My Love Inappropriate. Her Scandal Take the Blame. Get Lost, Uncle! I Married the Mad Alpha! Chapter 11

My Love Inappropriate. Her Scandal Take the Blame. Get Lost, Uncle! I Married the Mad Alpha! Chapter 11

I did not hit him, and I did not cry.

I stood there for a long time, then turned and left the study.

Downstairs, several distant Carter relatives had surrounded Noah and were trying to coax him into tapping “Confirm” on guardianship documents displayed on a tablet.

I walked over and lifted him straight into my arms.

“He doesn’t sign or confirm another document until my lawyer is present.”

My wolf stirred awake under the force of my anger, and a cold, sharp scent spread from me.

It was not Alpha dominance, but it was enough to make every guilty person around us step back.

Noah immediately wrapped his arms around my neck and wiped his tears and runny nose all over my shoulder.

“Mommy, where did you go?”

“To read a letter.”

“What letter?”

“Nothing.”

He squirmed in my arms, then raised his head.

“Your eyes are red.”

—

“The wind was strong outside.”

He clearly did not understand, but he gave a small sound and buried his face against my shoulder again.

I carried him to the cathedral entrance and looked at Adrian’s memorial portrait, which still had not been removed.

Footsteps sounded behind me.

I knew who it was without turning.

Damian stopped beside me, looked first at Noah, then at the portrait.

“Alive?”

I did not answer.

He gave a low laugh. He had obviously pieced together the truth from the scents and everything he had seen.

“After living with you for five years, I know you well enough. You never truly let Adrian go.”

I turned to look at him.

Damian’s expression was calm, as if he had already accepted that I might never choose him.

“I know you treated our marriage as a way out. At first, I saw it as nothing more than an alliance between our families too. But one thing wasn’t part of the arrangement.”

I waited.

His gray-blue eyes were no longer as cold as usual.

—

“I didn’t expect that after living under the same roof with you for so long, I’d start caring about things I had never planned to care about.”

Neither of us spoke for a moment.

Noah had fallen asleep in my arms, his breathing soft and steady.

“Damian.”

“Go on.”

“I’m sorry.”

He raised a hand and lightly touched Noah’s hair.

“You don’t owe me an apology. I only want you to know that these five years weren’t entirely business to me. I never pressured you into accepting my mate mark, and I never used my Alpha instincts to force you to respond to me. What happens next is your decision.”

Then he turned and walked back into the cathedral, steady and composed, without looking back.

I remained where I was, holding the sleeping child.

The wind tangled my hair, and the last traces of cedar inside the cathedral slowly faded.

—

I stood there for a long time, Noah’s warm weight in my arms.

Adrian was alive. Damian had just told me he loved me. And I was caught between two men who had both, in their own ways, failed me and fought for me.

Noah stirred, murmuring in his sleep.

“Mommy…”

I tightened my hold on him and walked back inside.

The Carter relatives had scattered. The guardianship documents were gone. The cathedral was quiet except for the soft echo of footsteps.

I found Adrian sitting in a pew near the altar, his head bowed.

He looked up when I approached.

“Noah?”

“Asleep.”

He nodded, relief flickering across his face.

“I heard what you did downstairs. Thank you.”

I sat down beside him, still holding Noah.

“You faked your death, lied to everyone, and dragged me back here. And now you’re thanking me?”

“I’m thanking you for protecting him. Even after everything I did.”

I looked at him—at the hollows under his eyes, the tension in his shoulders, the way he seemed to be holding himself together by sheer will.

“Adrian, what happens now?”

He was quiet for a moment.

“I don’t know. I never planned this far ahead. I just knew I couldn’t let the Carter family tear each other apart—and I couldn’t let Noah fall into the wrong hands.”

“And what about us?”

He turned to face me, his eyes raw.

“I want you to stay. I want to try. I know I don’t deserve it, but I want to try.”

I looked down at Noah’s sleeping face.

“I don’t know if I can forgive you. But I can stay. For now.”

Adrian let out a breath he seemed to have been holding for years.

“That’s enough. That’s more than I deserve.”

I leaned back in the pew and closed my eyes.

The snow continued to fall outside.

And somewhere in the distance, I could hear Damian’s car pulling away.