Chapter 452

Chapter 45
“Dad broke you?”
“Yep, he did. He’s used Dane. Well, he used my feelings for Dane to break me. You see, I never felt like I was as good as your uncle. I never felt like I could measure up to him. Your dad used those insecurities to break me. Your unele and your brother are very good at what they do, Sebi. I know it feels like they used you to break Shane, but what they did was find Shane’s weakness, and then they exploited it.”
“You’re saying that I’m Shane’s weakness?”
“What did they say to him to make him break?” I ask.
“I wasn’t there. I was with Alpha Ezra talking about my miserable first test in finance,” she grumbles, making me smile. I’m sure that’s how they intended to break my daughter and if it had ended there, I’d understand. But Dane broke my daughter twice.
“I heard they told him that I was using him to get to number one on the leaderboard and that Christian was busy trying to take his pack away from him,” she says.
“Hmmm, cruel, but smart. Tell me, baby girl, what do you know about Shane?”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“What is his weakness? What’s his greatest weakness?”
I wait while she considers my question.
“Trust. He’s afraid to trust people in case they betray him like Dorian betrayed his father.”
“That’s right. And who does he trust most in this world, Sebastiana?”
She sighs. “Me, Christian, and Enya. They used her too, I heard.”
“So, they metaphorically punched him right where it would hurt the most, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Mom, he looks at me like I betrayed him,” she says, the tears starting again.
“Did you betray him?”
“Never,” she says forcefully.
“Exactly. So this isn’t about you. This isn’t about Christian taking over his pack. This is about Shane not trusting himself.”
“It still feels personal.”
“Of course it does. It is personal because Shane is now questioning your loyalty to him because he doesn’t trust his own judgement.”
“I’m falling in love with him, Mom,” she says, her voice quivering again.
I sigh. “And that makes it so much harder. Give him time, baby girl. He’s got to get to the point where he trusts himself enough to believe that you and Christian are really who you say you are. Can you do that for me?”
She sniffles. “Yeah, okay. But mom, if he continues to look at me like he is, like I betrayed him…”
“Then you call me and we’ll decide together what’s best, Sebi, okay?”
“Okay. Thanks mom.”
“I love you, baby girl. Be strong.”
“Bye, mom.”
I hang up and Sebastian begins to speak, but I hold up a finger, dialing another number.
“Christina?”
“Harper, put my brother on the phone please,” I snap.
“Hang on a moment.”
“Christina …”
“Now you listen to me, Dane. You had better build my confident, larger-than-life daughter back up to the strong, willful woman she is, or so help me, I will come down there and I will shred you into so many pieces the Moon Goddess herself won’t be able to put you back together. Are we clear?”
“Crystal.”
“Good,” I say, before ending the call.
“Christina…” Sebastian begins.
When I look at him, he stops talking but he pulls me into his arms, holding me until my body. finally relaxes.
“You said it yourself. Dane and Ryan are good at what they do. They won’t let her stay broken,” he says, kissing the top of my head.
“They’d better not. I wasn’t joking, Sebastian. They had better fix my little girl.”