One Night With My Alpha Professor by Eve Above Story

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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’d lost weight, that much was clear, but

curled inward, his shoulders slumped, head bent. His hand twitched nervously at his side, his

was trying to gather the strength for whatever he was about to

Edwin said, folding his arms across

seemed to

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toward me but not meeting my eyes “when you showed me your memories-your death,

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

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no afterlife… no second chances… It opened my eyes. To everything. To my actions. To all the horrible choices I made. And the weight of them-the weight of those regrets-they’re crushing me.

directly at Edwin, his eyes glazed over with exhaustion. “Son, I… I need to apologize. For everything. For the way I treated you. For the beatings, the cruelty… everything. I was wrong. So terribly

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even the constant beeping of the hospital

his hands clenched at his sides. But through the bond, I could feel everything-his shock, the

tiny and brittle as it was, it was

is your decision,” I reminded him gently through our link. “Whatever you decide,

forever in that empty corridor as Edwin

what felt like an eternity. His gaze was fixed on some invisible point just beyond his father’s shoulder, his

Then…

“No.”

flinched as if the single word had struck him,

time his voice was colder, harder. “Your apology… It’s too little, too late. Do you have any idea what you put me through? What you

to respond,

me to forgive you just because you’re scared of what comes after death.” His voice cracked slightly, and a bitter laugh slipped from his lips. “Fear doesn’t absolve

from

Edwin cut him off, the words as sharp as a knife. “Not anymore. You lost the right to call me that a long time ago. And I’m under no obligation to forgive the people who

paused and glanced at me for a brief moment before adding, “Especially

mask of calm. But inside, I was utterly more relieved than I’d

wandered back to my graduation, when my adoptive parents had come slinking back in search of so-called ‘forgiveness’ in the form of monetary benefits. This was no

a shit

make himself feel

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it to him. Abusers didn’t hold some kind of special ‘right’ to forgiveness. Even if