Chapter 246

[ 844 words ]

Sebastian’s POV

Abigail’s face crumpled, and she started crying again. But I couldn’t make myself reach for her.

Because all I could think about was my father. The man I’d trusted. The man I’d looked up to my whole life.

And the chance that he’d been behind every last piece of it.

“I was too scared to tell you.” Abigail’s voice cracked, and she wiped at her face with shaking hands. “If you’d known my father was a killer, would you have looked at me the same way? And it wasn’t just that. The victim’s family went feral. They swore that the day they found the driver, they’d wipe out his entire family. My mother made me promise. No one could know. Not even you. She said our lives depended on it.”

My jaw locked so tight my teeth ached. “So you kept it from me.”

“Your father finding out. That was the nightmare I never saw coming.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “He gave me three days to decide. Three days, Sebastian. Do you have any idea what that did to me? I wanted to die. On one side was my father, the man who raised me. On the other was you, the man I loved more than my own life. Losing either of you would’ve torn me apart.”

I said nothing. My chest felt like it was caving in.

“On the third morning, you took me to that tattoo parlor.” Fresh tears filled her eyes. “You sat in that chair and had my name inked into your skin. I watched the needle go in over and over, and every time, I felt it in my own chest. You loved me that much. How was I supposed to walk away from that? So I made up my mind. I’d get my father to turn himself in. I thought maybe, just maybe, I could save you both.”

“But you didn’t,” I bit out.

“I couldn’t.” Her voice broke. “I went home that night and told my mother what I’d decided. She slapped me so hard I saw stars. And then she told me the truth. The real truth.”

My stomach dropped. “What truth?”

“He’s not my biological father.”

The words hung there like a pin pulled from a grenade.

“My mother was already pregnant when she married him,” Abigail went on, her voice shaking. “But he didn’t care. He loved me like his own. For over twenty years he gave me everything. More love than I ever deserved. How could I pay him back by throwing him to the wolves? How could I sacrifice a man like that for my own happiness?”

“I cried all night,” Abigail said. “And then I made the hardest call of my life. I chose to let you go. Every time I had to face your father after that, I wanted to scream. He was so cold, Sebastian. So ruthless. He didn’t just want me to break it off. He wanted me gone from Silverlake City for good. And he told me exactly how it had to happen. I had to disappear on our wedding day. Vanish without a word. Because that was the only way you’d hate me enough to move on.”

My hands curled into fists. “You should’ve come to me.”

“And done what?” she shot back, her voice climbing. “Your father is one of the most powerful Alphas in the region. What could you have done against him? If I’d told you, it would’ve blown apart everything between you and him, and he’d still have buried my family. A man like Titus doesn’t lose.”

“You don’t know that,” I snarled. “You didn’t even give me the chance.”

“Because I already knew!” she screamed. “I knew what he was capable of. You think any of this was an accident? My mother’s gambling? The loan sharks at our door? That was all him, Sebastian. He set the trap long before he ever called me in. My mother got reeled into a casino, lost everything, and when she couldn’t pay, those animals came to our house and tore it apart. They told me flat out. Leave you, or it gets worse. And your father still had the hit-and-run hanging over us like a noose. So tell me. What were you going to do? Go to war with your own father? Rip your family apart for me?”

The room closed in. My ears rang. My pulse pounded.

“Ryder, I can’t breathe,” I said.

“She’s breaking us,” he whispered back. “Don’t let her.”

But I was already broken. I’d been broken for three years, and now I was learning it had all been staged. Every piece of it.

“You should’ve trusted me,” I said, my voice hollow.

“I did trust you,” Abigail whispered. “I trusted you enough to know you’d try to fix it. And I couldn’t let you destroy yourself for me.”

I turned away from her and dragged a hand down my face. My head was a warzone.

I didn’t know if I believed a word of it.

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