Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

15 Chapter 15

Seraphina’s POV 1

The question hung in the air like a blade poised above my neck. Even though Valerie had been dragged away by security, her venomous words still echoed through the silent restaurant like poison sceping through the walls. I stared at Damien in disbelief, unable to process

what I was hearing.

“Is it true?”

His voice was completely different now-cold, clinical, stripped of every trace of the warmth that had made my heart race just moments before. This was the voice of an Alpha passing judgment, and I was clearly the one being judged.

“Damien, you can’t seriously believe-” I started, but he cut me off with a sharp gesture.

“Answer the question, Seraphina.” My name on his lips sounded like an accusation now. “Is Adrian Gabriel’s son?”

way he’d The betrayal hit me like a physical blow. After everything we’d shared today-the mate bond crackling between us, the defended me against Valerie, the gentle way he’d asked about Adrian in the car-he was ready to believe the worst of me based on the word of a woman he’d literally thrown out of his office hours earlier.

“You want to know the truth?” My voice came out steadier than I felt, though my hands were shaking with fury and heartbreak. “The truth is that Adrian’s father is someone disappeared before dawn without even leaving his name five years ago.”

Damien’s expression didn’t change, but something flickered in his eyes-confusion, maybe even recognition. But it was gone so quickly I

might have imagined it.

“Gabriel was never Adrian’s father,” I continued, each word feeling like broken glass in my throat. “Gabriel was a lying, cheating bastard who was screwing my stepsister while promising to marry me. But he never touched me, not once in all the months we dated.”

“Then Valerie-”

me with five years of suppressed rage behind them. “She did the same thing to me when I was eighteen-humiliated me in front of

horrible thing that happened

like it was better than cable television. I could see phones being discreetly raised, could practically hear the gossip spreading through the

know about the omega who’d dared

or the whispers or even the humiliation.

at me like I was a stranger he was

what?” I said, my voice growing stronger with each word as righteous anger began to override heartbreak. “I

five years building a life for myself and my

who’s ready to believe gossip over his own

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now felt like

he said. “You’ll

shot back, letting the expensive fabric slide off my shoulders and pool on the marble floor between

of breath from several nearby diners told me exactly how shocking my rejection appeared to the watching crowd. Apparently, omega women didn’t refuse Alpha

another word, I turned and walked toward the exit with my head held high, fighting the urge to run like the scared girl I used to be. Each step felt like walking through quicksand-my legs heavy with exhaustion and my chest tight with the effort of not breaking down until I was

wine-soaked dress like a slap, making me shiver immediately. “Well, that went spectacularly,” Ayla muttered in my mind, her mental voice

morning were now instruments of torture, digging into my feet with every step and making me wobble dangerously on the uneven sidewalk. After two blocks of misery, I finally gave up and stopped to slip them off, not caring that I was now barefoot on a city street in an evening

the skirt of my ruined dress and continued walking, letting my feet take me wherever they wanted to go as long as it was away from that

spill down my cheeks now that I was alone. “Why do I keep

stepped closer to the parked cars lining the sidewalk, assuming the driver just wanted me to get out of the way,

enough to make me squint, throwing everything beyond them into shadow. Then the driver’s side window rolled down, and a voice called

“Miss? Are you alright?”

the