Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

148 Chapter 148

Damien’s POV 1

The drive back felt like driving through concrete.

Every mile stretched into eternity. The road blurred in front of me, headlights from oncoming cars like distant stars in a universe that

had stopped making sense.

Ophelia sat in the passenger seat, her silence heavy with all the things she wasn’t saying. I could feel her looking at me every few minutes, checking to see if I was going to fall apart.

Maybe I already had.

“Damien,” she said finally, her voice careful. “We can keep looking. This doesn’t mean–“”

“It means exactly what it fucking means.” My hands tightened on the steering wheel until my knuckles went white. “She’s gone. She’s

really gone.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Don’t I?” I laughed, but it came out broken. Wrong. “I was so sure, Ophelia. So goddamn sure I’d find her there. That I’d see her face and

everything would be–”

My voice cracked. I couldn’t finish.

“We’ll keep searching,” Ophelia said firmly. “We’ll check every town, every city, every–”

“No.” The word came out flat. “No more searching.”

She turned to stare at me. “What?”

“I can’t do this anymore.” The admission tasted like poison.

“So you’re just giving up?”

I’m accepting reality.” Each word felt like pulling teeth. “She doesn’t want to be found. And maybe… maybe that’s for the best.”

“You don’t mean that.”

I didn’t answer. Couldn’t answer. Because part of me did mean it, and that was the worst part.

into the driveway. After midnight. Everyone should be

I opened the front door, I heard

Crying.

worse. Something

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148 Chapter 148

Adrian.

following the sound to his room.

nightlight.

face buried in his pillow, his small body shaking

two strides, sitting on the

tears, his silver–blue eyes red and swollen. My

of us.

so small, so broken. “You

My voice cracked. “I tried. I

you promised!” The anger in his voice was new, raw. “You promised you’d

“I know–“”

LIED!” He was screaming now, his little hands balled into fists. “You said you’d find her and

was a dagger through my chest. Because he was right. I had

but he scrambled back

you

Mama! I want my mama!” Tears poured down his face. “Why doesn’t she

“Adrian, listen to me. Your mother

than her own

did she leave?” His voice broke completely. “If she loves us, why

tight against my chest while he sobbed.

pouring out all

time he’d cried. For three weeks, he’d been so brave, so

lies.

could I explain it when I didn’t understand it myself? How could I tell my son that

we were better off without

They’d poisoned her. Tortured

thought they’d

hit me like lightning. Everything suddenly clicked

never been weak. But she was terrified. Terrified

Lily next.

wasn’t good enough–but because she thought she