Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

156 Chapter 186

186 Chapter 186

Damien’s POV

The party was suffocating me

I stood near the refreshment table. Emma’s voice washing over me like white noise Around us, Chicago’s elite mingled and laughed, their champagne glasses catching the light from crystal chandeliers. Everything was perfect. Everything was fake.

Just like this whole goddamn evening.

Li and Adrian were running around with the other kids, their laughter cutting through the adult conversation. At least they were

having fun. At least someone was.

-don’t you think, Damien?”

I had no idea what Emma had just said. Didn’t care either.

But then-

Something shifted. A cold prickle ran down my spine, sharp and immediate. That old instinct, the one I’d honed in years of dealing with

threats and enemies, suddenly screaming at me.

Someone was watching.

My head whipped around, eyes scanning the crowd. Nothing. Just the usual suspects, the usual fake smiles and political maneuvering. I

turned toward the windows overlooking the street.

A sedan sped past. Tinted windows. Gone in a heartbeat.

Nothing else.

Just my paranoia, probably. The stress getting to me.

“Damien? Are you alright?”

Emma’s concerned voice grated on my nerves. I forced my shoulders to relax, unclenched my jaw.

“Fine. Thought I saw someone!”

“Daddy! Daddy, look!” Lily came barreling toward me, her party dress a blur of pink. “I won the ring toss!”

I crouched down, and for the first time all evening, something genuine broke through the numbness. “Did you now?”

She shoved a cheap plastic trophy in my face, beaming with pride. God, she looked so much like her mother when she smiled like that.

My chest constricted.

“That’s amazing, sweetheart”

“I had three cupcakes!” Adrian announced, finally acting like an eight–year–old child, appearing with chocolate smeared across his face

like war paint.

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186 Chapter 186

almost smiled. “I can

my handkerchief, wiping his face. These moments–these simple, ordinary moments with

keeping me sane.

Emma playing her role perfectly, laughing at all the right moments, saying all the right things

time she touched my

I should never have brought her. But I’d needed someone to

the

“Where’s your wife, Damien?”

it true

“Are you getting divorced?”

had been a convenient

were fading. Lily kept rubbing her eyes, and Adrian’s head drooped between

played themselves out.

they’d

said, reaching

daughter flinched slightly, pressing closer

need to leave,” I said, checking my watch. Way

fell. “Already? I thought we might

“The kids are exhausted.”

course.” That smile again. “Family

our things–the kids clutching their party favors like treasure–and I made the obligatory

gossiping about my failed marriage the second I turned

Let them talk.

outside. Lily shivered, and I immediately

one too!”

wearing

“Oh. Right.” 1

kids into their car seats,

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186 Chapter 186

seat.

weren’t even out of the parking lot before

Lily’s head against the window, plastic trophy still clutched in her

so

lights blurred past. Traffic was light. The driver navigated smoothly toward my

Toward home.

“Damien.”

had changed. Softer.

muscle in my

thinking about

this is for you,” she continued, leaning forward. “Raising them alone. Dealing with everything. You need someone, Damien. Someone who understands your world. Someone who can be there for you

“Emma-”

everything in me not to shake it off violently. “I care about

with Lily and Adrian. They

The hell they do.

be there for all three of you. I want to be the person you come home to. The person

stories. Your partner.”

Partner.

word made bile rise in my