Goodbye My Alpha (Taya and Griffon)

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Chapter 239

Audrey

Erik and Stella stood in the doorway like ghosts that never should have returned to this plane of existence.

Stella’s expression was as frosty as ever, making no attempt to hide the disdain in her icy gaze. Her lips were pressed into a tight, unmoving line, and her hands, clasped primly in front of her, were the only sign of restraint.

I knew she remained silent not out of choice but because of Edwin’s Alpha command that had muted her since the charity gala.

Still, her silence felt more ominous than any words she could have spoken.

Erik, in contrast, looked.. Empty. Hollowed out. As if some essential part of him had been scraped away since we had last seen him.

His skin had taken on a pallor, and his eyes-those same eyes that had once burned with cruelty and cold calculation- darted nervously between Edwin and me, unable to settle for more than a second.

Fear. Regret. Shame.

Those were not the emotions I felt, but rather the emotions that Erik Brooks’ gaunt face conveyed.

Edwin stiffened beside me. Eliza, who’d previously been banging on the bathroom door and asking Peter why he was running away from her, suddenly materialized at my other side.

“What are they doing here?” she hissed, not even pretending to be glad to see her parents.

Erik’s voice was tight, strained, as he spoke. “Edwin. Audrey. May I have a word?” He glanced at Eliza, then the others, and even Stella, before adding, “Alone?”

I felt Edwin’s unease rip through the mate bond like fire.

I met my mate’s eyes, giving him a small, uncertain nod. “It’s your call,” I told him through the Mindlink.

Edwin stood still, his face betraying little. I could feel his uncertainty, his emotions warring between vile hatred for his parents and curiosity as to what his father had to say.

Eventually, it seemed that curiosity won out.

After a long moment, he gave a single, slow nod. “I’ll give you two minutes to say whatever it is you have to say.”

With that, we followed Erik out of the room, leaving the others. As we left, I could see Eliza advancing on Stella, her lip curled in a hateful sneer. Whatever Eliza said to Stella in those moments, I closed my ears to it, giving them privacy

He looked smaller now. He’d lost weight, that much was clear, but it was

straight posture was now curled inward, his shoulders slumped, head bent. His hand

he just stood there, silent, like he was trying

it out,” Edwin said, folding his arms across his

seemed to flinch at

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began, turning toward me but not meeting my eyes “when you showed me your memories-your death, the void-it… it changed

in surprise, caught off guard. That was not what I expected. Not

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my eyes. To everything. To my actions. To all the horrible choices I made. And the weight

apologize. For everything. For the way I treated you. For the beatings, the cruelty…

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hallway grew impossibly still after that, as if even the constant beeping of

rigid beside me, his face unreadable, his hands clenched at his sides. But through the bond, I could feel everything-his shock, the anger that still simmered just beneath the surface, and something else, something small and fragile that fluttered in

and brittle as

gently through our

that empty corridor as Edwin pondered his

point just beyond his father’s shoulder, his breathing slow,

Then…

“No.”

single word had struck him, his eyes widening in

apology… It’s too little, too late. Do you have any idea what you put me through? What you put all of

opened his mouth to respond,

me to forgive you just because you’re scared of what comes after death.” His

from Erik’s

me that a long time ago. And

at me for a brief

remained silent, my face a mask of calm. But inside, I

my adoptive parents had come slinking back in search of so-called ‘forgiveness’ in the form of

didn’t give a shit if Edwin truly forgave

out for his own neck. Trying to make himself feel

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if he had been in search of true forgiveness, Edwin was under no obligation to give it to him. Abusers didn’t hold some kind of special ‘right’ to forgiveness. Even if he had apologized

understand,” Erik finally whispered, his voice barely audible.