Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

175 Chapter 175

175 Chapter 175

Seraphina’s POV 1

The question hung in the air like a guillotine blade.

*Are you still in love with Damien?*

My fork clattered onto my plate. Lasagna suddenly tasted like cardboard. Like ashes. Like every mistake I’d ever made.

“I-” My voice cracked. “That’s not-”

“Mom.” Caleb’s voice carried a warning. “Don’t.”

But Margaret wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at me with those kind, knowing eyes that saw right through every wall I’d built.

“Honey,” she said softly. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But I think maybe you need to.”

My hands were shaking. I pressed them flat against the table, trying to stop the tremors. Trying to stop the flood of memories that

threatened to drown me.

*Damien’s voice. Adrian’s laugh. Lily’s tiny hand wrapped around my finger.*

“I can’t think about them,” I whispered. The words barely made it past my lips. “If I think about them, I’ll—”

Break. Fall apart. Run back and beg them to take me even though I’m not good enough. 1

I closed my eyes.

Three years of discipline. Three years of forcing myself not to wonder. Not to imagine. Not to *feel*.

But Margaret had cracked that door open, and everything came flooding through.

“Lily’s three now,” I said, my voice breaking. “Three years old. She was just a baby when I left. She probably doesn’t even remember me.”

The tears came hot and fast. I couldn’t stop them.

“And Adrian–Adrian’s eight. He’s probably lost teeth. Learned to read chapter books. Made new friends. Grown so tall I wouldn’t

recognize him.”

My chest felt like it was splitting open. All the pain I’d been holding back for three years, all the longing and guilt and desperate love, it

all came pouring out.

they hate me?” The question tore out of me. “Do they wake up every

seconds, pulling me into her arms.

I sobbed into her shoulder like a child. “I abandoned them. What kind of mother abandons

back. He moved to Margaret’s side, his hand

“That takes more strength than you

hands. My eyes were probably swollen and red.

18.JA

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175 Chapter 175

and told myself I couldn’t let myself wonder.. Couldn’t let

“You’d break,” Margaret finished.

“Yeah.”

uncomfortable. Just heavy

pointed out. “You’ve built a life. Made

just show back up? ‘Hey

now!‘”

what

feels

“Then maybe-”

pulled my hand back, my walls slamming back up. “No. I can’t think like that. I

Margaret said

23

voice was flat now. Dead. “I’m still human. Still

silence that followed was broken only by the sound of my ragged breathing and the

her throat,

brightness people used when

about

God. Here

“Mom,” Caleb warned again.

saying! Three years is a long time to be alone. And

“Margaret, please-”

guys at the gym are…” I searched for

Brutal. Most of them have more

what about outside the gym?” Margaret pressed. “Coffee shops? Bookstores? Those

really go to

“Why not?”

in dating right now,” I

a look

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