"Thank you.bro." My voice is gravel. I haven't slept. Can't. Every time I close my eyes, I see her face when she confronted me about Bethany.
"She's not answering?"
I don't bother asking who he means. My brother knows. They all know. I sent a single text to the family group chat—Bonded—and my phone has been blowing up with everything from congratulations to death threats ever since. Only Roan has shown up in person. Only Roan understands that I'm one bad decision away from burning the whole empire down.
"She's managing," I lie. "She's just… processing."
"Processing," he says, stroking his chin. "That's what we're calling it when your omega goes radio silent after you tell her you're marrying someone else?"
"I told her I'm not marrying someone else."
"You told her you're working on it. That's not the same thing."
I stand. Too fast. The room tilts, and I brace a hand on the desk. The pain in my chest spikes into a white-hot poker. It's the bond. My body is punishing me for walking away from her. This is what my father felt—this exact gnawing, acid ache. For the first time in my life, I get it.
"I need to see Bethany."
"Now?" Roan's eyebrows climb. "You're in no shape—"
"Now." I grab my jacket. "I need to end it. Properly. Face to face."
Roan studies me for a long moment. "You know what this costs, right? The merger. The shipping lanes. Our entire Southeast expansion plan."
I tighten my cufflink until my knuckles turn white, staring at the screen of my silent phone. "I know."
"You're going to lose half the board."
My jaw tics. I stuff the device in my pocket like I can trap her absence there. "I know."
"Fine. You're going to lose your fucking mind if you don't." He pushes off the doorframe. "I'll have the plane ready in an hour. But Liam?" He catches my arm as I pass. "If you're doing this, you need to be sure."
"I'm sure." The words are iron. "I was sure the moment Star said she'd find another alpha."
Roan's grip tightens. "She said that?"
"Yes."
Her voice didn't even shake. She delivered it like a fact. The pain in my chest blooms into something violent. My knuckles crack as I clench my fists.
Roan releases me. "You don’t think she would, do you?"
"I feel sorry for her if she does." I stop and hold his gaze. "Him I won't feel sorry for. There'll be no need to cry for his corpse."
He stops me again. "Liam…"
"I can't fucking breathe, Roan. Every minute I'm away from her, it gets worse. It's not in my head. It's in my cells. If I'm going to hurt anyway, I might as well hurt with her. But I am not—I am not letting her think there's another alpha out there who could—" I can't finish. The thought of another man's hands on her, another man's teeth in her skin, another man hearing the way she moans—
I punch the wall. The drywall cracks. Pain explodes in my knuckles, sharp and clean and real, and I welcome it. It's better than the other pain. The one that feels like dying by inches.
Roan doesn't flinch. "I'll call the pilot."
The flight to Singapore is twenty hours of staring at a silent phone. No notifications. Just the scream of the engines and the silence of her inbox. The bond is becoming physical in ways I didn't know were possible. My hands won't stop shaking. Cold sweats keep drenching my shirt, then chilling into something rank and desperate. I keep catching the ghost of honeysuckle, bright and sharp in my nose, until I realize it's coming from myown skin—our scent turning sour without her. When I try to sleep, my body jerks awake like it's falling, searching for warmth that isn't there. My father used to sit in his empty chair and sweat through his clothes. Now I am.
Bethany is already waiting in the hotel lobby, a vision of cream silk and tailored trousers, her blonde hair pulled back in a sleek knot, every inch the polished beta executive who runs her family's empire with quiet competence. She's beautiful. Smart. The perfect strategic partner.
She takes one look at my face and her composure fractures. "Oh, Liam."
"Don't." I can't handle pity. Not from her. "Can we—let's just sit."
