He spent every day by my side, trying everything to make me happy. Gifts poured into the mansion like water, but I threw every single one out without a glance.
I didn't tell him that watching him try to please me reminded me of myself four years ago.
That same careful, desperate, humiliating posture, as if it had traveled through time to pierce my heart. The harder he played the devoted lover, the more suffocated and disgusted I felt.
But no matter how cold I was, Elias never got angry. He silently picked up the discarded gifts and arranged them one by one in my room.
He talked to me, but I never listened. Every time he appeared, I attacked him, scratching, biting, and hitting. This confinement too easily reminded me of the past. Not just being locked in this mansion under suspicion, but being imprisoned in that sanatorium by Alfred, losing my freedom, waiting for death day by day. This life filled me with terror. I couldn't stand it!
Whenever it happened, Elias would look at me with sorrowful eyes, letting me vent my rage and fear without fighting back.
"Forgive me, Serenity."
Once, when I was sobbing and biting his shoulder, cursing him and telling him to let me out, Elias pleaded with me.
But I had no idea what he meant.
The gap between an Alpha of a major pack and an exiled rogue was enormous. Besides, we had no relationship anymore. So why was he apologizing to me? When I said this to him, the sorrow in his eyes only deepened.
Eventually, to avoid triggering my emotions too much, Elias stopped appearing.
Instead, he allowed me to leave my room and finally even permitted me to leave the mansion.
But every time I tried to step outside, Arian would appear from somewhere, crying and clinging to my legs, begging me not to go… I had no defense against Elias's underhanded tactic of using our child. I had no choice but to surrender.
As the days passed, I sometimes woke up in the morning and stared at the familiar ceiling in a daze, questioning my own memories. Had the past four years been nothing but a nightmare? Was I actually still the Luna of the Vernal pack, having given birth to an heir, living with my fated mate?
Reality always returned quickly. No matter how peaceful and comfortable this life seemed, no matter how much I might have once dreamed of it, I could never go back. Because I was no longer that Omega who was satisfied with just being Elias's mate.
Now I had my own café, my own culinary career that I loved and wanted to pursue for life, so many customers who appreciated and supported me. My world had grown so vast that I could no longer fit back into the narrow seat of "Elias's mate."
Serenity Keller refused to become Serenity Vernal again.
I was secretly tying bedsheets into a rope for my escape when a commotion erupted outside.
I heard Liv's voice. Someone was blocking her from coming upstairs. "Why can't I go into Elias's bedroom? He's been so cold to me lately. He must be hiding someone here! Let go of me! I want to see who he's hiding!"
I opened the door and walked out.
At the top of the stairs, Liv was storming up in a rage. After all this time, she was still beautiful and impeccably dressed. Butwhen she looked up and saw me, the extreme shock on her face ruined her beauty.
I suddenly understood how she must have felt four years ago, standing at the top of these same stairs, looking down at me after coming back from the dead.
I curled my lips into a mocking smile.
Her face went deathly pale. She pointed at me and shrieked, "Serenity? No… impossible! How can you be here? You're supposed to be dead?—"
"Is it really so surprising that I'm alive? Or did you hope I was dead?"
Her appearance was perfect timing. All the rage and confusion I had built up toward Elias with nowhere to release came flooding back. The moment I saw her face and remembered what she had done to Arian, I felt like a mother wolf protecting her cub—ready to fight!
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm still alive, so your wish didn't come true." I slowly descended the stairs toward her, each step firm and steady. "As for why I'm here, you'll have to ask Elias."
My words seemed to trigger something in Liv. Her expression turned ugly. "Elias brought you back? He still hasn't given up?—"
She bit her lip, her face twisting with resentment. This reaction only made me more curious about what she was thinking. It seemed her relationship with Elias hadn't gone as smoothly as I'd imagined during my four years away.
"Serenity, if you have any self-respect, you should get out of here on your own! This isn't your home. I'm the one who should be mistress of this place!"
