Ex-Mate Wants Me Back (Seraphina and Mortimer) novel Chapter 166

Chapter 166

Third Person’s POV

To Seraphina, this was purely a personal matter.

In Mortimer’s heart, she simply didn’t carry enough weight for him to intentionally offend a deeply entrenched, well- connected woman over a pet.

The power and influence behind that abuser were so immense that even if the Craig Corporation wanted to exert pressure, it would inevitably cost them a significant price.

She had absolutely no chips to bargain with.

More importantly, with the critical moment of their mate contract’s complete dissolution approaching, she had zero desire to owe Mortimer a massive, unpayable favor.

This time, she could only chalk it up to Dash’s terrible luck-running into a toxic, powerful force they simply couldn’t afford to provoke. 1

After lunch, Seraphina returned to the surgical wing alone.

She sat in her office, closing her eyes to rest and center herself.

She had a highly complex, high-risk open-heart surgery scheduled for the afternoon; she couldn’t let personal distress affect her clinical state.

Just then, her phone buzzed abruptly on the desk.

She picked it up and glanced at the screen. It was a message from Mortimer.

“He’s so cute.”

Right beneath the text was a short video clip. Dash was burying his face in a luxurious, golden food bowl, happily licking at premium canned meat. Right next to it sat a thoughtfully prepared, perfectly warmed bowl of pure goat’s milk.

The puppy in the video was eating with his tail wagging a mile a minute. Every so often, he would look up at the camera, opening his little mouth to let out a series of cheerful, contented whimpers.

Attached below the video were a few photos. Having eaten his fill, Dash was fully completely passed out, his round, full belly exposed as he slept on a ridiculously plush, custom dog bed.

Seeing Dash looking so carefree, completely devoid of any lingering psychological trauma from the nigly before, the heavy, suffocating weight pressing on Seraphina’s chest all afternoon finally lifted.

After hesitating for a moment, she typed out a polite, strictly professional message thanking him.

After hitting send, she stared at the top of the screen. It immediately flashed: “Mortimer is typing…”

She waited. And waited. Finally, after a painfully long time, a stiff, awkward reply popped up: “Why are you being so polite with

me.” 1

Seraphina stared at that single line of text and didn’t bother replying again.

She held the phone in her hand, her thumb lightly rubbing the screen. For a split second, she thought about casually asking if he had seen the viral dashcam video circulating online.

But ultimately, she let out a self-deprecating laugh, flipped her phone face-down, and tossed it back onto her desk.

Meanwhile, miles away in the corporate executive suite, Mortimer was staring intensely at his phone screen.

Minutes ticked by, but not a single reply came through from Seraphina.

1/3

Chapte

+15 Bonus

His dark, typically sharp Alpha eyes were now uncontrollably overflowing with heavy, crushing defeat.

He was used to having absolute control over the pack and his empire. Yet, faced with Seraphina’s current freezing, impenetrable detachment, he felt like a stray wolf-expelled from his territory and completely lost in the polar night.

The sacred, primal bond between them felt ice-cold, violently tugging at his soul. The dull, radiating ache in his chest made it almost impossible to breathe.

He weakly reached out his large, distinctly veined hand, absentmindedly petting Dash’s head.

“She is so cold to me now,” he sighed, his voice thick with bitter misery.

Dash half-understood the words, but a dog’s intuition was sharp. The puppy clearly felt the suffocating loneliness radiating off

the massive man beside him.

Thoughtfully, Dash stretched out his little pink tongue and licked the back of Mortimer’s hand to offer comfort.

Mortimer’s lips curled into a self-mocking smirk. Completely abandoning his untouchable CEO image, he plopped down and sat cross-legged on the plush carpet right next to the dog bed.

He stared at his phone for a long time, desperately praying for the avatar of his one and only Luna to light up with a new message. But Seraphina’s side remained dead silent.

With slightly trembling fingertips, he opened her chat history and began slowly scrolling up, page by page.

Compared to her cold, one-word replies now, the old Seraphina used to have endless things to say to him. Every single line of text from the past was overflowing with deep reliance and unreserved, undeniable love.

Mortimer’s handsome brows knitted together in a tight, agonizing knot.

He dared to swear to the Moon Goddess that he had never, ever crossed the line into anything romantic or physical with Vivian.

Their dynamic had literally always been exactly the same. So why had Seraphina’s attitude toward him undergone such a violent, earth-shattering upheaval?

Was the half-month he abandoned her really a severe enough crime to warrant the death penalty for their mating?

He just couldn’t figure it out.

An indescribable, suffocating sense of utter powerlessness surged through his proud, unbreakable chest like a tidal wave, forcing him to taste a level of raw panic and complete loss he had never known in his life.

Just then, the heavy mahogany doors of the office were gently pushed open. Yolanda stepped in, her designer heels clicking softly against the floor. When her eyes landed on the scene in front of her, a flash of pure, unfiltered shock crossed her face.

The high-and-mighty, incredibly intimidating Alpha Craig-the man who usually radiated such dominance that people were terrified to even make eye contact with him-was sitting cross-legged on the floor, looking completely pathetic.

He was clutching his phone in one hand, his expression looking as profoundly lonely and miserable as an abandoned, oversized stray dog.

It was the very first time Yolanda had ever seen Mortimer completely drop his image.

Look at that devastated, pathetic face. “He’s definitely waiting for a text from Seraphina, isn’t he?”

Yolanda was screaming internally, shaking her head.

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