My Love Inappropriate. Her Scandal Take the Blame. Get Lost, Uncle! I Married the Mad Alpha! Chapter 09

My Love Inappropriate. Her Scandal Take the Blame. Get Lost, Uncle! I Married the Mad Alpha! Chapter 09

The study at the Long Island estate looked exactly as it had five years ago.

Dark bookcases stretched to the ceiling, and the orchid on the windowsill had withered.

The lamp on the desk was still the birthday gift I had given Adrian when I was seven. One corner of its base was chipped, yet he had never replaced it.

The butler placed an envelope on the desk and quietly withdrew.

I opened it.

Adrian’s handwriting was still neat and restrained, but certain strokes showed obvious pauses, as though he had hesitated over those words for a long time.

By the time you read this letter, I’ll probably be gone.

There are things I could never say while I was alive, so I can only leave them behind after my death. You can call me a coward.

On the day you left five years ago, I had my assistant take you to the airport.

When he returned, he told me that before getting into the car, you had wished me well on my engagement.

I stood at the study window and watched that car leave the estate until it disappeared from sight.

Later, I opened the drawer and put the pink diamonds back inside.

—

I knew what you had intended to make from them.

I always knew.

I only pretended not to.

I thought that refusing to acknowledge your feelings was the best way to protect you.

You grew up under my care, and there were too many things in my life that were never meant for you: the power struggles inside the Carter family, the Council’s schemes, and the violence and responsibility I was forced to carry as the Alpha heir.

I didn’t want you dragged into any of it.

My hands were never clean.

That night, I knew it was you.

I knew from the beginning.

My hands began to tremble, making the paper rustle.

I forced myself to continue.

I was too afraid to admit that I might truly lose you.

Once I admitted it, I did not know what my wolf might drive me to do.

Those ten lashes are the worst thing I have ever done and the one thing I will never forgive myself for.

You never deserved that punishment.

The truth is, I knew you had not hurt Kyle. I knew you had done

—

nothing wrong.

I simply could not face what I felt for you, so I forced you to leave me first.

I lied to myself, to you, and to everyone else. I convinced myself that if there was enough distance between us, the thoughts I should never have had would disappear.

But after you were truly gone, I realized they had never disappeared at all.

The boy’s name is Noah Carter. He is my son with Sofia.

Three months before he was born, Sofia took the family’s money, gathered the people loyal to her, and vanished.

It took me two years to find Noah in Canada.

He has my eyes, but when he becomes stubborn, he reminds me of you. He gives me headaches more often than I can count.

But I love him very much.

Over the years, I had people keep track of how you were doing.

Your career has flourished, and Damian has never hurt you.

You are freer and safer with the Morettis than you ever would have been beside me.

That is the truth.

I’m sorry, Irene.

My apology came far too late.

—

At the end of the letter, there was only his name.

Adrian.

A faint crease ran across the bottom of the page, as though the letter had been folded and unfolded countless times.

I placed it on the desk and sat there for a long time.

Church bells sounded faintly in the distance, and I could occasionally hear Noah crying downstairs.

Noah.

The child whose father had told him I would protect him like a mother.

I closed my eyes.

My eyes burned, but no tears fell.

—

I folded the letter carefully and tucked it into my bag.

Then I stood and walked to the window.

The Long Island estate looked the same as it always had. The gardens were still meticulously kept. The driveway was still lined with oaks.

But everything felt different now.

I thought about the pink diamonds in the drawer. The ones Adrian had bought for Sofia’s engagement ring, then hidden away after I left.

I wondered if he had ever taken them out and looked at them. If he had ever wished things had been different.

I heard footsteps behind me.

Damian’s scent filled the room before he spoke.

“Are you all right?”

I turned to face him.

“He loved me,” I said. “He loved me, and he was too afraid to admit it.”

Damian’s expression did not change. He simply walked over and stood beside me.

“And now?”

I looked out at the gardens one last time.

“And now it doesn’t matter. He’s gone. And I’m here.”

Damian reached over and took my hand.

“Come downstairs. Noah is asking for you.”

I nodded and let him lead me out of the study.

As I walked down the stairs, I realized something.

For the first time since I had arrived, the pressure in my chest had eased.

It was still there. It might always be there.

But I could breathe again.

And that was enough.