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

looked smaller now. He’d lost weight, that much was

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

like he was trying to gather the strength for whatever

folding his arms across his

seemed to flinch

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

caught off guard. That was not what I expected.

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as if once he started, he couldn’t stop. “Realizing that there is 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. And they

directly at Edwin, his eyes glazed over with exhaustion. “Son, I… I need to apologize. For everything. For

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still after that, as if even the constant beeping of the hospital machines

I could feel everything-his shock, the anger that still simmered just beneath the surface, and something else, something small and fragile that fluttered in his chest like a dying

As tiny and brittle as it

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

on forever in that empty

on some invisible point just beyond his father’s shoulder,

Then…

“No.”

single word had struck him, his eyes widening

late. Do you have any idea what you put me through? What you put all of us through? You do realize that what happened with Axel today may never have happened if you and Stella

mouth to

one another, and expect me to forgive you just because you’re scared of what comes after death.” His voice cracked slightly, and a bitter laugh slipped from

drained from Erik’s

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

a brief moment before

face a mask of calm. But inside, I was utterly more relieved

come slinking back in search of so-called

a shit if Edwin

to make himself feel better so he wouldn’t have

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under no obligation to give it to him. Abusers didn’t hold some kind of special ‘right’ to forgiveness. Even if