My Love Inappropriate. Her Scandal Take the Blame. Get Lost, Uncle! I Married the Mad Alpha! Chapter 13

My Love Inappropriate. Her Scandal Take the Blame. Get Lost, Uncle! I Married the Mad Alpha! Chapter 13

Adrian looked at me for a long time.

At last, he turned his face away, and his shoulders trembled almost imperceptibly.

“I understand. I was too late.”

He stumbled slightly as he got out of the car, but he did not look back.

I settled into my seat and watched his figure shrink in the rearview mirror until he disappeared.

The driver asked where I wanted to go.

I gave him the name of the Peninsula Hotel, where Damian was staying.

When I arrived, Damian was standing on the terrace smoking. The sleeves of his black shirt were rolled to his forearms, and the setting sun softened his normally severe features.

At the sound of my footsteps, he turned and raised an eyebrow.

“Finished talking?”

“Yes.”

“Made your choice?”

“I have.”

He stubbed out his cigarette and turned to face me.

—

“Any regrets?”

“None.”

I looked into his eyes and smiled with genuine ease for the first time.

“Damian, thank you.”

“For what?”

“For waiting five years. And for never forcing me.”

He reached out and pulled me into his arms, resting his chin lightly on top of my head.

I breathed in the familiar scent of black cedar and tobacco.

In the past, that scent had meant only safety.

Now, for the first time, it made me want to move closer and stay there.

“I told you, these five years weren’t entirely an arrangement,” Damian said, his voice deep and steady. “I’m not a patient man, Irene, and I’m no saint. I waited because I believed you were worth it. I knew you had never truly put your past with Adrian behind you, so I waited for you to settle it yourself. Now that you’ve chosen to walk toward me, I’m glad.”

I leaned against his chest and listened to his heartbeat.

For five years, he had known Adrian still occupied a place in my heart, yet he had never questioned me or tried to use our relationship to control me.

Whenever I missed New York, he flew back with me and stayed at a

—

hotel near Long Island for an entire week, simply so I could look at my former home from a distance.

He never made extravagant declarations of love.

Even when I was at my lowest, he had always been there.

“Damian.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s go home.”

He lowered his head and pressed a light kiss to my forehead.

“All right. Let’s go home.”

A week later, I took Noah to Disneyland in Anaheim.

He dragged me through the entire park, so excited that even his young wolf scent turned especially sweet.

That evening, as we watched the fireworks, he curled up in my arms and asked quietly, “Mommy, are you going to leave again?”

I stroked his hair and corrected him gently but seriously.

“I’m not your mom. You can call me Aunt Irene. I’ll come back to New York to see you often, and you can stay with me during school breaks. All right?”

“What about Daddy?”

Noah looked up at me.

“Will you forgive Daddy?”

—

I watched the fireworks bloom in the distance and remained silent for a moment.

“I never hated your father. He and I simply aren’t right for each other. But we’ll both protect you. That will never change.”

He clearly did not understand all of it. He only nodded and buried his face against me again.

After the fireworks ended, Adrian came to pick him up.

He stood some distance away, much thinner than before, and did not approach.

I nodded to him in farewell.

He nodded back, took Noah’s hand, and turned away.

The park lights stretched the father and son’s shadows across the pavement.

I stood there watching them leave. There was no sadness or regret left in me, only peace.

Damian came to stand beside me and took my hand.

I willingly laced my fingers through his.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

I turned to look at him.

“Let’s go home.”

—

Some relationships, once ended, should remain in the past.

I no longer needed regret to prove that I had once loved someone.

The right person for me would never make my choices for me or demand that I turn back.

He would simply stay beside me and wait until I chose to go home with him.

—

The flight back to Italy was quiet.

I sat by the window, watching the lights of New York fade beneath us.

Damian sat beside me, his hand resting loosely on mine.

Noah was already asleep in my lap, his small face relaxed and peaceful.

I looked down at him and thought about the journey that had brought me here.

The girl who had walked into the Carter estate at seven years old, desperate for a home.

The young woman who had loved Adrian with everything she had, only to be pushed away.

The bride who had married a stranger to escape her past.

And the woman I had become—someone who knew her own worth, who had built her own life, who had finally let go of the ghosts that had haunted her.

Damian stirred beside me.

“Tired?”

“No. Just thinking.”

“About what?”

I turned to look at him.

“About how I got here. And how glad I am that you were waiting.”

He lifted my hand and pressed a kiss to my fingers.

“I’ll always be waiting, Irene. That’s not going to change.”

I leaned my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes.

The plane hummed softly beneath us, carrying us home.

And for the first time in my life, I had no doubt about where I belonged.