I wanted to make amends. I wanted to win back her heart. But every question she asked left me unable to answer. Even knowing what to say, I couldn't get the words out. Because answering would mean admitting there was no hope left for us.
Only now did I finally understand how deeply my distrust had hurt her.
"Elias, it's too late for us."
But when I couldn't answer, Serenity quietly spoke the truth for me, shattering my last hope.
"I already have a new life. We can never go back."
"A new life. You mean marrying that man named Frank?" I laughed bitterly.
During the four years I'd lost her, she had found someone new.
But what could I say about it? I was the one who'd hurt her first. I'd nearly killed her... So when she chose to leave me, I couldn't say a single word to stop her.
Serenity seemed startled, but she bit her lip and lifted her chin. "That's right… I'm going to marry Frank. If you understand, let me go!"
She had asked this three times now.
"What if I refuse?" I asked quietly.
She hesitated. Just as a sliver of hope rose in me, she steeled herself again.
"If you won't let me go, I'll kill myself."
Her words tore my heart to shreds. I stared at her in disbelief. "Why? Do you hate me so much that you'd throw away your own life? Is that man Frank really that important to you?"
"What I want more than life is freedom," she said calmly. "If you destroy the life I built, then I'd rather have died four years ago!"
She meant it.
I searched desperately for any sign of weakness. But there was none. Her eyes were so resolute, without a trace of lies or bravado…
"Make your choice, Elias," Serenity said. "For the sake of what we once had, let me go."
I closed my eyes, feeling all warmth drain from my body as if all hope had vanished. When I opened them, I forced my voiceto sound calm and natural. "Alright. I'll have someone take you back."
Surprise flickered in Serenity's eyes. She hadn't expected my answer.
I smiled bitterly.
She didn't need to be so suspicious. I truly meant it.
Because I was a criminal who would never receive a pardon. No matter how much I wanted to be with her again, to make up for everything she'd suffered—she wouldn't accept it.
So the best atonement I could offer was to let go.
Let her leave. And accept that I would lose her forever?—
"Thank you," she said flatly.
Then she left.
I arranged a car to take her home. I watched her disappear, and with her, my world collapsed.
And this time, no one had shattered it. I had personally killed my own hope, sent away my one and only fated mate, my love?—
"Alpha, are you alright?" Herman asked with concern.
