down at herself, at the intricate patterns decorating her skin. "They say getting tattoos is addictive because of the healing process, because of how empowering it feels. For me, it was about control. Every design I chose, every placement I selected, every size decision I made – it was all mine. After fifteen years of having no say in my own life, plus all those years of childhood manipulation…this was freedom."

The raw emotion in her voice resonates through our small circle.

"It became my armor. My declaration of independence. I let my skin grow darker again, started tanning, and embraced everything she tried to erase. And when she finally saw me?" A fierce pride enters her tone. "She didn't even recognize me. I was healthy, strong, glowing in a way that attracted alphas…even the ones they eventually sent to take me away."

"Take you away?" Luna's soft question carries a tremor of understanding.

Goosebumps race across my skin as the pieces click into place.

"She wasn't..." I begin, unable to finish the thought.

Riot's smile is a broken thing, full of sharp edges and old pain. The answer is written in her eyes before she speaks.

"The money ran out," she says simply. "All that debt she'd racked up was finally in her name alone. No more sugar alphas to bail her out. And her precious ATM of a daughter? Nowhere to be found. No access to my new apartment, and no knowledge of my friends or Mina. I'd stopped telling her anything about my life – why share joy with someone who only wants to poison it?"

Her hands clench into fists.

"When she realized she was facing bankruptcy alone, it broke something in her. But it wasn't enough for her to go down solo – she needed to drag me down too. Needed some sick satisfaction knowing I wouldn't succeed where she had failed. So she played her final card: called the government and claimed her omega daughter had lost her mind."

The silence that follows is heavy with horror.

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