Damien’s POV
The words hit like a physical blow.
"I already know everything, Damien."
My brain stuttered. Stopped. Tried to restart.
"What?" The word ca out strangled. "What do you an you know?"
"Don’t." She held up one hand. Her voice was dead. Flat. "Don’t insult by pretending you don’t understand."
My heart hamred against my ribs. "Sera, I don’t—"
"The hotel." Each word was precise. Controlled. Like she was trying very hard not to scream. "The ridian. Room 2847. You and Emma. Two nights ago."
The blood drained from my face.
"How did you—"
"Does it matter?" She laughed. The sound was bitter. Wrong. "I know. That’s what matters. I saw the footage. I saw you take her there. I saw you co out the next morning looking like you’d spent the night fucking her."
"Sera, please—" I reached for her.
She jerked back like I’d burned her. "Don’t touch !"
"It’s not what you think—"
"Then what is it?" Her voice rose now. Breaking. "Explain it to , Damien! Explain how you spent the night in a hotel room with another woman and it’s not what I think!"
"I don’t rember!" The words exploded out. "I swear to God, I don’t rember any of it!"
She stared at . "You don’t rember."
"No! Sothing happened. I think they set sothing up. I think he drugged or—"
Her laugh was harsh. Mocking. "That’s convenient."
"I’m serious!" I ran my hands through my hair. Desperate. "The last thing I rember is sitting in that conference room. Then nothing. Complete blank. I woke up the next morning in that room with Emma and I had no idea how I got there!"
"And you just expect to believe that?"
"Yes! Because it’s the truth!"
"The truth?" She stepped closer. Her eyes blazing now. "You want to talk about truth? Let’s talk about how Emma’s been playing Luna for months. How she brings cookies to the training facility ’from both of you.’ How the entire pack thinks she’s your perfect future wife!"
"That’s not—"
"Let’s talk about how you didn’t co ho that night!" Her voice cracked. "How you ignored my calls! How you sent one bullshit text about work and then disappeared for sixteen hours!"
"I was trying to figure out what happened—"
"No!" She shoved my chest. Hard. "You were covering your ass! You were making sure no one found out! You were protecting her!"
"That’s not true—"
"Then why didn’t you tell ?" Tears stread down her face now. "Why didn’t you co ho and say ’Sera, sothing terrible happened, I need help’? Why did you lie?"
I opened my mouth. Closed it. She was right. I had lied. I had covered it up.
"Because I knew how it looked," I said quietly. "I knew you’d think exactly what you’re thinking now."
"Maybe because that’s exactly what happened!"
"It’s not!" My voice rose to match hers. "I would never—Sera, you have to believe . I would never do that to you. Never!"
"I saw the marks, Damien!" She was screaming now. "I saw the fucking bite marks on her neck! Your marks! Don’t tell nothing happened when I saw the evidence with my own eyes!"
The room spun. My legs felt weak.
"I don’t... I can’t explain those." My voice ca out broken. "But Sera, I swear on our children’s lives, I don’t rember making them. I don’t rember being with her. I don’t rember any of it."
She stared at . Her chest heaving. Tears streaming.
"Do you love her?" The question was barely a whisper.
"What? No—"
"Do you love her?" Louder now. Demanding. "Is that why you did this? Because you’ve moved on? Because you’ve found soone better?
"There is no one better!" I grabbed her shoulders. She tried to pull away but I held firm. "You’re it for , Sera! You’ve always been it! From the mont I t you, there’s never been anyone else!"
"Why?" Her face crumpled completely. "Why did you bring back? If you already had Emma, if you’d already moved on, why drag back into this? Why make hope? Why make think we could fix this?"
"Because I love you!" The words tore out of . "Because I never stopped loving you! Because every day you were gone felt like dying and I couldn’t—I can’t—"
"Stop." She pressed her hands over her ears. "Just stop."
"Sera—"
"I can’t do this." She turned away. Wrapped her arms around herself. "I can’t live like this. I can’t be in this house with you. I can’t pretend everything’s fine when it’s not. I can’t—"
Her voice broke completely. She sank onto the couch. Buried her face in her hands. Sobbed.
I stood there. Frozen. Watching her fall apart.
Every instinct scread to go to her. To pull her into my arms. To fix this sohow.
But I couldn’t. Because this was my fault. Because even if I didn’t rember it, it had still happened. Because those marks on Emma’s neck were real and undeniable.
"I want to go back to the human world," Sera said finally. Her voice was muffled. Broken. "I want to leave. Go sowhere you’ll never find ."
My chest caved in. "Sera, please—"
"But I can’t." She looked up at . Her face destroyed. "I can’t leave the kids again. I can’t do that to them. They need their mother—"
She couldn’t finish. Just dissolved into fresh sobs.
I took a step toward her. She held up one hand. Stopping .
"What do you want to do?" My voice cracked. "Tell what to do and I’ll do it. Anything. Please."
She was quiet for a long ti. Just sat there crying. Shaking.
Then she spoke. Each word careful. asured.
"I’m going to find a small house. Nearby. Close enough for the kids. Far enough that I don’t have to see you every day."
"No—"
Her voice got harder. "I’ll stay close for Adrian and Lily. We’ll figure out custody. Schedules. Whatever they need. But I can’t live here anymore. I can’t share a ho with you. I can’t pretend we’re a family when we’re not."
Then she walked up the stairs. Slow. Like each step took enormous effort.
I heard her footsteps down the hall. Heard her door open. Close. Lock.
The silence that followed was deafening.
I stood there in the living room. Alone. My legs finally gave out.
My hands were shaking. My whole body was shaking.
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