Calvin’s POV
I couldn’t take my eyes off her face as I spoke the words.
"I liked you."
Evelyn’s eyes widened a little, and her lips opened in surprise. For a mont, the cool mask she had kept on during our whole conversation broke. I could see the shock on her face. Those eyes looked into mine, searching for any sign that I was lying.
I couldn’t bla her. Five years of marriage, and I’d never once told her how I felt.
"You... what?" she finally managed.
The doubt in her tone cut through like a blade.
Cyra growled in frustration within . "Tell her everything. No more hiding."
"I cared about you more than I ever let on, Evelyn."
She stood perfectly still, her expression unreadable. This was my only chance. I had to make her understand.
I stepped closer and grasped her shoulders firmly enough to keep her in place.
"From early in our marriage, sothing changed for ." My voice ca out rougher than intended, years of suppressed emotions finally breaking through. "And that scared ."
She tried to pull away, but I held on. I couldn’t let her walk away again. Not this ti. Not when I was finally finding the courage to tell her everything.
"Don’t," I said, my voice almost pleading. "Don’t walk away. Let explain."
Her eyes flashed with anger. "Explain what, Calvin? How you ’cared’ about but still treated like I was nothing? How you let your mother call unworthy because I couldn’t shift? How you never once defended to your pack?"
Each accusation hit like a punch to the chest. The worst part was knowing she was right.
"I was wrong," I admitted, sothing I’d rarely done in my life. "I was arrogant, stubborn, and afraid."
"Afraid?" She scoffed. "The mighty Alpha Calvin Wolfe, afraid?"
"Yes." I released her shoulders but caught her hand before she could retreat. "I excel at business, pack politics, financial strategies because there are formulas for those things. But feelings? There’s no manual for that. No one ever taught how to handle what I felt for you."
Sothing in my words made her pause. The hardness in her eyes softened just slightly.
"My parents’ marriage was purely strategic," I continued, guiding her to sit on the leather couch. To my surprise, she didn’t resist. "What I saw growing up was two people who shared a house, not a life. I thought that’s what marriage was supposed to be."
I sat beside her, close enough to feel her warmth but not touching. "The Bloodbane Pack taught to hide emotions, to never show weakness. After years of that, the mask becos who you are."
Evelyn remained silent, but I could tell she was listening.
"After we married, I started looking forward to coming ho. I finished work on ti just to have dinner with you. When you smiled at , my heart would race, and I didn’t understand why." I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated at my inability to explain these feelings properly.
"That doesn’t excuse what you did," Evelyn said quietly.
"I know. I’m not making excuses."
"When my mother suggested making Clara the Luna instead of you, I shut her down imdiately," I continued. "I told her you were my mate, my Luna, and that would never change. What I didn’t tell her was how furious the suggestion made ."
Evelyn’s eyebrows rose slightly in surprise.
"But I was too proud to tell you any of this. Too afraid of admitting what it ant."
"And what exactly did it an, Calvin?"
I swallowed hard. "That I was falling for you. That despite everything I’d been taught about control and power, you had complete control over ."
The confession hung between us. I could see her processing my words, weighing them against years of hurt.
"There’s sothing else," I said, my voice dropping. "Sothing I’ve kept from you that explains why I beca so distant."
This was the hardest part. The secret that had poisoned everything between us.
"During our second year of marriage, I received videos of you and Leon Robinson entering and leaving the sa hotel room. Multiple tis."
Her face paled instantly. "What?"
"You heard ," I said, my jaw clenching at the mory. "Videos of you and him, going into hotel rooms. You even changed clothes between entering and leaving."
Evelyn’s eyes widened with shock. "You thought I was cheating on you?"
I nodded stiffly. "At first, I refused to believe it. I had the videos analyzed professionally to check if they were manipulated. They weren’t."
Her eyes flashed with anger. "And you never thought to just ask about it?"
"Ask you what?" My own anger flared suddenly. "Ask if you were sleeping with another man? And then what? Get a divorce?"
The pain of those mories was still raw, even after all this ti.
Cyra growled low in my mind at the recollection.
"She is OURS. No one else’s."
I silently agreed with him, though I knew I had no right to claim her anymore.
"You actually believed I would cheat on you?" Evelyn’s voice was incredulous.
I looked away, unable to et her eyes. "The evidence was compelling. But I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you, even if..." I couldn’t finish the sentence.
"Even if I was unfaithful?" she finished for .
"Do you know how much that destroyed ?" I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. "The mighty Alpha Calvin Wolfe, too pathetic to confront his wife about her affair, too desperate to let her go."
Evelyn stared at for a long mont, her expression unreadable. "Those videos," she finally said. "Do you still have them?"
I nodded. "They’re in my safe."
"Show ."
I led her to the bookshelf and revealed the hidden safe behind it. "The combination is the twins’ birthday," I said quietly.
When she opened it, she imdiately spotted the black external hard drive among my confidential docunts. Without a word, she took it to my desk and connected it to my laptop.
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