My Love Inappropriate. Her Scandal Take the Blame. Get Lost, Uncle! I Married the Mad Alpha! Chapter 12

My Love Inappropriate. Her Scandal Take the Blame. Get Lost, Uncle! I Married the Mad Alpha! Chapter 12

The dispute over Noah’s guardianship lasted six weeks.

Adrian produced evidence that members of the Carter family had been secretly transferring assets, while Damian sent the Moretti Group’s legal team to assist with the investigation.

In the end, the New York Wolf Council rejected the distant relatives’ petitions, and Noah kept every asset in his name.

During those six weeks, the Carter family’s private physician told me that Adrian had traveled alone to northern Canada two years earlier to find Noah and had been caught in an avalanche.

His lungs had been badly damaged, and when the infection returned, he had ended up in intensive care.

The report of his death had been partly a trap to expose the people working against him. But the doctors had also genuinely been unable to promise that he would survive.

Adrian remained in the hospital for three weeks.

On the day he was discharged, I drove to pick him up.

He sat silently in the passenger seat throughout the drive back to Long Island.

When the car stopped outside the estate, his hand had just closed around the door handle when I spoke.

“There were things you didn’t finish saying in your letter.”

His hand stilled.

—

“What things?”

“You said your apology came too late.”

I repeated his exact words.

“What came after that?”

He was silent for so long that I thought he would refuse to answer.

Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, he asked, “And I wanted to ask… is it too late for me?”

I stared straight ahead.

“I’m married to someone else.”

“I know.”

“I have my own company and my own life. New York is only a place where I used to live.”

“I know.”

“I don’t need you to protect me, and I don’t need you making decisions for me.”

I paused.

“Every decision you once made on my behalf, I can make for myself now, and I can make it better than you ever did.”

Adrian turned toward me.

The last trace of hope vanished from his face, like the final flame in a fireplace going dark.

—

“I know you have a good life now.”

He opened his mouth and hesitated for several seconds.

“I only want to know if you’ll give me a chance to make it up to you.”

“You don’t need to make anything up to me.”

For the first time, I could say those words without anger.

“You did many things wrong, but I also forced my obsession onto you. I chose to leave New York. I chose the marriage arrangement. I chose to rebuild my life during those five years. I walked those roads myself. Refusing me back then was never a crime.”

Adrian’s head snapped up, his eyes already red.

I looked out at the familiar roads of Long Island.

Twenty years earlier, seven-year-old me had walked through the gates of the Carter estate with my hand in his, believing I had finally found a home I could never lose.

Looking back now, that life had already ended.

“Now that Noah’s situation is settled, I’ll visit him often. He can stay with me during school breaks too. But I won’t remain with the Carter family, and I won’t come back to you.”

Adrian’s voice trembled.

“Why? Because of what I did? I can change. I can wait. I can wait as long as you need.”

I shook my head and opened the car door.

—

“It isn’t because of what you did.”

I stepped outside and looked directly into his eyes.

“It’s because I don’t love you anymore.”

The moment I said it, breathing became easier.

It was not spite, and it was not revenge.

I truly did not love him anymore.

There had once been nights when thoughts of him kept me awake until dawn, and times when his Alpha scent triggered reactions I could not control.

Five years had passed, and every one of those feelings was gone.

I had once loved him enough to surrender everything.

But that Irene belonged to the past.

Now I had my own career, my own life, and a man who had stayed beside me for five years, respecting and protecting me without ever trying to control me.

“I said goodbye when I left five years ago. When I wished you well on your engagement, I meant it. And now I sincerely hope you stay safe and raise Noah well. What existed between us ended a long time ago.”

—

Adrian stood frozen beside the car, his hand still gripping the door handle.

The winter wind cut between us.

“Then I’ll spend the rest of my life earning back what I lost,” he said quietly.

I shook my head.

“Don’t. Live for yourself. Live for Noah. But don’t live for me. I’m not coming back.”

I walked up the steps to the estate. Noah was waiting in the doorway, his face bright with relief when he saw me.

“Mommy! Are we going home?”

I crouched down and tucked his scarf more tightly around his neck.

“Yes. We’re going to my home. But I’ll bring you back to visit your father whenever you want.”

He nodded, then looked past me toward Adrian.

“Daddy, are you coming too?”

Adrian walked up the steps slowly, his face pale, but he managed a small smile for his son.

“Not today, Noah. You go with Irene. I’ll see you soon.”

Noah didn’t ask questions. He just took my hand.

“Okay. Bye, Daddy.”

Adrian watched us walk away.

I didn’t look back.

Noah and I reached the car. I helped him into the back seat and buckled him in.

When I got into the driver’s seat, I glanced in the rearview mirror.

Adrian was still standing on the steps, his hands in his pockets, the snow beginning to fall around him.

I started the engine and drove away.

Behind me, the Carter estate grew smaller and smaller in the mirror.

And this time, I truly let it go.